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Saturday, January 4, 2014

Happy, Healthy New Year! Green Juice Recipe



Happy New Year! Wow, where did 2013 go? I've been such a neglectful blogger, my last post was in August! One of the resolutions I have is to blog at least once a month, with a target of once a week. I guess time will tell if I can transform this resolution to a routine.


Well, what's been new with me? I've done some travelling since my last post. Spent some time at the beach in Mexico and did a week & a half long road trip that took me to Kelowna, Seattle, & Denver! 

I've also had a photo published in the Calgary Herald's Gastropost section on New Year's Eve! It's been a great motivator for me to get better at photography, cooking, & also keeping my blog alive with posts.



Like most people, I also have health & wellness related resolutions. I started a health journey last year (which included juicing) and I am happy to report that I am the healthiest I have ever been in years since adopting a cyclical ketogenic diet and doing daily cardio & yoga! My resolution is not really something new, I am just resolving to continue it as a permanent lifestyle. 

I noticed how low my energy levels were due to the indulgences over the holidays. Eating all those treats filled with refined carbs and fat really did a number on how I felt every morning. Although I pushed through and made sure I exercised daily with cardio or yoga everyday, it was so tedious to fit both in one day with the way I felt. I thought, what better way to get back into the healthy kick than incorporating juicing regularly into my diet. 

Raw vegetable juicing is a great way to detox and boost energy levels. Vegetables are packed with vitamins & minerals. Although juicing does not replace eating vegetables because you lose so much of the fibre, it does allow for the quick ingestion of nutrients into the body. I am not a fan of extreme dieting of any sorts so I am incorporating juicing once a day or once every other day as a meal replacement.

I had the Green Juice last night for dinner and today, my energy levels were amazing! I was on the go from 9:30 am until 6:30 pm with no feelings of fatigue. Juicing definitely has excellent benefits as part of a healthy & active lifestyle. 

Here's the recipe to try if you're looking to incorporate juicing into your diet. The parsley helps with toning down the bitterness of the kale and the lemon & apples make it taste kinda like lemonade! 




GREEN JUICE

Ingredients:

2 green apples 
5 celery stalks
2 kale leaves
1 English cucumber
1 lemon
5 stalks of parsley

Equipment: 

Juicer - we have a Breville centrifugal juicer which is fantastic!

Directions:

Wash all the fruits and vegetables thoroughly. If you are using non-organic, you may also want to remove the peels.

Cut vegetables into manageable pieces that will fit easy into the juicer. Remove the seeds from the apples and lemon. I included the lemon peel in my juice along with the pulp because the peel has the essential lemon oil which is great for flavour but make sure to cut out the pith or white flesh between as it is very, very bitter.

Drop the ingredients in the juicer starting with the leafy types and ending with the juiciest, which are the apples or cucumbers. This will ensure you get the most juice out of the leafier ingredients.

Pour in a glass with some ice & enjoy!

Serves 1 as a meal & 2 as part of a meal.

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