BEET JUICE

We hopped onto the juicing bandwagon back when Fat Sick and Nearly Dead had come out. Ruben had just been diagnosed with MS a few months back, and after watching the documentary we felt so inspired that we decided to give it a try. And so we purchased our first juicer as a married couple, and Ruben began his juice fast. The juice fast lasted for 3 weeks and he lost about 20 pounds in the process. The first few days he said were the hardest, but after his body had adapted he did fine. I however need to eat food, so I would drink juice in the morning for breakfast with him and had an occasional juice for dinner. Eventually though, like all fads, the juicing came to a halt and we retired our juicer to where all unused appliances go, to our pantry. It sat there for quite some time, but recently my coworker began bringing in juice for me in the morning, and that urged me to whip our juicer out and see what good stuff I could come up with. I don’t know what it is, but there is something so satisfying about going to the farmers market and bringing home fresh produce at the peak of its season to make freshly pressed juice with.

I have been juicing in the morning, but Ruben does not partake in consuming these juices with me. I believe it has to do with the fact that while he was doing his juice fast, he tried to juice a red bell pepper. He said the taste was so awful that he can still taste it until this day. I don’t blame him, but hopefully he comes around soon and we can be juicing buddies again. In the meantime though I have been splitting my juice with my coworker, even the most potent juices she has guzzled down with me (while simultaneously eating her peanut butter and jelly sandwich to mask the awful taste. Haha) She is such a good friend. 

This juice is not potent at all, it’s actually a bit on the sweet side because of the watermelon. So if sweet is not your thing, I suggest adding another kale leaf to counter balance it.  

Beet Juice

Yields: 2 cups

Ingredients

• 1/2 a large beet
• 1/2 an apple
• 1/2 an orange
• 3 beet leaves or 3 kale leaves
• 2 cups diced watermelon
• Optional: 5 mint leaves

1. Juice all your ingredients.
2. Strain juice. (If you don’t mind the pulp you can skip this step)
3. Toss the mint leaves into a cup and pour your juice over the top.
4. Enjoy!

I prefer my juice cold, so I toss in a few ice cubes. To change up the recipe I may add some fresh ginger next time.

On a side not, I really love our juicer. It is an Omega Juicer, and I love it for 3 reasons:

1.  It’s not loud like most juicers because it’s whats called a masticating juicer. Instead of pulverizing your ingredients, it slowly squeezes them to make juice.
2. Because it slowly squeezes out your juice, it will not heat it up like most juicers, and in turn preserves the enzymes and vitamins in the juice.
3. I think it’s fairly easy to clean (compared to other juicers that are so big and seem to have a lot going on) 
   

What kind of juicer do you use?