My Go-To Juice Recipe
Want to know what my new obsession is? I’ll give you a hint, it is the whole topic of this blog post! I have been obsessed with juicing lately. Let me tell you why…
What’s up with juicing?
I started juicing regularly a few months ago to help me get in the vitamins & minerals that I didn’t get from my typical day of eating. I eat a good amount of fruits & veggies, but if I am being totally honest, I don’t really switch up the foods I eat & I don’t eat anything that is difficult to cook or unpleasant to eat. I still wanted to get the benefits of eating fruits & veggies that have notoriously been shown to have great health benefits. So I started juicing foods like beets, lemons, celery, turmeric, & ginger!
At first I was just juicing whenever I knew I was going to have a busy week or weekend where I wouldn’t have a lot of time to get in proper amounts of nutrient-dense foods. During the summertime, I am traveling a lot, going out a lot, & just not prioritizing my nutrition. Along with socializing comes drinking & eating foods that aren’t the most nutrient-dense or great for my gut. While I obviously want to enjoy myself, have fun, & make memories, I don’t enjoy feeling bloated, tired, or just overall meh after having a good time — so in comes juicing.
I really noticed a difference the weekend of my graduation. I drank a LOT that day and had my fair share of tacos & cake. Typically after a day of eating & drinking like that my digestion is all screwed up & I have low energy for days. The first thing I did that Sunday morning was take a shot of my juice. While it wasn’t a miracle worker, I didn’t experience the typical digestion issues I get from drinking & eating out of sorts. I was still tired, sure, but I could manage that with some coffee. The biggest thing was that my symptoms didn’t last for days like they usually did. While it didn’t solve everything, I’m not complaining about keeping my stomach in check by just taking a quick shot of juice.
The Benefits of Juicing
I also recently learned about the benefits of ginger, turmeric, beets, celery, & lemons! Ginger has anti-inflammatory effects similar to that of typical NSAIDS like aspirin. If I had the option between taking an Aspirin or a ginger shot, I’d take the ginger shot! It won’t f*ck up your stomach and it is 100% natural. Plus, it actually has benefits of reducing inflammation & oxidative stress whereas Aspirin just reduces the perception of inflammation (i.e. reducing pain or a fever or something).
Turmeric has similar anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant benefits while beets have benefits like improving blood flow, improving heart health, and also reducing inflammation. As for celery, it is great for your digestive tract. It can help you digest foods and once again, reduce inflammation! Finally, lemons are once again, great for reducing inflammation! It can also support digestion, similar to celery, and support your skin health & immune system.
Now let me ask, how often do you eat any of these fruits & vegetables? Probably not very often, and if you do, probably not frequent enough or in quantities great enough to make a real impact. So why not juice them? Just get it down the hatch in one fell-swoop! Then you don’t have to choke down beets at your next meal which is a bonus to me! Another bonus of juicing — you don’t have to pay $2+ a shot! I get it, convenience is everything nowadays. But since I have the time, equipment, & ability to juice, I’d rather do it myself! This way, I can also source where I am getting my fruits & veggies from so I know exactly what I’m getting. Making my own juice also allows me to pick & choose what I want in my cocktail. If I want to leave out the beets or add in some spinach, I have full control over it!
Ingredients are everything
Now if you’re going to go through the trouble of juicing, I have to recommend you buy organic produce from a local farmers market or farm. While I can’t make it to the farmers market every time, I try to plan ahead of time so when it’s a juicing weekend, I have time to go to the farmer’s market. Additionally, you want to make sure your fruits & veggies are free from toxins. You don’t want to be downing a whole bunch of pesticides & additives when you’re trying to improve your gut health. It kind of just cancels things out.
As for what foods to include in your juice cocktail, that’s totally up to you! I provide my recipe here but you can take away or add as you please. I will give you a few general juicing tips to make sure things go smoothly.
#1) Make sure you have at least 1-2 fruits or veggies that have a high water content.
when you try to juice a non-juicy item, it tends to get stuck in the juicer
adding dryer produce in with wetter produce ensures you don’t get your veggies stuck or have to water down your juice with water
#2) Cut up your fruits & veggies into medium sized pieces
even with raw juicers, you don’t want to put massive chunks of fruits & veggies in your juicer
I like to cut my produce up into 1-2 square inch cubes
#3) Wash your produce first
even though most of the skin is taken off the fruits & veggies as they are juiced, everything still gets jumbled together
also, just because you’re buying organic does not mean it is free of everything
I like to give my produce a good soak in water & baking soda to make sure it doesn’t have any unwanted items getting blended alongside it
#4) Stop adding the sweet sh*t
I get not wanting your juice to taste like crap, but don’t start your morning off with a shot of sugar!
I get adding pineapple for the taste benefits (IYKWIM), but don’t overload your juice with sugary fruits that is better when consumed whole!
Equipment
Okay, now for equipment. The good news — it’s pretty basic. All you need is a juicer & something to store the juice in!
The juicer I use is the Hamilton Beach Juicer. I’ve been using it for a few months & haven’t had any issues with it so far! It does a great job at cutting through tough produce like ginger & lemon rinds and I like that I don’t have to worry about peeling fruits & veggies. It also comes with a brush that makes cleaning the blades extremely easy and the rest of the juicer is fairly simple to clean! I thought it would be a pain in the a** to clean, but honestly, it’s a breeze!
I store my juice in these 8oz Juice Bottles but any air-tight container will do. You could use mason jars or individual juice shots if that is easier for you but I like being able to take out the little bottle, pour myself a shot, & keep on trucking. I also just don’t want to deal with washing each individual juice shot container every day.
THE recipe:
If you give this recipe a try or make your own version of it, share & tag me in what you create on TikTok, Instagram, or Pinterest @trainwithtorik or email me at trainwithtorik@gmail.com! Send me what you’d like to see next! See you next time:)