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the COMPLETE GUIDE to GREEN JUICING and BLENDING

vanessa s imkins

GREEN DRINKOLOGY

Copyright 2014 by Vanessa Simkins. All rights reserved. No part of this publi-cation may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, re-cording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without express writ-ten, dated, and signed permission from the author.

Published in the United States by: All About Juicing, PO BOX 7044, Spring, Texas 77387 www.all-about-juicing.com

Design by Reese Spykerman

disclaimer

Please note that much of this publica-tion is based on personal experience and studies. You should use this information as you see fit, and at your own risk. Your particular situation may not be exactly suited to the examples here; in fact, it’s likely that it won’t be the same, and you should adjust your use of the information and recommendations accordingly.

The information contained in this guide is intended to help readers make informed decisions about their health. Nothing in this document is intended to replace common sense, legal, medical, or other professional advice, and is meant solely to inform the reader. The informa-tion provided in this guide in no way sub-stitutes for a physician’s advice. None of these statements have been provided or verified by the AMA or FDA. These juice combinations or our diet plans will not treat, cure, or prevent a disease. Please consult with a doctor before conducting any health regimen. Although the author and publisher have endeavored to ensure that the information provided herein is complete and accurate, they shall not be held responsible for loss or damage of any nature suffered as a result of reliance on any of this guide’s contents or any errors or omissions herein.

http://www.all-about-juicing.com



Green Drinkology vanessa simkins4

introduction


I love to juice, and I love to make juice recipes. I also enjoy smoothie-ing and make both equally in my personal life. No, I’ve never worked at a juice bar, and I’m not a professional cook. But I can teach you how to make a pretty good juice drink.

Where did this juice knack come from? And who am I? You deserve an an-swer since you are about to trust me with your taste buds.

I started juicing in my early twenties. I returned home from college and didn’t feel well. I felt so bad, in fact, that I could barely get through my day. I re-

searched diets and nutrition, did some nutrition training, and the rest is his-tory. I tried a lot of hardcore things, but one thing that really stuck with me was juicing. I was fascinated by it. It en-thralled me that you could put a carrot into a machine, and this sweet, orange-colored juice would come out. Alterna-tively, I thought it was quite interesting that I could blend food into a drink, and it would taste good. Just pure genius...Magical, in fact. Over the years, I experi-mented with numerous juices and pulp recipes, and juicing made a huge impact on my life. Juicing, along with some other major changes, changed the way I thought about the world, my health, and

Welcome to Green Drinkol-ogy! Here you’ll find a kick-butt

collection of green juices and smoothies that will entice you and those around you to think differ-ently about your greens. Some of these recipes I dreamed up years

ago, and some are classics that I’ve made into green drink bliss.


how I felt. I shared it with friends and family like a raving lunatic, until they could hear no more.

Fast-forward to many years later: I now share juicing with the world. Whether you’re a health enthusiast or just curious about what juicing can do for you, there is no better way, in my opinion, to get quick, lasting, and quality nutrition than from juice and smoothies. Juicing will ex-cite your body to make positive changes and to function the way it was meant to.

green drinks aren’t radical anymore

When I first started juicing, I distinctly remember watching a news program where a newscaster had a green drink, and his coworkers were poking fun at him. I thought that it was weird too. Why would he drink that? Surely it tasted terrible! After all, I had never juiced greens as a beginner; only fruit and vegetable juices were on my menu.

Today, you can find juicers and super-powered blenders in the local depart-ment stores, and people are making fabulous movies about green juicing. I could have never imagined this. Blending or juicing greens is now decently accept-ed and maybe even gaining on super-cool status with the health-focused crew. Greens have some pretty powerful nutri-ents that add a host of vitamins to your diet, which fuels this interest. It’s not just about salads anymore. Even if you just consume one of these green drinks a week, you’ll be doing yourself a favor.

So green drink it up, start a revolution in your own life, and share it with friends and family. I promise you that these recipes will challenge and inspire your inner self to go “Woo-Hoo!” And before long, you’ll be making your own menu creations.

H O W T O U S E T H I S

book


Greens can be changed within recipes with very little taste difference, in most cases. You know those books that tell you not to deviate from a recipe? This is not one of them. Be free and wild: take my creations and change them up. Make them yours. It’s okay to use arugula instead of romaine. It’s also okay to use half a cup of greens instead of a whole cup of them. Juicing isn’t an ex-act science like baking, and it never will

be. The juice and smoothie police will not come after you!

My advice would be to try a few first, and once you get the hang of how greens work in juices or smoothies, then modify from there. You might have different produce in your kitchen than I have—to-tally cool. I recommend experimenting more with smoothies than juices, because in all fairness, green juices can be the most finicky. Lean towards using fewer greens if you are a newbie, just for suc-cessful experimentation purposes.

If the final drink tastes good to you, then it’s a success.

Throughout this book, I’ll provide tasty tips and reci-pes to help you navigate your green drinking adven-tures. Recipes can be tweaked to your own liking. Some you’ll like, and some you’ll want to change. And that’s absolutely okay.

H A N DY K I T C H E N

tools


I have a love-hate relationship with the all of the cooking supplies out there. On one hand, I love all the fun and uniquely designed tools that are available. On the other hand, I really don’t need the cute polka dot spatula or the latest pretty-in-purple high-powered blender.

here are the things that i actually use: For juicing, you need a juicer, no doubt. It doesn’t have to be the best one or the cheapest one, but you do need one. There is a lot of debate on which juicers are best, and as time goes on, the decision becomes more daunting as there are more and more choices becoming available. In the end, go with the juicer that has a proven track record of durabil-ity and a high quality of juice.

There are a few types of juicers. Cen-trifugal juicers spin the juice out of the produce through a spinning mesh screen. These are the most common and cheapest types of juicers. While they do the job, you should know that they are not the best option. Single-gear or twin-gear masticating juicers gently squeeze and press the juice out of the produce. These are the best juicers but are a bit more expensive. Either way, it’s not a decision to stress about. If you’re a beginner, get an inexpensive one to try out. And if you’re really serious about

this stuff, then spend the extra money and get one to last you a lifetime (the lat-ter is my choice). Juicing is good for you no matter what kind of juicer you use!For smoothie blending, any blender will do. Your choices are a regular blender or a high-powered blender. Greens are much harder to blend in regular blenders, so I do recommend a high-powered blender like the Vitamix or Blendtec. These blenders last a lifetime and can really pulverize your greens into a smooth and undetectable consisten-cy. This is worth the investment.

Cutting boards and a good knife are needed for you to chop up and prep your produce beforehand. While it’s a nice thought that you can throw everything in whole, that’s just not reality.

optional goodies I’ll talk more about the difference be-tween blending and juicing, but if you are blending and want the drinks to be juicier, many people use a nut milk bag to sieve out the pulp.

Cool cups, mason jars and fancy glass straws are really fun to use when hav-ing green drinks. I love to get unique colored glass cups and playful straws to enhance my green drink experience. And you might love it too.

B E A G R E E N D R I N K

junkie


Pretty much everyone has heard that adding dark leafy greens to your diet has a number of very important health ben-efits. These benefits have certainly been well publicized, at least in a general way. We know greens are good for our health because they contain so many impor-tant nutrients. It’s just that a bowl of fresh spinach, for example, isn’t listed in the top spot on most people’s breakfast menus, even though it would be a healthy way to start the day.

Beyond that though, it’s not always con-venient to clean, chop, and eat a bowl of fresh leafy greens – like when it’s 7 a.m. and you’re already running late for work, or while you’re on the go during the day. If you use your leafy greens to pre-pare a green smoothie or juice instead, the inconvenience actually becomes pretty minor.

You can eliminate it altogether simply by preparing that day’s green smoothie or juice the night before. It only takes a few minutes, and once it’s prepared, all you need to do is keep it refrigerated inside an airtight container. Juicing your leafy greens or using them to make a fresh green smoothie is a much more conve-nient (and delicious!) way to add more of them to your diet.

The bottom line is this—Would you like to eat a few raw salads each day, or would you prefer to drink just one glass of juice or smoothie? Whether you like salad or

not, there’s no question that green juic-ing and green blending is a quicker, easier way to get your green nutrients. Here’s why:

¿ Green juicing is much easier than eating tons of produce each day. It can supplement a good or bad diet, and even take the place of a meal, while providing much more nutrition than a regular meal would. One small glass of green juice provides you with about the same nutrition that you would get from eating one large salad, and sometimes more. That’s simply amazing to think about—not to mention, quite easy.

¿ Incorporating greens with our reg-ular vegetable drinks makes them a superfood powerhouse. Green drinks provide an easy, quick way to consume some of the best pro-duce out there.

¿ Green drinks contain anti-cancer and antioxidant benefits. The chlorophyll they contain levels out blood sugar, cleans out blood cells, and is one of the best foods that you can put into your body. Chlorophyll is highly cleansing, gives energy, and contains nutrients essential to our well-being. Who doesn’t want that? I know I do!


I absolutely love this quote from Dr. A.B. Howard, the President of Pure Herbs, a leading herbal supplement company. I couldn’t have said it better.

