Photo: Torkil Stavdal
Nothing says Spring and Summer more than fresh new leafy greens, raw vegetables, and fruit, -and what you can make with it. The juice craze has probably reached pretty much everyone by now, at least in urban areas. And this is indeed the time of year where these juices come in not only handy, but also healing. I am personally not much of a juice detox fan, but adding juices to the daily food choices can feel really good when the Spring is here and we feel like cleansing a bit. They are also great summer drinks, since they act in a cooling way in the body. This is however also the reason why I don’t favor them in the winter time.
So for those who need to feel the lightness of Spring coming on, the desire for lighter foods, easy choices, and something to cool you down; have a juice as a snack.
The above are different juices from vegetables that you can then mix as if you are the new hot cocktail chef.
Lettuce, cucumber, carrot, beet, and kale. You can certainly do the whole thing if you don’t mind the color…it will be somewhere in between green, red, yellow and… ok… -kind of brown. But it tastes yummy!! add a dash of ginger, lemon, or some apple. I do prefer to use mostly vegetables since fruit juices are higher in fructose and with the fiber removed, makes it quite the “rush” of the blood sugar levels.
The difference between juices and smoothies is not only the machine used for it…one is a juicer, the other is a blender. I actually prefer smoothies because the fiber is maintained, and there is a lot less waste. Adding water or coconut water makes it closer to the lightness of a juice. That can all be decided by you as you go along. A smoothie also feels more like a meal because of still containing the fiber, which makes it thicker.
For smoothies you can see the other smoothie recipes here on the blog, but in general you can put pretty much anything in a blender and mix it up. All the above vegetable juices would go in a blender as well, the only thing to remember when you make a smoothie is that you need to add either water or something else that is liquid and will thin it up to a drinking substance. Otherwise you will have either mash or soup. But that of course is an option as well. You will find a great root mash here on the blog also.
For a great easy smoothie to get you Spring Renewal Ready: kale, cucumber, apple or pear, mint, and a dash of lemon and sea salt. Mixed here with water only.
Photo: Torkil Stavdal
