Green Juice & Yoga

You may wonder why a post about green juice is making an appearance on my yoga blog. Trust me, it has it's place! Yoga isn't just about headstands and OMing (..if only I had a dollar for every time I said that!) Yoga is about being good to yourself in every possible way, and baby, green juice is as good as it gets! There are so many benefits to juicing your greens:

• You can drink so much more than you can eat! Take a look at this picture and tell me, would you be able to consume all of this in one sitting if you had to eat it? I sure couldn't. But if I juice it I can get it all down in 5 minutes with no problems! In addition to getting more produce by juicing it I am also able to get things that I normally wouldn't eat. Kale isn't exactly my favorite of the leafy greens and I certainly wouldn't be eating dandelion greens. I can't stand the taste and I think they smells funny too. I'm not very likely to pop those leafs into my mouth and chew. But I will gladly send some through my juicer (masking the taste with a little lemon, of course!) and drink, drink, drink!
• When you juice your veggies your body is able to absorb the nutrients faster then if you ate them. When you put the whole veggie into your mouth and chomp down, your sending lots of fiber through your digestive system which slows down the absorption of the nutrients. When you juice, all of those fabulous nutrients can travel to their final destination without any fiber getting in the way! This isn't to say that eating your veggies isn't important, too. But adding some green juice to your diet which is already rich in veggies is a super addition!
• You will feel great! Juicing makes me feel amazing. I don't know another way to describe it and I can't quite put my finger on what is better after I drink. I'm not sure if it is my energy level, my mood, my appearance, or all of the above! But I can tell you this; juicing has a positive effect on me! Aside from all the good it is doing for you, you will feel good just knowing that your providing the body with an amazing healthy drink!

My favorite green juice has a base of cucumber, celery and romaine, and then I add in some other goodies such as kale, dandelion greens, ginger and lemon. I know what your thinking ... that is a lot of greens! If you are new to juicing go easy on the dandelion greens and kale as they have strong tastes. Stick with the base ingredients to start as they aren't quite as strong and are easier to get down! When I first began juicing the thought, sight and taste of green juice left me feeling nauseous for hours! Fortunately, a fellow yogi gave me these three tips to follow and they worked like a charm!

1. Use lemon. Greens alone are too hard for me to handle. The taste can be a bit much! When I add lemon to my juice it cuts the strong taste of the green and makes it much more drinkable, even enjoyable! If this isn't enough, try adding an apple, too. Just remember, the more fruit you add the more sugar you are consuming and the point of green juice is to be good to your body, not flood it with a sugary substance! Stick to using just one piece of fruit when possible.
2. Use ice! There is nothing grosser then warm green juice. Yuck! Enough said.
3. Use a straw! The smell of green juice sometimes turns me off. It smells a bit like grass. Do you want to drink grass? No, I didn't think so. I would always smell it first then be hesitant to taste it because my olfactory senses were telling me to run for the hills! Using a straw means the taste hits my tongue before my nose has a chance to object!

I hope you will give it a try and invite some fabulous green juice into your diet! I will be sure to post some of my favorite recipes soon! Happy juicing yogis!