“Green Drink nourishes the blood stream and is the next best thing to having a blood transfusion without the worry of infection or contamina-tion. It is an oxygenator, a poison an-tidote and a gentle flush to rid the body of poisons both internal and environ-mental. It is a source of natural veg-etable Vitamin A, which unlike other sources, can be taken without fear of toxic build-up. No one has ever died from an overdose of green lettuce. This is of considerable value for correction of skin and eye problems, as well as sweeping all internal and skin surfaces clean. The natural high quality potas-sium content has a considerable effect on muscular strength and stabiliza-tion of blood sugar levels, which all add up to increased energy and a properly functioning system.”

If you want to feel good, look great, or get your body up to speed from a new or developing health ailment, green drinks are most likely your quickest and easi-est option. And alternatively, if you want to prevent any future health problems, this is undoubtedly the way to go. Being a green drink junkie will help you reach your goals easily and healthfully.

G R E E N D R I N K S

defined


It’s important to realize though, that the term also includes other greens like arugula, chicory, collards, and dandelion greens. All leafy greens have at least one nutritional benefit in common—chlo-rophyll (more on that later, because it’s extra-special). And with the exception of iceberg lettuce, they’re chock full of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and other essential nutrients. Iceberg lettuce tastes good in a salad, and it adds some nice crispness and crunch. But nutrition-ally, it’s pretty empty. The other types of lettuce are a completely different story, even though their nutritional profiles do vary somewhat.

Romaine, for example, is a fine source of vitamin C, potassium, folate (a naturally occurring water-soluble B vitamin), and fiber. Boston and Bibb lettuce are closely related, and both are good sources of vitamin A, folate, and potassium. Green

leaf lettuce is an excellent source of fo-late, and so is the red leaf variety, which is also high in vitamin A and certain other antioxidants. Escarole and chicory are known for being high in vitamins A and C.

So, what are green drinks? Does it mean they are the color green? Does it mean they contain leafy greens? Well, not exactly. Many times they are green. Sometimes they are orange green, or pinkish green, or even blue–green. You get the idea. What makes them green drinks is that they contain green-colored produce; basically, they are juices made up of fruits and vegetables + a green vegetable. Many of our green creations aren’t even remotely green-colored because the color green doesn’t always dominate. The hues of blueberries and blackberries overpow-er kale, for example.

When people talk about “leafy greens,” they’re almost always referring to spinach

or to some type of lettuce, like Romaine, Bibb, Boston (butter), red leaf, green leaf,

or escarole, for example.


Green drinks can contain leafy greens, wheatgrass, herbs like basil or parsley, or other green produce. Typically, they contain at least 10% of a green vegeta-ble. This can vary greatly depending on if you are blending or juicing the greens, and if the recipe you’re working with can handle more. Some people say green drinks must contain leafy greens. I call a green drink a green drink as long as it has green-colored produce in its ingredi-ents. If it’s green, it’s got chlorophyll.

the B E N E F I T S of D R I N K I N G

green


¿ Many leafy greens are a good source of protein. Meat, fish, poultry, and dairy products aren’t the only foods that are sources of protein. If that was the case, how could vegans (or herbivorous ani-mals, for that matter) possibly get enough protein in their diets? Af-ter all, they don’t eat meat, fish, poultry, or dairy products. Many dark leafy greens are packed with plenty of protein. For example, spinach is 30% to 40% pro-tein. Admittedly, that’s the highest protein percentage of any of the leafy greens, but others also con-tain protein and amino acids—the crucial building blocks of protein.

¿ Greens are an equally good source of dietary fiber. We all need a certain amount of fiber in

our daily diets. Much like tiny little sponges, the fiber that we eat absorbs the toxins that food releases into our digestive tracts —especially in the large intestine (colon). Just as importantly, dietary fiber helps keep things “moving along” in our small and large in-testines, helping our bodies elimi-nate the byproducts of digestion (toxic and otherwise). Most people don’t get enough fiber in their diets. Subsequently, their digestive health suffers.

¿ Irregularity and constipation are just two of the potential problems that can be caused by insufficient dietary fiber. Your risk of colon cancer could also go down if you bump up the fiber in your diet. A daily green smoothie

Why is it so important to add more greens to your diet? Believe it or not, there are great reasons behind this craze. Greens

are one of the most important types of foods you can include in your daily

diet. Here are a few more reasons why you must make this a daily habit:


is a great way to add fiber to your diet. And green juice, even though the fiber has been extracted, actu-ally stimulates the peristaltic waves in your intestines, helping to move everything along.

¿ Enhanced nutrient absorp-tion. The juicer or blender you use does more than just produce a delicious, fresh beverage. It breaks down the cellular walls in the leaves, leaving the nutrients previ-ously locked inside the produce in a form that is much easier for your body to digest and absorb. The cellular walls are ruptured, but the nutrients themselves are still intact and not denatured or otherwise harmed by the process. It might sound a bit odd, but in a way, juic-ing & blending helps “pre-digest” whole fruits and veggies. Your body will be able to take advantage of more of the wholesomeness of fruits and vegetables after they’ve been juiced than when you eat them whole.

¿ Helps to maintain a healthier pH in your body. If your body’s pH tips too far onto the acid side of the scale, you’ll probably be-come more susceptible to infec-tions and certain types of illness-es. A green smoothie made from dark leafy greens and alkaline fruits

will help your body’s pH reach and remain in the healthy range. Stay away from adding citrus fruits if this is one of the reasons you’re drinking green juice; citrus fruits contain too much acid to allow the juice to help raise your body’s pH into the neutral or alkaline range.

¿ Healthier skin, hair, and nails, and a younger appear-ance. When you combine the ben-efits of enhanced nutrient absorp-tion, increased dietary fiber and its ability to help detoxify the body, and a higher, more alkaline pH, your skin, hair, and nails will be healthier. The result? You’ll proba-bly look younger and healthier too.

¿ Chlorophyll intake will skyrock-et, resulting in more energy. Yes, chlorophyll is the substance that plants use to synthesize carbohy-drates and energy by harnessing the power of sunlight and carbon dioxide. And yes, it’s the stuff that gives leaves their green col-or. What does any of that have to do with people? Well, chlorophyll is chemically similar to a protein called “hemin.” That’s the protein component of the hemoglobin in your red blood cells. Hemoglobin, in turn, is what carries the oxygen you breathe to every cell in your body.


¿ Because it’s so chemically similar, chlorophyll can help your blood’s hemoglobin carry out its vital task. It can also help promote the type of conditions inside your body that can help prevent cancer cells from thriving. Green juice and smoothies are literally packed with easily digestible, absorbable chlo-rophyll. You’ll feel healthier and more energetic throughout the day.

¿ A green smoothie or juice will probably be more appealing to your kids. Let’s face it, a lot of kids turn up their noses at many of the healthiest foods, in-cluding spinach and other leafy greens. They’d rather eat maca-roni and cheese or a burger and fries. Those same kids are likely to guzzle down a green smoothie or a glass of green juice. This is be-cause they taste so good. You just need to convince them that green doesn’t always mean “Yuck!”

¿ You’ll probably lose some un-wanted weight. Drinking a green drink can cut down your cravings for fattening afternoon or late-night snacks. Besides being filling, green juice and smoothies can help you regulate your appetite, so you won’t experience those unhealthy cravings quite as frequently. Plus, if you substitute green juice or a

smoothie for the eggs, sausage/ba-con, and buttered toast you might normally eat as your breakfast, you’ll almost certainly lose even more unwanted weight.

¿ Hands down, it’s the best way to get greens. Greens are a life force we need to have. They provide a nutritional profile unmatched by other colored produce. Very few of us actually manage to fit many servings of greens into our meals every day. Green drinkin’ daily virtually guarantees success in your diet because it’s so easy to drink a glass of green. Eating enough raw, hard vegetables to satisfy your daily nutritional requirements would cause excessive wear and tear on your teeth and jaws. Drinking a couple of glasses of freshly pre-pared green juice every day will give you the same health benefits but will be much easier on you physically.

¿ Juicing & blending facilitate a more varied, interesting, and nu-tritionally balanced diet. Many of us tend to eat only a few different fruits and veggies. For example, a lot of people don’t branch out much farther than simple veggies. Juice drinks let you enjoy a wide variety of veggies even though you don’t like eating those same veg-


etables in their whole forms. Juic-ing a variety of vegetables keeps you from becoming bored with the same old foods, and it gives you a more comprehensive, balanced blend of essential nutrients too.

¿ Fresh, raw produce is more nu-tritious than its cooked counter-parts. Cooked veggies are differ-ent because none of the nutrients in raw produce have been de-stroyed by heat. Juicing and blend-ing raw fruits and veggies preserves all of their vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and natural goodness.

