Green juice benefits your body in more ways than one, but there's a right way—and a wrong way—to maximize its benefits.
To get the most benefits from your green juice, make sure it's low in sugar.
Some people debate if green juice is healthy or not. In my opinion, green juice that is low in sugar is a wonderful addition to a healthy lifestyle.
You do lose the fiber in the plants when you make green juice, so as long as you're getting fiber from other foods then yes, you should drink green juice.
Green juice floods your body with nutrients and hydration that are easily absorbed in your digestive system, especially when you drink it on an empty stomach. To make sure you still get enough fiber, it's great to alternate a healthy smoothie with a fresh green juice every other day or so.
I've noticed that when I consistently drink freshly juiced green veggies I have more energy, my skin is more clear, and I just feel better all around.
Here Are The Top 5 Green Juice Benefits:
1. Reduce Overall Inflammation
Fresh green juice reduces inflammation in your body, and according to Christine Lydon, MD, of Yale Medical School "inflammatory processes lie at the root of virtually every chronic disease process known to modern man - from obesity and diabetes to heart disease and cancer."
Yuck! Inflammation = bad. Anti-inflammatory green juice = good.
2. Increase Cellular Hydration
Green juice provides just the right balance of water and minerals to increase your body's overall hydration, which can help with anything from skin itching to brain fog to reducing sugar cravings.
You feel more hungry when you're dehydrated, so improving your overall hydration can help you eat a more balanced diet.
3. Improve Your Digestion
The enzymes in fresh green juice improve your digestive health, and most health experts believe at least 80% of your immune system lives in your digesting system. Drink up.
4. Strengthen Your Immune System
Green Juice drenches your body in plant nutrients and chlorophyll (aka liquid sunshine.) Chlorophyll strengthens your immune system, helps control inflammation, increases red blood cell production, and helps enhance your cells' ability to carry oxygen.
The ingredients in green juice have excellent healing and detoxifying properties. It’s a great way to start your day. Feel free to add any other fresh veggies you have in the house; a good rule of thumb is at least three veggies to every piece of fruit to keep the sugar down and your blood sugar balanced.
5. Improve Your Skin
The extra hydration and gut-healing benefits of green juice make it especially good for your skin, keeping it clear and giving you that extra dewy healthy glow.
The Best Way to Make Green Juice
Here are some important notes to make sure you make the healthiest and best green juice possible:
- Stick to water-filled green veggies and leafy greens, like cucumber, celery, broccoli stems, kale, and spinach.
- Avoid adding excessive amounts of fruit or any sugar to your green juice as sugar creates inflammation and can harm your digestion, which is the exact opposite of the green juice benefits you're seeking.
- If you need to, add ½ of an apple or pear for a little sweetness to make your juice more palatable if at first it's too "green" for you. Apples and pears are full of wonderful enzymes and nutrients, but too much in your juice can add too much sugar. I also like to add a small amount of lemon or lime for extra vitamin c and that tangy citrus kick.
- Important! Never add the lemon or lime peel to a juicer as it concentrates the essential oils too much and can upset your stomach. Instead, always peel citrus before putting it through a juicer, or, simply squeeze a wedge of lemon or lime into your green juice instead of putting it through the juicer.
In case you're wondering which juicer I use, I use the Breville Juice Fountain™ Multi-Speed and love it.
Below you'll find my favorite Easy Starter Green Juice recipe.
You can also check out my Kale-aid Green Juice Recipe—it's another one of my favorites!
Print
Easy Beginner Green Juice Recipe
- Prep Time: 10
- Total Time: 10
- Yield: 1-2 servings 1x
- Category: Juice
- Method: Juicer
Description
This simple and mild green juice is perfect whether you're new to juicing or just looking for an easy, mild green juice. You can also check out my Kale-aid Green Juice Recipe for another all-time favorite green juice!
