Updated Green Juice Recipe and Juicer Cleaning Hack

Courtesy Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

I was delighted to wake up to an email from Today wishing me Happy National Green Juice Day. There's a day for everything! Let's celebrate vegetable juice since it's loaded with vitamin goodness. Starting your day with green juice drenches your body with goodness and gives you a head start in getting in your vegetables. Last year I found a brilliant juice hack that makes juicing TWICE as easy, so I dusted off my post on vegetable juicing (from 2009), and am updating it, along with my hack.

First - the hack. It took me 10 years to figure this out. It is so obvious that it's also possible that everyone but me has already been doing it. The thing about juicing is that it takes effort. You have to juice and clean up the juicer, which takes me 10 minutes when I'm being uber efficient. So last year, I started making TWO days of juice. That's right, twice as much juice with only half the cleaning. Now I can drink 4 days of juice with just two days juicing. So blindingly obvious - why did it take me so long to learn this?! The problem is that the nutrients start to degrade as soon as the juice starts oxidizing, but honestly, who cares? You're still getting great nutrition on the second day even if its less than the day before, and you're gaining extra juice days that you wouldn't have had. It's a win/win. If you're firing up the juicer, give yourself that extra day!

The updated post from May 2009 (it's actually a classic so there are minimal changes. I've become a little more hardcore since then, so I'm updating the recipe a little for less sugar). For another recipe, here is Martha Stewart's recipe from Today:

What to do - Juice Vegetables

1. Start off by buying fresh vegetable juice at health food stores or juice bars. Try different varieties, but make sure there is no added sugar or dairy. Just vegetables and maybe a little fruit. The easiest juices for people to start off with are cucumber and celery. However, the dark green vegetables like kale and collard greens have the most benefits.
2. Invest in a juicer. To get the maximum benefits of juice, it has to be fresh (not stored). It can save you money to buy a juicer and juice yourself, and you can juice whatever you feel like. I'm on my third Breville Juice Fountain in 11 years. There are lots of different types, so visit stores and ask questions or do your research online to find one that will work for you. Slow juicers may have more health benefits, but the Breville is convenient for my lifestyle. You have to go with what you are going to use.
   
3. Stock up on your juicing vegetables once a week. The darker greens like kale, mustard greens and collard greens have the most nutrients. You can juice anything though. We save the vegetable parts we don't cook like broccolli skin and asparagus stems to juice. Garlic is good for you. If you want to cut the "green" taste, add 1/2 lemon (you can throw the whole thing in, skin and all). To make it sweeter, add an apple, carrots or grapes. Oh, one thing NOT to juice is the top of leeks. We found out the hard way that they can make you sick.
4. Juice often. You can juice several times a week to several times a day. To increase the amount of juice per effort, you can make two days of juice at each go. Be aware that the nutrients do starts to degrade immediately, so if you're going to save some for tomorrow, fill a glass container up to the rim and put a lid on it so it doesn't oxidize.
5. Clean your juicer meticulously. Clean it as soon as you're done, and make sure the filter is scrubbed. Soak the filter in white vinegar every month or two to dissolve some of the food debris. If it gets really bad, soak the filter in bleach and then clean carefully.
6. Recycle the fiber. Some people add it to meals and eat it. It also makes great compost.
7. You don't need to juice only organic vegetables, though you may head in that direction.
   

MindfulEats Green Juice Recipe (for 2 days)

1. 10-15 leaves of kale
2. 2 stalks celery or 2/3 cucumber during the summer (the cucumber is much better!)
3. 2-4 carrots
4. 1.5" - 2" chunk of ginger
5. 1" - 2" chunk of tumeric
6. 1 whole lemon, rind and all
7. Veggie scraps from yesterday's meals
8. optional: 1 apple or pear if you are new to juicing
   

What I ate: 12 oz. water with Welleco Green Elixir, 16 oz latte, 2 oz assorted cheese, 1/2 cup nuts, 4 c. Pop Karma olive oil and cheddar popcorn, 1 orange, 23 clementines, 2 fruit rollups, 1 c. brown rice, 2 c. steamed broccoli + tofu + mushrooms, roasted seaweed, kimchi, 6 squares dark chocolate. 1 c. hot chocolate, 16 oz water

Exercise: 45 minutes spinning, 5 min stretch, 5 min core