¿ A daily serving of a green juice or smoothie is much cheaper than taking nutritional supple-ments. Unfortunately, supple-ments are expensive. But more importantly, green drinks are also more effective than the expen-sive powders and pills you can buy because store-bought supplements don’t provide “live” nutrients, which are more potent. Smoothies and green juices are easy to make and affordable. They’ll deliver plenty of vitamins, minerals, live enzymes, and other raw nutrients to your body in a way that’s easily digested and absorbed. These nu-trients are much more beneficial to your body than the ingredients in a pill or powder supplement.

let’s talk chlorophyll

It might seem surprising at first, but chlorophyll is actually one of the most important nutrients in green juice and smoothies. You cannot miss this.

Chlorophyll is a naturally occurring sub-stance that exists in virtually all green plants, including all leafy greens. In fact, it’s the pigment that’s responsible for the green color of most leaves. Chlorophyll isn’t just a pretty face though. Through a chemical process called photosynthesis, plant leaves use chlorophyll to transform the energy in sunlight and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and oxygen.

The chemistry involved in photosyn-thesis is complex, but I’ll explain it in a nutshell. When exposed to sunlight, a plant’s leaves draw in carbon dioxide from the air through a process called respiration. In a way, this is similar to human respiration, only it’s much slower. The plant doesn’t use lungs or muscles to breathe, and the plant takes in carbon dioxide—not oxygen like we do. The chlorophyll in the plant’s leaves, triggered by the sunlight, then goes to work. Through the magic of chemistry, the chlorophyll uses the energy con-tained in the sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce carbohydrates. Oxygen is released back into the air as a byproduct of the chemical process. The carbohy-drates remain in the plant, to be used as its energy source.


So what does this have to do with hu-man nutrition, you ask? Well, chemi-cally speaking, a molecule of chlorophyll closely resembles a molecule of hemoglo-bin. Hemoglobin is the substance in your red blood cells that carries the life-sus-taining oxygen you breathe throughout your body. Because of its strong molecular similarity to hemoglobin, chlorophyll can help oxygenate your body. The upshot is that chlorophyll helps to restore and cleanse your body. And that’s a big-time reason we juice. That is why it makes us feel so good and why we see positive changes when adding juice to our diets.

The chlorophyll contained in green juices and smooth-ies has a cleansing effect on the whole body. It’s a natural detoxifier. It not only helps your digestive system eliminate harmful chem-icals, drugs, and other noxious substanc-es, but it also helps to cleanse and purify your digestive system, blood, lungs, liver, and lymphatic fluid. The net effect is a healthier, cleaner, more efficiently func-tioning body. Muy importante!

You’ll feel healthier and more energetic if you drink green juices and smooth-ies. Yes, green drinks contain a ton of healthful nutrients, and they’re in a form that’s easily digested and absorbed by your body. Chlorophyll is just one of these nutrients, but it’s also one of the

most beneficial. Never overlook the im-portance of chlorophyll in your diet. It’s one of the biggest reasons why green drinks are so healthy. So without further adieu, let’s talk more about how you can make these green beauties.

J U I C I N G vs. B L E N D I N G

green


duce is crushed, pressed, and squeezed to remove the pulp and fiber so that you’re left with only juice.

Blending is the process by which produce is blended into a drink, retaining the fiber for consumption. Many times these drinks come out very juicy, due to the type of watery fruit and the amount of liquid used.

Both drinks are very good for us. And this is why… Plants have nutritional cell “packs.” These packs need to be broken down for us to get to the nutrition, and this is done by eating. When we chew our food, we release these cells and en-zymes so that they can be digested in our bodies. By juicing or blending, we are releasing these cell packs by break-ing them open before they get into our mouths. We don’t have to chew them for the nutrients and enzymes to release into our bodies. This means our bodies can digest them more easily, because the work has already been done for us. As an added bonus, the machines do a better job of opening up these packs than we do by simply chewing.

Now, when you blend (and the fiber is retained), it takes a little longer for your body to digest the drink because of the fiber that is consumed along with the blended drink. When you juice (and the fiber is removed), you are getting more nutrition because you typically use more produce in a glass of juice than you do in a blended juice. For example, let’s visual-ize an imaginary experiment: If I were to give you two bags of carrots, and told you to blend one with water, and then juice the other bag and show me the glasses afterwards, you’ll notice that a smaller glass of vegetable juice will come from the juicer compared to the glass or glasses that you would produce from the blend-

You’ve been hearing me refer to juicing AND blending. Be-cause I believe both are optimal ways to get greens into our diets, this book con-tains both blender juices, or smooth-ies, and juices made by a juicer. They are different. Juicing is the process by which the pro-


er. The juice extracts only the liquid nutrition, leaving out the pulp.

This is the lure of juicing. You can get more nutrition, and more quickly, by using a juicer. Juice also contains more liquid, and provides a different taste than a blended drink. It’s amazing how differ-ent spinach will taste in a blender juice versus a juicer juice.

Alternatively, a blender allows you to add other fun things like flax or chia seeds, or even coconut oil or nutritional nut milks. You could do this with juice too, but I don’t think it ends up quite as tasty.

So you see, juicing juices and blended juices are different, but they are both awe-

some ways to get nutrition into our diets.There are many cases where a blended green drink is much better than a juiced green drink just due to lifestyle and per-sonal tastes. Green juices are trickier to make tasty, and blended green drinks can usually be tweaked to taste better more easily.

I encourage you to both blend and juice greens in your daily life. Benefits arise from both, and using both methods adds a bit of versatility and flavor. You should know that because they are so different and are each crafted in a different way, different rules apply to making and stor-ing them. I’ve included separate tips and advice for juicing and blending.

T I P S for I N C L U D I N G G R E E N S in YO U R

diet


Start a green lifestyle. Try consuming at least one green beverage a day for a month. You’ll notice a difference in your skin and energy, and you will be doing something great for your overall health, beauty, and nutritional in-take. Make it a habit for life, but start slow.

Rotate your greens. When consuming a high percent-age of greens in your diet, be sure to rotate your greens a few times a week. Plants have trace alkaloids in their leaves so that in nature, ani-mals periodically move on to eat other plant types, keep-ing them from completely exterminating any individual plant species. Alkaloids are poisonous in large quantities but are not harmful in small quantities. If you consume only kale for weeks, the same type of alkaloids build up in your system. Consuming dif-ferent greens over time will ensure that alkaloids don’t build up in your system and cause unwanted side effects. Just use a different green every day or every few days to avoid an alkaloid build-up.

Be aware of oxalic acid. If you are on medications or have thyroid problems, be sure to check with your doctor about the amount of greens you can safely consume in your diet. Raw spinach, beet greens, and chard contain oxalic acid, which can irritate the mouth and intestinal tract


and block calcium absorption. Oxalic acid has also been linked to the forma-tion of kidney stones. Be careful with cruciferous veg-gies. Cabbage, collards, bok choy, kale, and broccoli are cruciferous vegeta-bles. These vegetables are goitrogenic, meaning they contain substances that suppress thyroid function if consumed raw and in large quantities. They also can cause gas, bloating, and stomach upset in some folks. These vegetables have great benefits, but if you have thyroid prob-lems, lightly steam them (that will deacti-vate the goitrogens). Also, take note that I said large quantities, meaning if you juiced a lot of green juice every day. Choose organic produce. Organic pro-duce has a higher level of nutrition than its counterparts. Most people are nutri-tionally deficient, and if you are going to drink for health, you should consider putting the best in your body. Organic produce does not contain harmful pesti-

cides and toxic chemicals. You just don’t want that in your body.

Ripe is hype. If possible, allow your fruit to fully ripen on the vine because it is more nutritious than unripe fruit. It’s also optimal for digestion.

Sip slowly. Both smoothies and juices should be sipped slowly and swished around the mouth so that they can mix with your saliva. This releases the enzymes and aids in absorption and digestion.

Get a ceramic or stainless steel con-tainer. If you are embarrassed to carry green drinks with you, get an opaque travel mug, and no one will know or ask you questions. Juicing, smoothie-ing, and green drinking are becoming more com-mon nowadays, so no need to be ashamed of being healthy. If someone pokes fun at you, just think of how much better off you’ll be with your good health and beau-ty down the road!

a L I S T of

common greens


kale

Kale works equally well in smoothies and juices. It has a bitter flavor that can be masked by stronger fruits and veggies. A great source of beta carotene, vitamin K, calcium, and iron.

in juices Yes, you can use the stems. Be-cause kale is so bitter, be sure to start slow and use only a few leaves. Kale pairs well with green apples, pineapple, citrus, carrot, and cucumbers.

in smoothies Kale leaves are harder to blend, so it’s best to have a high-powered blender for these. A kale smoothie left in the fridge will get gloppy, so this is not a good ingredient to use if you aren’t go-ing to drink your smoothie right away. If you are going to take it to go, just use less kale to reduce the thickness. It pairs well with strawberries, bananas, and citrus. I often freeze chopped kale from the farm-ers’ market, making it convenient and easy to put into a daily smoothie.

The following is a list of common greens you might want to consider using in your

green drinks. There are many other greens and herb greens available in the world that

you could use for your green smoothies and juices. These, however, I’ve selected

because they are the most commonly used edible plants available in most regions.


dandelion greens

Dandelion greens have a really rich nutrient profile. They are high in beta carotene, vita-min K, calcium, iron, magnesium, and vita-min E. Overall, dandelion greens are a potent detoxifier and help to cleanse the liver. This nutrient mix is popular for helping the body to increase stamina and energy.

in juices The green leaves and roots are great for juicing. Use sparingly, because this green is strong. It pairs well with carrot, apple, and beet juices.

