Juicing into 2015

Now that is a beautiful shopping cart!

 

I just started to visit some local Juice Bars for a mid day smoothie and a ginger shot ( wowza, have a bottle of water ready to chug!!) after hearing so much about them.  I mentioned to my husband that I would start going more in 2015 as part of my goals to become a healthier me and grab a smoothie or green drink for lunch or breakfast.  Wouldn't you know, Santa gave me a juicer for Christmas!  I was given the Omega 8004 and it was love at first sight.  Ben even had a big Hannaford reusable bag full of fruits and vegetables ready for me to give it a whirl:)

We juiced Christmas morning what Ben had bought.  We had apples, carrots, oranges, cucumbers, kale and fresh ginger.  Have you tried a ginger shot?  Let me just say it's very spicy and takes a good 5 minutes to clear the palate but soooo good for your immune system!  We also tried some of the other features the Omega does such as turn a frozen banana into a custard/frozen smooth dessert, make a creamy almond butter from whole almonds.  We bought coconuts to make coconut oil later this week so I will surely blog about that and how we made coconut oil for $1.69!

We decided the best way for us to enjoy juicing is to juice at least a 16oz ball jar full of juice for each fruit or vegetable we want.  This makes it easy to make your own custom drink any day or simply add it to a smoothie with coconut water,greek yogurt or frozen berries.  I bought a case of 16oz Ball Jars at target and figured out how much I needed to juice to fill one.

 5 Medium Oranges = 1 jar
2 Large Cucumbers = 1 jar
1 Large Pomelo Grapefruit = 1 jar
3 beets = 1/4 jar
4 large carrots = 1/3 jar
2 bunches parsley = 1 full 4 oz jar
1 package celery = 1 jar
Ginger...a little goes a long way!

This will help me when preparing for a few days worth of juices:)

 

 Tomorrow night we will juice lemons and pineapple and make coconut flakes to bake.  Did you know that you should start your day with a 8oz glass of warm water with lemon juice?  It should be the first thing you drink or eat as it balances out the PH in your system as well as being the first thing your body processes and helps clean out your organs.  Drink up!  Some people add about 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper  as well:)  Try it if you dare!

Feeling bloated? Add 1 teaspoon juiced parsley to your water.  Parsley is a natural diuretic and eliminates toxins from your body.  If you have menstrual cramps, drink up, parsley stimulates blood flow to the pelvic area.  Add some cucumber juice as well and stop the bloating we all love getting!

 I just looked up some recipes on how I can use the pulp from oranges/grapefruits in a face mask and they seem pretty easy.  As I get better at this and create some recipes of my own,I will come back and post some to share!  If you juice at home, share the pulp with the birds.  I put some under my bird feeder and they all love it:)

 I have so much to learn about our juicer as well as all the nutritional benefits from juicing but I am already having fun and I welcome my 2015 healthier me goals!  Don't forget to start jotting down your 2015 goals, it's coming real soon:)

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