Green juices? Only if…

Bonjour,

You’ve heard me say many times that “you don’t need to live off raw kale and green juices to look and feel your best“. Don’t worry, I haven’t changed my mind: I still strongly believe that life is way too short to feel deprived and miserable. Nutrition can be sexy if you know how to master and combine the power of foods with the pleasure of eating, just like the French do.

However, many of my clients kept asking me to include juices in my nutrition programs. So I listened and I did it…

Did I say juices? Moi?  Well, not any kind of juices is welcome in my programs… Only the ones that follow 5 principles.

Principles that make those juices true anti-oxidants, nutrients, alkalising powerhouses!

Principle #1: no fruit juices, vegetable juices only.

About to make my green smoothies!

While most of us think juices are our best health allies, they actually are often our worst enemies!

We have all been brainwashed by the health halo that juices have. Since our childhood, we’ve been told that an orange (or other fruit) juice had to be part of our breakfasts. We were even advised to add fruit juices as great healthy options for our kids’ lunch boxes. Well, it’s time to totally shift our perception and look at juices for what they are: absolute sugar bombs that contribute to making our society fatter and sicker every day.

Am I exaggerating? An apple or orange or mango juice can contain as much sugar as a Coca-Cola. When we consume fruits without the pulp, we absorb the sugar straight away, generating a spike in our blood sugar, quickly followed by a crash that triggers a need for more sugar… The typical vicious circle of sugar addiction (weight gain, tooth decay amongst many other nasty things).

Consider fruit juices as treats just like cakes and make vegetable juices.

With vegetable juices, it’s also important to be careful. Most of them, even the so-called ‘green’ juices you’ll find in juice bars or even in health food stores are usually loaded with sugar as they mainly contain fruits like apples and a very little amount of vegetables. The best vegetable juices are the ones made mainly of leafy greens.

The solution? Make your own juices, with leafy greens and ONE serve of fruit (for 1 to 1.5 litre of juice) whether it’s one banana or one apple or one orange.

Principle #2: the best is in the pulp .

Even if your green juice is only made with leafy greens, it’s still only a juice, without fibre and nutrients that the pulp contents.

Without the pulp, your body won’t be able to process and make the most of the health benefits of the vegetables.

So here’s my simple rule: Instead of discarding the pulp, always add it to the juice. 

Principle #3: choose the most powerful leafy greens.

I hugely recommend choosing the leafy greens with the highest level of nutrients… And thank God for people like me who loathe kale, there are many other and better options as I explained in this article.  

The Centre for Disease Control ranked 47 powerhouse fruits and vegetables according to how much fibre, vitamins, minerals, protein and potassium they contain. Kale came at the 15th position ONLY with a ‘low’ nutrient density score of 49.07 out of 100! This means that we have 14 other options more nutritious (and with a better taste –  at least for me!) than kale!

Personally, I like spinach, rocket, parsley and cress. 

And of course, organic only, as the last thing you want is to drink a glass full of highly toxic pesticides.

Principle #4: make sure you can absorb all nutrients.

My just-made green smoothies.

These leafy greens are rich in fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K).

This means that for these vitamins to be absorbed properly by your body, they need to be consumed with fat. So each time you make your green smoothie, always add a good quality fat (3 spoons for one litre) of olive oil to make the most of these very important vitamins.

It sounds odd and not very appealing but you won’t notice it once it’s blended with all the vegetables.

Also to make your smoothie even more alkaline, anti-oxidant and rejuvenating, add one big lemon (juice, pulp and white flesh!). It will not only add a rich flavour but also all the super benefits lemons bring – as explained in my article here.

Principle #5: take good care of your green juices.

Your green juices (with pulp!) have 3 enemies: heat, light and time. They all reduce the number of vitamins and nutrients considerably.

So as soon as you have made your juices, put them straight away in the fridge, don’t let them in the daylight and consume them within 3 days maximum.

The fresher, the colder, the better! Simple.

Here’s my recipe:

To make 1 to 1.5 litre of green juice, put all these ingredients (organic ONLY) in a blender and once done, store in 500ml glass bottles:

• one banana OR one apple
• 3 large handful of spinach
• 3 large handful of rocket
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 1 lemon: juice, pulp and white flesh
• 3 large spoons of olive oil
• add filtered water

I usually recommend my clients to at least have 500ml a day if they can’t manage to have enough leafy greens in their diet.

Have a beautiful green end of the week.

Yves

PS. Have your say! I’ve been pretty quiet on my blog over the last few months as I am super busy working on a few new nutrition programs to help heal specific conditions such as gut health, diabetes type 2 or meet specific goals such as slowing the ageing process, managing stress or adopting intermittent fasting safely. I would love to know what you think: simply tell me what programs could interest you by sending me a short message to yves@nutritionbyyves.com.au

Merci!