Iin smoothies Most sweet fruits can hide the dandelion’s bitter flavor. I like using banana, citrus, and pineapple. Dandelion greens freeze well for future smoothie use.

swiss chard

Swiss chard comes in many varieties. It is a good source of calcium, vitamin K, and beta carotene.

in juices It combines well with carrot, apple, and cucumber mixes.

in smoothies Swiss chard has a similar texture to spinach, and blends up eas-ily. It works well with banana and citrus.

collard greens Collard greens are one of the best cruciferous vegetables, in my opinion. They have been shown to be great for detoxing, lowering cho-lesterol, and having strong antioxidant prop-erties. Collards are tough and bitter, but will juice and smoothie just fine.


in juice This is not my go-to green for juice, but it is good for you. So if you like it, by all means, use it. Combine it with cucumber, celery, and carrot juice. If you are new to juicing, do not start out with collards. I would say this green is for the more hardcore green juicer.

in smoothies You’ll find that collards, despite their tough texture, do blend up well. They also freeze well for future use. You can mask the flavor easily with your favorite fruits. I like to mix a bit of coconut milk or nut butter with this green to make sure all of the bitter taste is hidden.

mustard greens

Mustard greens are spicy and tangy at the same time. They are very strong and potent, but offer many nutrients. They help the body to detox.

in juice Mustard greens can be juiced, but sparingly. They are very potent, so be sure to dilute them with cucumber, cel-ery, apples, pears, or carrots. Try juicing only 1 cup (1-2 leaves) to start.

in smoothies Mustard greens work bet-ter in smoothies than juices because their flavor is so strong. Blending them in smoothies is the easiest way to mask the flavor. Combine these greens with sweet fruits and leafy green lettuce to make them palatable.

wheatgrass

Wheatgrass is amazing! It’s a super source of chlorophyll and has a very large range of vitamins and minerals compared to other fruits and veggies. Studies show it purifies the blood, and it is a cell stimulator and red cell builder. You can find wheatgrass in many farmers’ markets and supermarkets nowa-days. You can also buy it in frozen, already-juiced cubes almost anywhere.

in juices To juice wheatgrass, you’ll need a gear or wheatgrass juicer because it yields very little water and is tough and fi-brous. Wheatgrass doesn’t produce much liquid, and that’s fine, because it’s very potent. If you’ve never had it before, you should start out with a 1-2 ounce sized shot a day. Too much too quickly will make you feel sick. Wheatgrass is an exception to the juicing rule in that it doesn’t have to be diluted with other


juices. Wheatgrass can be drunk solo, but if you can’t take the taste, try juicing it with pineapple, pear, or apple juices.

in smoothies Frozen wheatgrass cubes or powders are a great addition to any smoothie. Wheatgrass will work with just about any produce combination, and the taste is easily masked because it has a mild flavor. Throw in a tablespoon of powder, one frozen cube, or a small hand-ful of the fresh grass for extra nutrition.

radish tops

Radishes and radish tops are extremely potent but are very good for you. Great for sinus and skin problems, they are an excellent source of vitamin C, folate, and potassium.

in juices In general, radishes and their tops make a strong juice and should not be drunk on an empty stomach. They should be diluted heavily with other juices like carrot, cucumber, sweet potato or bell peppers. Only use 1 cup to start, and use sparingly in juices. They will add a peppery flavor, along with an element of heat.

in smoothies In my opinion, radish tops work much better in smoothies than they do in juices. Combine with any fruit or veggie-based recipe. I think that they work best in tropical fruit smoothies that do not have a milk base.

celery

While celery root is a vegetable root and isn’t a leafy green, it does have leafy greens attached to the root. And it’s fine to eat and drink both root and greens. Celery is a nutri-ent powerhouse that helps to maintain acid-alkaline balance in the blood. It mixes well with other juices because of its mild flavor.

in juices Celery root and its green leaves are fine for juicing. It tastes a bit like a salty water and mixes fantastically with carrot juice and other green juices. Cel-ery juice, because it is not a potent leafy green, can be drunk solo and doesn’t have to follow the “¼ greens in a glass” rule I discuss in “Tips for juicing greens” sec-tion of this book.

in smoothies Celery leaves blend up pretty well in the blender. Because they are so mild, they pair with just about


any fruit or savory smoothie extremely well. I like to save the root for juicing but use the leaves for smoothies.

endive

Endive is a salad green that has a bitter taste. It can be juiced and blended easily into your drinks, as it has a delicate texture. En-dive has a high amount of vitamin A, folate, vitamin C, and potassium.

in juices While this green is bitter, it is not the most potent. It juices just fine with celery, carrots, cucumbers, or beets.

in smoothies Endive blends really well in smoothies with just about any combina-tion you choose. It works well with ba-nanas, mangos, pineapple, and milk-based fruit smoothies.

mint/spearmint

Mint is an awesome flavor and nutrition enhancer when added to any green drink. You can combine it with other greens or just add a

few sprigs for flavor. Because it is a very dis-tinct flavor, start by adding just a few leaves, and go from there. It can be very refreshing in the summer months. It’s also great for upset stomachs and indigestion.

in juices You’ll only need a few leaves to make your juice taste minty. I love to pair mint with apples and lemons to make dif-ferent combinations.

in smoothies Mint blends nicely into your smoothies. I like to combine it with lemonades, watermelon, mangoes, and pineapple. It’s also great when paired with other greens like romaine lettuce, if you want to beef up your smoothie.

basil Basil has amazing health properties. It’s a natural anti-inflammatory and inhibitor of bacteria. This common herb is grown in many gardens and often taken for granted. It’s not just used for basil pesto! It combines magically with many other fruits and vegetables, so if you’ve got some of it growing in your garden, consider using it in your drinks.


in juices A little goes a long way when juicing basil. It is very strong. It pairs well with pears, apples, and carrots. Mix basil with other green leaf lettuces and celery to dilute the flavor.

in smoothies Since it’s not a hearty leaf, basil blends easily in any blender. I like it with mango, pineapple, papaya, or even in banana-based tropical smoothies that include coconut milk.

broccoli

Broccoli is not a leafy green, but it is definitely classified as a green. It’s a powerhouse of nu-trients and can’t be passed up. It’s nicely high in vitamin D, and vitamin K and A. It will work better in juices than in smoothies; how-ever, if you add just a floret or two to your smoothies, you shouldn’t be able to taste it.

in juices Broccoli juices extremely well. But beware: if you juice too much of it, it becomes bitter and unpleas-ant. Dilute it with celery, cucumber, or carrot juices sweetened with an apple, and you’ll find it a very nutritious drink. I personally find broccoli juice helps with my daily energy and stamina.

in smoothies Broccoli doesn’t blend as well as juice. However, you can add a few

small florets to your favorite smoothie combos. Only add a little to start, as it can quickly overpower the juice. Mix it with savory ingredients like toma-toes and carrots, or hide it in a heavily berry-filled smoothie.

watercress

This green is bitter and spicy but blends and juices very well. It is high in vitamins A and C and beta-carotene.

in juices This green is more versatile than it looks. I love to pair it with apples, pears, or pineapple.

in smoothies Watercress is fantastic in green smoothies. Its delicate texture blends up nicely with tropical fruits and banana-based smoothies.


leaf lettuce/

romaine lettuce

Generally speaking, the darker the lettuce the more nutritious it is. Butter, bibb, red leaf, and romaine lettuces are great choices. Stay away from iceberg, as it has hardly any nutritional value.

Romaine is high in protein and high in wa-ter and is my go-to green for everyday juic-ing. You can pair green leaf lettuce with almost anything without being able to taste it, so it’s a great starter green for newbies. I hap-pen to prefer romaine more in juices than I do smoothies, but it works well in both.

in juices Its mild tasting flavor works perfectly for green juices.