Ingredients
- 2 organic cucumbers
- 3-5 ribs organic celery
- 1 large broccoli stem (cut off all florets and reserve them for another recipe)
- 2-3 leaves green kale
- ½ organic apple or pear
- Optional: 1 to 2-inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled
- ½ organic lemon, peeled before juicing, or not juiced and squeezed into the juice at the end
Instructions
Method: Wash all produce well and push each whole piece through your juicer, cutting it in half if necessary to fit through the top of the juicer. Add a few ice cubes to your juice if you want your juice cold, and drink it right away as the nutrients will begin to degrade once exposed to oxygen.
Tip: If you're new to juicing, skip the kale for a while. It's so good for you but is a very strong flavor. Ease into juicing with milder greens and as you grow to love it, add the kale and other strong greens.
Notes
I use the Breville Juice Fountain™ Multi-Speed and love it.
Keywords: Green Juice Recipe, Green Juice Benefits, Easy Green Juice Recipe
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Carmen
Can I juice spinach to my juice?
Todd Conway
Hi again, I tried this juice today! Great color and taste. Thanks Todd
★★★★★
Gail
Hi ! Is it ok to make this recipe with a Vitamix ?? Thanks !
Lauren LaPointe
Hi Elizabeth! I'm debating between getting a Vitamix or a juicer. Can you reap the same benefits of juicing from a Vitamix because it breaks everything down so much or is that not really the case since you are still retaining the fiber when you blend? Thank you!!
Elizabeth Rider
Great q! They are really 2 different things. The vitamix will leave all of the fiber, but you can run the blended veggies through a nutmilk bag to get the juice out. You can do way more with a vitamix than a juicer so if you get only one, I'd get the vitamix. Just my opinion 🙂
Nicole Shea
Can I use a blender to make this or does it have to be a juicer? Thanks!
Elizabeth Rider
Hi there! A juicer works best for juice, but you can put it all into a blender and make a smoothie if you only have a blender, that's great too! 🙂
Mariam Turay
Nice. My morning green juice today was kale, watercress, cucumber, celery and apples.
Elizabeth Rider
Yum!
Laura Shallue
Hi Elizabeth,
I have been trialling this recipe the past week, adding spinach, carrot to the recipe & substituting the lemon for orange. My question is, cucumber is classified as a fruit, this makes the recipe equal parts fruit to vegetable, does this sugar decrease the effectiveness?
Thank-you
SWilson
Just wondering why you juice instead of blend? I've heard a lot of the super-nutritious fiber and some nutrients in skins, etc. are left behind when you only extract the juice.
Ms. Sloan
For the lemon, it says half peeled with pith intact. Does this mean to take the rind off half the lemon, so you would have pith on one half and whole rind on the other?
Elizabeth Rider
The pith (white part) is excellent for you, leave it all. The essential oils in the peel (yellow part) can be a little tough on your stomach (but adds great flavor), so I remove half of it.
Ms. Sloan
great, thanks! I forgot I had posted here or I would have answered sooner. Actually, not dealing with pith and peel is going to make juicing even easier! Is the true for all the citrus fruits?
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Hi Elizabeth , I am recent graduate from IIN and have your book and newsletter . You are doing excellent job! have a question for you though about some of ingridients in your recipes in the book - edamame and agave nectar . How edamame differs from other soy product ? I never read anywhere anything about pros and cons of consuming it even though there are many publications about soy troubles. And same with agave- lots of confusion. Thank you
Theresa Marchigiani Butironi
Is there a reason you did not put organic kale and broccoli? As far as I know, Kale is part of the "Dirty Dozen". I have not heard anything on broccoli. Thanks!
Elizabeth Rider
Hi there! Good q - I always imply organic when writing recipes so I didn't call it out explicitly but now going back and reading it I should have! 🙂
Liz Witt
i have a question about juicing in general-- how often do you need to juice to reap the benefits? Daily? a few times a week?
Elizabeth Rider
Great question - I think even just one juice has benefits 🙂 Every body is different - I try to juice at least 3 times per week and think that alone helps. Some weeks I do more more, some less. Just do the best you can!
Meredith Lauren Virant
Think I could do this in the vitamix and then strain?
Elizabeth Rider
Meredith! Great to see you here. For sure, a nut milk bag works great - it's similar to cheese cloth but you can wash and reuse them, they're around $10 🙂