It’s not a tricky green to make juice with. Works great with almost any fruit or veg-etable, but I think it pairs well with pine-apple, red apples, and carrot-cucumber combinations.

in smoothies Green leaf lettuces work well in smoothies when they are fresh. Lettuces don’t freeze well com-pared to the hardier greens like kale or

spinach. I like to add a few fresh leaves with citrus, pineapple, or apple for a nice drink.

parsley

Don’t use this green only as a garnish—it’s too good for you. Parsley is an extremely nutritious herb and will give you a spike of energy. It’s high in volatile oil components and flavonoids, vitamin C and vitamin A. In animal studies, it’s been shown to inhibit tumor formation.

in juices You can use this herb sparingly in juice to get a big benefit; you just don’t need much. I always add this to my green juice to get a burst of energy. In juices, it pairs well with carrot, cel-ery, and cucumber.

in smoothies, Add a sprig to your fa-vorite recipe for added nutrition and undetectable flavor. Until you get use to it’s taste, never use more than a cup or it might overpower the taste of your smoothie. You can also combine it with other greens in your drink.


d ill weed

This herb can be juiced or blended in a smoothie. While it’s usually used in cooked or savory dishes, it has a pleasant taste and adds a nice flavor.

in juices Dill doesn’t yield much juice at all. That being said, it does lend a nice flavor to veggie juices. Add a few sprigs, and try it out. It can be added with other green juices. Try it in savory juices with carrot, celery, or cucumber.

in smoothies A few sprigs of dill can be undetectable in fruit smoothies. Dill pairs well with citrus fruit, pineapples, and savory smoothies.

c ilantro

Cilantro is very similar to parsley but with a milder, sweeter flavor. It will help you with energy and adds a little extra nutrients to your drinks.

in juices Cilantro works well in juices with carrots or veggie based combinations, and with lemon, cucumbers, or celery.

in smoothies Cilantro works well in savory smoothies or with citrus and pineapple drinks. Add only a few sprigs to your drink so that the flavor is not overpowering. I happen to think it works really well in tomato-based savory smoothies.

arugula

Arugula is a great source of folic acid, vita-min A, C and K. I actually love to use arugu-la for green drinks, particularly smoothies. It has a potent, bitter flavor similar to dandelion greens. It’s nutrient rich and a good addition to your green repertoire.

in juices Arugula is extremely strong and bitter tasting in juices. Not everyone will like this juice, and it is a harder taste to mask. If you are using arugula, try pair-ing it with apples, pears, celery, and cu-cumber juice. Cap the amount at ½ cup for your juice when first experimenting.

in smoothies Arugula blends well with citrus, pineapple, and banana-based tropical smoothies. It also works well in


savory smoothies. Combine it with spin-ach or leaf lettuce to help tone down the bitter flavor.

beet greens

Beets and beet greens are great for the body, as they are extremely cleansing. However, you want to eat these greens sparingly since they are very potent in both nutrition and taste.

in juices Too much of this green juice can upset a sensitive stomach. Never drink beet juice solo or even combined with beet greens. It’s too strong. I like to di-lute it with a fair amount apple, carrot, or cucumber. Only juice ½ cup to 1 cup per glass of juice.

in smoothies These work great in smoothies, but start with only one leaf and work your way up to more. This leaf is similar in texture to spinach and chard, and can blend well. It also freez-es fairly well.

turnip greens Turnips are an acquired taste and are very potent. They are a good source of a variety of vitamins and minerals and are high in vitamin C.

in juices You can juice turnip greens, but they are strong. Just like other green juices, be sure that you never drink this solo. Mix it with other vegetables like carrot, cucumber, celery, or apple. When juicing, turnip greens mix well with tur-nips and another vegetable like carrot, bell pepper, or tomatoes.

in smoothies Turnip greens are not my favorite in green smoothies, but they are a nice option when changing up your greens. Plain turnips are great for juicing with tomatoes, so if you have some on hand, blend the greens in a smoothie, and use the turnips to juice. Turnips work well in savory smoothies and can replace any green in your recipes.


cabbage Cabbage doesn’t always have the best flavor when juiced or blended, but it is good for you. Beware that when cabbage is consumed in large quantities, it can cause stomach upset and gas. Its nutritional profile boasts calcium, vitamin C, and vitamin K as well as other important minerals.

in juice It definitely needs to be cut with water or other juices, and I recommend using it sparingly. Try mixing cabbage with carrot or apple juices.

in smoothies I don’t happen to smoothie cabbage often as it is not particularly appealing to me; however, it can work in blended vegetable soups and vegetable smoothies (for example, with tomatoes and mango). Cabbage doesn’t blend very well in a cheaper blender, so be sure to cut it into small pieces before processing.

bok choy

(chinese cabbage) Bok choy is in the cabbage family, but it has a more neutral taste when blended or juiced.

in juices Yes, it sounds weird, and it’s not overly common, but bok choy can be juiced. Try it with apples, carrots, and bell peppers.

in smoothies Bok choy works great in green smoothies. Its flavor is easy to mask with blended fruits. I think the baby bok choy variety works best, and you can use both the leaf and stalk.

sp inach

Spinach is nutritionally dense. It’s rich in vi-tamins, minerals and concentrated with health promoting phytonutrients and flavonoids that provide us with antioxidant protection. Spin-ach works well in both juices and smoothies- it’s definitely one of the most popular greens used in green drinks. I prefer to smoothie spin-ach rather than juice it; however, I do both.


in juices Spinach is strong tasting in juice, and you only need a few ounces. It can be difficult to hide the flavor. Be sure to dilute this juice with celery, cucumber, carrots, or apples. You’ll need no more than 1 cup of fresh spinach for your glass.

in smoothies I feel that this flavor pro-file is more palatable and easier to blend for smoothie recipes. Blending spinach whole in a smoothie is a great way to hide the taste. It freezes well and is my go-to when teaching others who are new to green smoothies. If you have a cheap blender, spinach is not hard to blend up, compared to harder, thicker greens like kale. It pairs well with almost anything, but I find it goes especially well with banana-based smoothies.

other options Other greens that you can add to your juices and smoothies that are less popular (but worth mentioning) are:

¿ Radicchio

¿ Oregano

¿ Tarragon

¿ Lambsquarters

¿ Fennel

G R E E N

juicing


tips for juic ing greens

Watch your green produce percent-ages. This is so important. Never drink your green juices solo. In most cases, they should not constitute more than ¼ of the glass of juice. Green juicing is a bit different than regular juicing in that greens are more nutrient-dense and stronger-tasting than other juices. This is a good thing. I only mention this be-cause green juices can be potent to the body at first. If you aren’t used to having 5 kale leaves in one sitting, your body will detoxify rapidly, and you’ll have some ill effects. Just remember to start off slowly.

Most of my recipes are “gentle green juices” as I call them, meaning that they are not so strong that they overpower the beginner green juicer. This does not really apply to blending greens. Blend-ing results in green drinks that are not as strong, and you could drink a glass full of just-blended greens without major detox side effects. However, it’s not recom-mended. Make your green blender drinks about ¼ to ½ of greens, and no more, to ensure that they are palatable.

Hide the taste of greens. Sometimes greens don’t taste so good when juiced. If you are making your own combinations, mixing ginger or lemon with your recipes helps to make a green juice more palat-able. Apples and carrots combine very well with greens. When in season and

available, use them with greens to create your own juices.

Roll up your leaves. When juicing leafy greens, it’s always easier to roll the greens up in a long cylinder before inserting them into your juicing chute. It’s also not a bad idea to wrap it around an apple slice or a carrot, for example. This makes them denser and easier to juice.

Don’t combine just anything with green juice. As a general rule, keep veg-etables with vegetables and fruits with fruits when juicing. Intermixing both can be done, but some combinations cause flatulence because fruits digest in the body at a faster rate than most veg-etables. Apples and carrots are the ex-ception; they can be mixed with almost anything fairly well. I add both carrots and apples to most of my green juices for added flavor and nutrition.

Drink it alone. It’s best to drink your juice on an empty stomach. Drinking it solo allows your body to fully digest it properly. If you drink it while you’re eating, it could dilute the digestive juices in your stomach, interfering with proper digestion.

Hard stems are fine to juice. They have lots of nutrition and should not go to waste. When using leafy greens with a hard stem (like kale or chard), know that you don’t have to separate the stem from


the leaf like you would if you were cook-ing or eating them. Your juicer should be able to process them and get all of those nutrients into your juice.

Save your green waste. Well, not waste—the leftover stems you cut off from your salad last night. If you are cooking and preparing meals and tend to throw away waste while prepping, save the ends or stems of your greens for juic-ing later.

I often find myself throwing away beet tops, cucumber ends (because they don’t look pretty sliced), or the hard stems of kale (I cut off the stems before cook-ing or making raw chips). Don’t throw it away…It’s great in juice! Just put a bowl in your fridge to hold all of the leftovers, and then juice it during the week.

Don’t save the juice. Juice will only keep well for 8-12 hours, max, unless you have a high quality mastication machine like the Green Star or Norwalk which produces juices that can last up to 36 hours. Juices oxidize quickly and once they do, they are unsafe to drink. Pro-duce also starts to lose its nutrition as soon as it is juiced (or the fruit/vegetable is cut), so it’s best to drink juices ASAP after juicing to access the maximum amount of nutritional benefits. Pace yourself. If you are starting a juic-ing regimen or have never juiced before,

start slowly. What I mean by this is: Let your body get used to green juice.

No doubt about it—green juice is super-good for you and has many life-giving nutrients. It also can cause detoxifying effects if drunk too much or too quickly if your body isn’t used to it. Because it’s giving your body so many good things to work with for cleaning up your blood and getting the trash out, green drinks can de-toxify your body quickly and can cause you to feel nauseous. This is not a bad thing, but it’s not very pleasant or necessary.

Start off by juicing a few leaves, and work your way up to a full glass. Mix dark leafy greens with a base of celery and cucum-bers. Their high water content will aid in your body’s digestion. You can also add a bit of fresh spring water.

Remember, if you are accustomed to not eating raw food and instead eating cooked and dead foods, your body is go-ing to go “Whoa!” when it takes in all the good stuff from the juice. Start slowly with the greens.

Hide the green taste. It’s easy to mask green flavors with other palate-pleasing produce. When coming up with your own recipe (by using whatever you have in the kitchen), remember these rules: Start with a base of cucumber or celery—it will always work well to dilute the strong tastes that some other greens can bring


to the table. Add half a lemon (the rind okay too) and/or ginger for a nice taste. Careful on the ginger—only a small knob will really give your juice a kick. Adding an apple will also increase sweetness and take the bitterness away.

If you want to start juicing greens daily, keep and apple, ginger, lemons, celery, and cucumber on hand for a great-tast-ing drink.

Get serious. If you are going to get seri-ous about juicing greens and don’t have a good juicer, consider one. The best juicers for juicing greens are single and twin gears. Centrifugal juicers just don’t work as well for greens, and you will end up with a lot of waste. You need a juicer that is gentle on the leaves to preserve the nutrients. The juicers that spin really fast create heat and don’t juice greens well. They can end up killing the nutri-ents before they even get to your glass.

Peel or not? You can juice lemons and limes whole. The peel will make the juice more potent, but it’s safe. The peels of grapefruit and oranges contain an in-digestible oil that is not good for your stomach. Don’t juice those. Make sure that you also peel papaya and mango skins. Feel free to juice watermelon, pineapple, and cantaloupe rinds.

making your own green juices

I’ll be the first one to admit that green juicing is tricky. Greens are strong and unlike smoothies, adding nut milk and honey will not save the drink. You have to get ratios right and know what will dilute the greens well. But once you find a few recipes you like and get the hang of it, you’ll love it. To save yourself some icky juices, keep these tips in mind:

¿ Keep the green juices to ¼ of the recipe.

¿ Green juice pairs well with apples, pears, and carrots. These are great options when you are first starting out/experimenting with your own recipes.

¿ Celery and cucumber work well to dilute strongly flavored juices. If you dilute the juice with celery or cucumber, add an apple or a pear, and it will almost always taste great.

¿ Tomato + carrot combinations of-ten combine well with most greens.

¿ Pineapple and citrus work really well to make a sweet juice and to hide the taste of greens.


¿ Ginger helps to hide the taste of strong greens and adds an interest-ing flavor to your juice.

¿ Lemons and limes can help cut the green flavor and can sometimes be used with apples to save a bad or strong-tasting green juice.

¿ Straight carrot juice combines well with almost all greens.

¿ When I’m in a pinch and want to throw a green juice together quick-ly or experiment, I have a favorite recipe combination. It consists of 1 cucumber, 1 apple, ½ a lime, 2 stalks of celery and 2 cups of a mild lettuce (or 1 cup of a stronger green like kale or spinach). This is a fail-safe recipe with a good greens-to-vegetable/fruit ratio. You can add additional ingredients or subtract them based on your taste. Remem-ber this recipe and swap out ingre-dients when experimenting.

green juice recipes 1. Minty Limeade serves 2 cupsingredients:4 green apples, cored2 large limes, peel okHandful of mint, 8 leaves2 kale leaves or 1 cup choppedSparkling mineral water, optional

method:Peel the lime (optional). Core and slice the ap-ples. Juice the apples, limes, mint, and kale. Pour in a glass, and add mineral water if desired. Serve.

2. Rocky Romaine serves 2 cupsingredients:Romaine lettuce, 2 cups chopped or 5 leaves1 large wedge of green cabbage or 4 large leaves3 pears, cored1/2” piece of ginger root

method:Chop the cabbage and romaine. Core and slice the pears. Juice the pears, romaine, cabbage and gin-ger. Pour over ice. Serve.

3. Spinach Swizzle serves 2 cupsingredients:2 cups of spinach2 pears, cored1 apple, cored

method: Core and cut the apples and pears into slices. Juice the spinach, pears, and apple. Serve.


4. Green Aces serves 2 cupsingredients:1 pear or apple, cored1 grapefruit, peeled2 celery stalks1 bunch of green lettuce, 1-2 cups

method: Peel the grapefruit and cut into segments. Cut the celery into 3-inch pieces. Juice the pears, grapefruit, celery, and green lettuce. Serve.

5. Green Punch serves 2 cupsingredients:2 celery stalks1 apple, cored1” knob of ginger ¼ of a pineapple, rind removed1 cup of spinach

method: Core and slice the apple. Cut the celery into 3-inch pieces. Cut the pineapple into spears. Juice the celery, apple, ginger, pineapple, and spinach. Serve over ice.

6. Wild Waldorf serves 2 cupsingredients:2 cups of red or green grapes1 apple, cored2 cups of romaine or green lettuce 3 stalks of celery method: Core and cut the apple into wedges. Cut the celery into 3-inch pieces. Juice the grapes, apple, celery, and lettuce, alternating. Serve.

7. Broccoli Hulk serves 2 cupsingredients:1 stalk of broccoli (or a few florets equal to 1 cup)3 apples, cored2 parsnips

method: Core and cut the apples into wedges. Cut the parsnips into 3-inch pieces. Juice the broccoli, apples, and pars-nips. Be careful not to add too much broccoli to this juice or it will overpower the taste. If you do, add another apple or a pear. Serve.

8. Green Gazpacho serves 2 cupsingredients:2 cups of spinach1 broccoli stalk3 tomatoes3 celery stalks

method: Cut the tomatoes into wedges. Cut the celery into 3-inch pieces. Juice the broccoli, tomatoes, celery, and spinach together. Serve.

9. Watercress Wild serves 2 cupsingredients:4 pears, cored2 cups of watercress

method: Core the pears and cut into slices. Juice the pears with the watercress. Serve.


10. Absolutely Zuke serves 2 cupsingredients:1 zucchini1 apple, cored1-2 cups kale, chopped1 large ring of pineapple, rind removed

method:Core the apple and cut into wedges. Cut the zucchini into spears. Juice the pineapple, apple, zucchini, and kale, alternating. Serve.

11. Zesty Lemonada serves 2 cupsingredients:2 lemons, peeled1 orange, peeled1 apple, cored1 cup of butter or green lettuce ½ cup of mineral or sparkling water1 small knob of ginger

method: Juice the lemons, orange, apple, and lettuce. Pour in a cup and add mineral water, if desired. Serve over ice.

12. Cherry Cider serves 2 cupsingredients:1 cup of fresh cherries, pitted2 cups of arugula2 apples, cored½ cucumber

method:Core the apple and cut into wedges. Cut the cucumber in half. Pit all the cherries. Juice the cherries, cucum-ber, apple and arugula. Serve immediately.

13. Carrot Craze serves 2 cupsingredients: 7 carrots1 apple, cored2 cups kale, chopped

method:Cut the carrots into 3-inch pieces. Core the apple, and cut into wedges. Juice the carrots and apple wedges with the kale, alternating. Serve.

14. Green Cadillac serves 2 cupsingredients: 1 beet with stems + greens (about 2 cups stems and greens) 3 apples, cored 1 zucchini

method:Core the apples and cut into wedges. Cut the zucchini into spears. Chop the beet and its stems/greens. Juice the apples, zucchini, and beet with its stems and greens. Serve immediately.

15. Dandy Daisy serves 2 cups ingredients: 1 zucchini 1 cup of dandelion greens 1 sweet potato 1 orange, peeled 1 cup of lettuce 1 pear, cored

method:Core the pear and cut into wedges. Peel the orange, and cut into segments. Cut the sweet potato and zuc-chini into spears. Juice the zucchini, dandelion greens, sweet potato, orange, lettuce leaves, and pear. Serve.


16. Royal Ritzingredients: 3 cups chopped greens, your choice 2 apples, cored 1 lemon, peel ok ½ cucumber

method:Core the apples, and cut into wedges. Cut the cucum-ber into spears. Juice the lemon, cucumber, greens, and apples, alternating. Serve.

17. Green Beauty Juice serves 2 cupsingredients: 1 cucumber 1 cup of kale or 2 large leaves 1 cup of spinach 1 cup of romaine lettuce or 2 large leaves 4 celery stalks 1 cup of coconut water

method: Cut half a cucumber into spears. Cut the celery into 3-inch pieces. Cut the spinach, kale, and romaine into smaller pieces. Juice the cucumber, kale, celery, spinach, and romaine lettuce together, alternating. After you’ve juiced, add the coconut water to the juice. Mix it to-gether, and serve immediately.

18. Swiss Kiss serves 2 cupsingredients: 2 cups of swiss chard, chopped 1 sweet potato 12 strawberries, including caps

method:Cut the sweet potato into long spears. Juice the strawberries, sweet potato, and swiss chard. Serve immediately.

19. Green Angel serves 2 cupsingredients: Beet tops + stems from 1-2 beets 10 carrots Small handful of parsley

method: Chop the beet tops. Cut the beet stems and greens into smaller pieces. Juice the carrots, beet tops, and parsley, alternating in juicer. Serve immediately.

20. Popeye Punch serves 2 cups ingredients:4 stalks of celery2 cups of spinach2 grapefruits, peeled

method:Peel the grapefruits, and cut into segments. Cut the celery into 3-inch pieces. Juice the celery, grapefruits, and spinach. Serve.

21. Greenade serves 2 cupsingredients:2 apples, cored1 large cucumber2 handfuls of spinach6 kale leaves2 celery stalks1 lemon, peel okay

method:Core and cut the apples into wedges. Cut the cucum-ber and celery into 3-inch pieces. Cut the lemon in half. Juice the apples, cucumber, spinach, celery, kale and lemon. Serve.


22. Carrot Flip serves 2 cupsingredients:7 carrots1 3-inch ring of pineapple1 cup of arugula or spinach1 sweet potato

method:Cut the carrots into 3-inch pieces. Cut the sweet potato into spears. Juice the carrots, spinach, pineapple, and sweet potato, alternating. Serve.

23. Spinach Hot Spot serves 2 cupsingredients:1 cup of spinach1/2 cucumber2 stalks of celery, including leaves3 carrots1 apple, cored

method: Core the apple and cut into wedges. Chop the celery and carrots into 3-inch pieces. Cut the cucumber into spears. Juice the apple, carrot, celery, cucumber, and spinach. Serve immediately.

24. Honeydew Crush serves 2 cupsingredients:¼ honeydew, rind removed1 lemon, peeled1 cup of spinach or kale1 cucumber

method:Cut the honeydew in wedges. Peel the lemon. Cut the cucumber into spears. Juice the cucumber, spinach/kale, lemon, and honeydew. Serve.

25. Green Ginger serves 2 cupsingredients:1 granny smith apple, cored½ lime, peel removed1 cup or 2 leaves of collard greens, chopped4 stalks of celery, chopped1 inch knob of ginger1 kiwi

method:Core the apple and cut into slices. Cut the celery into 3-inch pieces. Cut the peel off of the lime (leave it on if you like a strong lime taste). Cut the kiwi in half. Juice the celery, collards, kiwi, lime, ginger, and apple. Serve.

G R E E N

smoothies


tips for blending greens Watch the ratio. Keep most greens to about one quarter of the drink. Blended drinks can typically take more of the strong leafy greens like kale and dande-lion, than a juice could.

The peels. If you have a high-speed blender, no need to peel apples, kiwis, and pears. A regular blender might not blend peels completely, but will blend fine in a high powered blender. You absolutely need to peel all citrus, mangoes, bananas and papayas. You can blend a pineapple core if you want, but not the peel.

About fruits. Fruits like apples and pears that have high pectin and fiber con-tent prevent separation and will make the smoothie thick and creamy.

Reduce froth. If you have a frothy smoothie, it could be that you blended it too much. It could also be due to the apples in a recipe, as they tend to make froth. Try adding some ice to the smoothie, and this should help some of the froth to subside.

Blending the green stems & stalks. While you can blend the whole stalk and leaves of kale, collards, and chard, they sometimes have a bitter, pep-pery taste you might not like. It’s also harder to blend stems in your blender and it might result in a chunky drink. It’s

up to you if you want to blend them. I don’t usually blend the stalks but find them easy to juice, and save them in a “juicing pile” for later.

Adding extras. Nuts, oils, seeds, and supplements can be added to your smoothies, but they can slow down the breakdown of the nutrients in the di-gestive tract, causing some irritation or gas. I occasionally like to add aloe vera juice, chia seeds, or flax. You’ll have to test it out for yourself to see if your body can tolerate it.

Fruit + Greens. They just go together. Fruits and greens go together the best in smoothies. They are an optimal com-bination. Starchy vegetables in green smoothies (carrots, green beans, broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, eggplant, pumpkin, squash, okra, peas, corn) don’t always combine well with fruit and can cause some gas.

Don’t mix so much. Green smoothies are best for your digestive system when they have only a few ingredients. Make it a point to keep it simple and not add too many fruits to the mix.

Chop it. In almost all cases, your blend-er will blend easier when you chop every-thing very well. Chop the greens, the fruit, even dates. When the blender has small pieces to blend it combines much easier.


Store it. Green smoothies keep for a much longer time period than juice does. If you want to make some for later use, store it in the fridge for 1-3 days in an airtight container. A glass mason jar with a lid works like a charm for storing smoothies. Drink it alone. It’s best to drink your smoothie alone and not as part of your meal.

Make it creamy. If you want a creamy smoothie, coconut oil, almond milk, coconut milk, and avocados make the smoothie a lot creamier. Coconut milk and avocado go a long way, so only use a little. Too much coconut oil will make the smoothie solidify because smoothies are typically chilled, and coconut oil is solid at room temperature.

Bananas are your friends. Bananas are fantastic in green smoothie recipes. If you freeze them in chunks, they will contribute a cool milkshake consistency. To easily do this, peel ripe bananas, and cut them into slices. Layer on wax paper, and then seal them in a plastic freezer bag. This makes them easy to use when-ever you need them.

Cold smoothies. Many people like cold smoothies. To achieve this effect, make sure at least one ingredient is frozen. For example, use frozen bananas or berries

instead of fresh fruit. Even adding ice works well to make it cool, but I think that the frozen fruit contributes to a nicer consistency. If you do add a frozen element to your drink, keep in mind that you might have to adjust the liquid.

making your own green smoothies In general, green smoothies are much easier to create than green juices are. When greens are juiced, they can be very strong and hard to conceal. Blend-ing them in smoothies allows room for more experimentation, as tropical fruits like bananas, mangoes, papayas, and pineapple can hide the taste of almost any green.

Also, you can add things like almond milk, coconut milk, honey, or dates to make the drinks more palatable. This alone makes green smoothie recipes less challenging and more approachable for someone new to the green drink scene.

¿ When starting out, include only ½ to 1 cup of greens when blending your drink. Adding more than that will overpower the drink and prob-ably not be palatable.

¿ A great smoothie consists of a water or milk base + fruit + greens + optional sweetener. Sometimes it’s


just fruit + greens, if the fruit you are using is a watery fruit. I almost always have to add water or coco-nut water.

¿ If you don’t want to add extras like nut milk that a typical smoothie recipe would include-and just make it a plain “blender juice” where it’s fruit + greens blended, stick to citrus and sweet watery fruits like watermelon or cantaloupe and then add greens. This will help your drink to taste good without extra add-ins.

¿ If you prefer to make your smooth-ies creamier and don’t want to add water, try a milk base. Consider making your own nut milk (almond, walnut, hazelnut) or using coconut milk for a tropical flavor. Organic soy milk works well too. I avoid ani-mal milk because it’s mucus forming and inflammatory.

¿ In many cases, you’ll probably like a sweeter drink. If you want it to be sweeter, add honey, stevia, fresh dates or coconut sugar. You could also add a banana or another sweet fruit for additional flavor. Avoid adding processed white sugar, as it has no health benefits.

¿ Try combining a few herbs with your greens in the recipe for added nutrition.

¿ Always add your liquid first, then your greens, and then your fruit- it’s easier on your blender.

the green smoothie formula There’s an easy formula you can use to make a green smoothie. Here are some of your options and how to make your own.

1. Pick a liquid baseAdd about 1-2 cups of liquid. The more juice your fruits and vegetables have, the less base liquid you’ll need.Almond MilkSoy MilkHemp MilkCoconut MilkRice MilkCoconut waterAny nut milkGreen teaFruit juiceWater

2. Choose your greens. You’ll usually only need one big handful or 1-2 cups of greens. See the list earlier in the book for a more comprehensive


list of the greens you can use, but good options for smoothies include:SpinachKaleSwiss ChardBeet GreensDandelion GreensCollard GreensArugulaWatercressLettuce

3. Choose your fruit. Use about 1-2 cups of fresh or frozen fruit. Good options include:BananaAppleMelonsStrawberriesBlackberriesBlueberriesRaspberriesPeachesPearsCherriesAvocadoKiwiWatermelonMangosPineapple

4. Supercharge it with add-ins and fla-vors. Add as many as you’d like.1-2 tbsp of plant based protein powder1 tbsp of chia seeds1 tbsp sesame seeds2 tbsp of avocado1 tbsp hemp seeds

1 tsp -1 tbsp of coconut oil, hemp oil or flax oil1 tbsp of nut butter (peanut butter, al-mond butter)1 tbsp of raw cacao or cocoa powdersmall bunch of sprouts2 tbsp of oats1 tbsp of bee pollen1 tsp of cinnamon1 tsp of ginger1-2 tsp of vanilla extract (or any other extract)probiotics1 tbsp goji berries1-2 tsp of green powder (spirulina, chlo-rella)1 tsp maca powder1 tsp of milled flax seeds

5. Add a sweetener (optional)1 tsp stevia1—2 chopped dates1—2 tbsp of honey1 tsp raw agave1—2 tbsp maple syrup1 fig

6. Final steps: If you’d like it cold and thick, and you’re using fresh fruit, add 1/2 -1 cup of ice cubes.

7. Blend it!


green smoothie recipes The following recipes are some of my favorite and most popular green smooth-ies and blended green drinks. Use these as a base for creating and modifying your own. They can easily accommodate any superfood add-ins or sweeteners that you’d like.

1. Straight Up Spinach serves 2 cupsingredients:2 frozen bananas, sliced 1 cup of fresh spinach½ cup almond milk1 tbsp of honey1 tsp of vanilla

method:Place the banana slices, spinach, almond milk, and honey in your blender. Blend slowly, working the speed up to high. Blend the ingredients until smooth. Pour in a glass. Serve.

2. Coco Green serves 2 cupsingredients:1 cup of coconut water1 orange, peeled2 cups of kale, chopped

method:Peel the orange and cut into segments. Chop or tear kale into smaller pieces. Place the coconut water, orange, and kale in your blender. Blend on high until all ingredients are combined. Serve.

3. Green Monday serves 2 cupsingredients:2 cups of watermelon chunks1 cup of any green lettuce, chopped

method: Cut the watermelon flesh into chunks. Place the wa-termelon and lettuce in your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Drink immediately.

4. Avo Flip serves 2 cupsingredients:¼ cup avocado, chopped2 pears, cored1 cup of water1 cup of spinach or watercress1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice2 dates, pitted method: Core the pears, and cut into wedges. Add the water, avocado, pears, greens, lime juice, and dates to your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.

5. Citrus Zingo serves 2 cupsingredients:1 grapefruit, peeled1 orange, peeled1 cup of green or butter lettuce, chopped½ cup of coconut water

method: Peel the grapefruit and orange. Cut into seg-ments. Chop the lettuce. Place the grapefruit, orange, and lettuce into your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.


6. Tropical Colada serves 2 cupsingredients:2 cups of fresh spinach1/2 cup of coconut milk½ cup of water1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice1 cup of pineapple, chopped1 kiwi, skin removed1 date, pitted method: Chop the pineapple. Remove the skin from the kiwi, and cut in half. Add the coconut milk, water, spinach, lime juice, pineapple, kiwi, and date to your blend-er. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.

7. Berry Blush serves 2 cupsingredients: 1 banana, chopped1 cup of strawberries1 cup of blueberries1 cup of collard greens or kale1 cup of almond milk1 date, pitted or 1 tbsp of honey method: Add the banana, strawberries, blueberries, almond milk, greens, and date/honey to your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.

8. Cashookie serves 2 cupsingredients:¼ cup of raw cashews1 banana, sliced1 cup of almond milk1 cup of spinach3 dates, pitted1 tsp of vanilla

method: Add the banana, cashews, almond milk, spinach, dates, and vanilla to your blender. Process slowly and increase speed until all are combined and smooth. Serve.

9. Green Dreamsicle serves 2 cupsingredients:2 cups of spinach1/2 cup of orange juice1/2 cup of water2 oranges, peeled1 banana, sliced1 tablespoon of vanilla extract or 1 tsp of scraped fresh vanilla

method: Peel the oranges, and separate into segments. Peel the banana, and cut into slices. Add the oranges, banana, water, orange juice, spinach, and vanilla. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.

10. Mango Blush serves 2 cupsingredients:1 cup of spinach1 cup of coconut water1 cup of mango chunks½ cup of pineapple chunks

method:Put the coconut water, spinach, mango chunks, and pineapple into your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.

11. Kale Lagoon serves 2 cupsingredients:1 cup of kale, chopped1 orange, peeled½ cup of water1 cup of blackberries½ cup of blueberries2 dates, pitted

method:Chop the kale, and peel the orange. Cut the orange into segments. Place the water, kale, orange, blackber-ries, blueberries, and dates into your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.


12. Chard Smash serves 2 cupsingredients:1 cup of swiss chard or mixed greens, chopped1 cup of coconut milk1 cup of strawberries1 peach, pitted and chopped

2 tbsp or 2 whole dates

method: Chop the greens. Chop and remove the pit from the peach. Add the coconut milk, greens, strawberries, peach, and honey/dates to your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.

13. Green Cherry serves 2 cupsingredients:1 cup of mixed greens or kale, chopped1 cup of water1 cup of cherries, pitted1 banana, sliced

method:Remove the pits from the cherries. Slice the banan-as. Place the water, greens, cherries, and banana in your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.

14. Chocolate Chunk serves 2 cupsingredients:1 cup of spinach or kale, chopped1 cup of almond milk1 banana, sliced1 tbsp of almond butter1 tbsp of cocoa powder1 date or 1 tbsp of honey

method:Chop the greens. Slice the banana. Place the almond milk, greens, banana, almond butter, honey/date, and cocoa powder in your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.

15. Ginger Crush serves 2 cupsingredients:2 oranges, peeled½ pear, cored1 cup of almond milk1 cup of romaine lettuce, chopped1 inch piece of ginger, peeled

method: Chop the romaine lettuce. Peel the oranges, and cut into segments. Chop the pear into small pieces. Chop the ginger and remove the outer skin. Add the almond milk, romaine lettuce, ginger, oranges, and pear into your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.

16. Mint Fever serves 2 cupsingredients:1 cup spinach or arugula¼ cup mint1 cup of water1 cup of green grapes1/2 cucumber, sliced method: Remove the stems from the grapes. Chop the cucum-ber into slices. Add the spinach/arugula, mint, water, grapes, and cucumber to your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.

17. Papaya Sunrise serves 2 cupsingredients:1 cup kale, chopped1 cup of papaya chunks1 cup of coconut milk4 strawberries

method: Remove the peel from the banana, and cut into slices. Chop the papaya into chunks. Add the papaya, coconut milk, kale, and strawberries to your blend-er. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.


18. Raspberry Rambler serves 2 cupsingredients:1 cup of spinach1 cup of coconut water1 cup of raspberries1 apple, cored1 or 2 dates, pitted method: Core and cut the apple into slices. Add the coconut water, spinach, raspberries, dates, and apple to your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.

19. Kale Starlet serves 2 cupsingredients:1 cup of kale, beet greens or collards, chopped1 cup of water1 long carrot, chopped¼ cup of a beet, chopped½ pear, cored1 cup of pineapple chunks2 dates, pitted

method: Chop the greens. Core the pear, and cut into slic-es. Chop the carrot and beet into small pieces. Add the water, kale, pear, carrot, beet, pineapple, and dates to the blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.

20. Peanut Butter Angel serves 2 cupsingredients:1 cup of mustard greens or beet greens, chopped1 cup of almond milk1 cup of red grapes, stems removed1 banana, sliced2 tbsp of peanut butter (can substitute almond butter)

method:Chop the greens. Remove the stems from the grapes. Place the banana, grapes, peanut butter, greens, and almond milk in your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.

21. Parsley Power serves 2 cupsingredients:1/2 cup of parsley1 banana, sliced1 apple, cored and chopped½ cucumber, sliced1 cup of water

method: Peel and slice the banana. Chop the cucumber into slices. Add the water, parsley, banana, apple, and cucumber to your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.

22. Tomato Fame serves 2 cupsingredients:2 tomatoes, chopped1 cup of escarole, chopped1 mango, chopped1/2 cup of water method: Chop the tomato into slices. Chop the escarole. Chop the mango into chunks. Add the water, tomatoes, escarole, and mango to your blend-er. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.

23. Parsley Passion serves 2 cupsingredients:4 pears, cored1 cup of parsley1-2 cups of water or coconut water method:Core and chop the pears. Put the pears, parsley and water in your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.


24. Melon Limeade serves 2 cupsingredients:1 cup of kale, chopped2 cups of watermelon, chopped½ lime, peel removed½ cup of water

method: Add the water, kale, watermelon and lime to your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.

25. Coco Cantaloupe serves 2 cupsingredients:1 cup of spinach, chopped2 cups of cantaloupe, chopped½ cup of coconut milk method: Add the coconut milk, spinach, cantaloupe to your blender. Blend on high until smooth. Serve.


the juice on all about juic ing

All About Juicing will help you juice your way to radical wellness through a straw. If you’re a juicer or juicer-to-be, you have found your all-in-one resource for becoming a high-energy, healthy, glowing, nutrition-absorbing machine.

At All About Juicing you’ll find:

¿ Fabulous-tasting recipes you can juice every day.

¿ What to juice for which ailment.

¿ Which combinations of juices work the best.

¿ How to quickly and safely lose weight with juicing.

¿ The drinkable route to flawless skin, nonstop energy, a slim figure, and a sharp mind.

¿ How to get the most benefit/bang for your juicing buck.

¿ Guidance from someone who has been around the juicing block.

Whether you find yourself undernour-ished or want to start clean eating, All About Juicing can help you add this habit into your daily life and love it at the same time.

Are you in? Let’s start the juicer.

about vanessa

Vanessa Simkins, The Juicing Mixologist™, is the founder of all-about-juicing.com: a website and newsletter serving up fresh, tested juicing ad-vice for getting a hot body, glowing skin, and

lifelong health through a straw.A juicing trendsetter known for her inventive and tasty juice recipes, Van-essa has an undying thirst for connecting people back to what makes them healthy, one drink at a time.

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