Green Lemonade with a Twist
July 11, 2009 at 9:07 pm 13 comments
We love juicing…but don’t love the clean up. The Champion is great, but is a little heavy on clean up time, so we went searching for a new juicer and found a Breville on Craigslist for $50. Yay! Bella LOVES making juice…so today we made some “green lemonade with a twist”. Here is what we juiced up:
3 fuji apples
1 peeled lemon
1 head romaine
4-5 leaves lacinato kale
1 medium chioggia beet (beets build efficiency in your circulatory system and are good for your heart)
Bella and I stirred ours up immediately and enjoyed every last drop. But, we left Matt’s to sit on the counter for a few minutes and it separated so beautifully that I just couldn’t help but take a photo! Isn’t it pretty?
Side note: One of the most common questions I get asked is: “Why do you need a juicer if you have a blender?”. Well, let me tell you why…they do two different things. A juicer is extracting the juice and nutrients and making it instantly available to your body in liquid form…and it also removes the fiber. That’s the main difference. A blender leaves the fiber in…because you’re just blending it all up and not extracting. Juices, especially green juices, have the ability to give you an instant “high” or pick me up during the day. A smoothie takes a little longer to digest, so you don’t get such an instant boost. Fresh juices are also very beneficial for bodies that are experiencing any kind of disease (cancer, chronic illness, etc) because it takes much less energy from your body to digest the juice. Each machine has a separate purpose in the kitchen…and that’s why I need both 🙂 If you can only afford ONE, get the blender. It’s more versatile in the long run…but be sure to keep that juicer on your wish list. There is just nothing like some yummy fresh juice!
Entry filed under: Juicer vs. Blender, Juicing.
Happy Foody 
1.
Carey | July 12, 2009 at 2:35 am
cool picture!! I did not know that about juices digesting faster than smoothies… I will have to put a juicer on my Christmas list
2.
ali | July 12, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Just a question… I read somewhere, that removing the fiber is not a good thing. Of course, I know we need fiber, but this person kept talking about how taking out the fiber would negatively impact your blood sugar etc. Just wondered if you had any information regarding this aspect of juicing. I have the juicer and the blender, and my mom is really interested in starting a juicing regimin as she was just diagnosed with breast cancer and is finally ready to step it up, nutritionally speaking. Thanks for any wisdom…
3.
livelightly | July 12, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Hi Ali…
I don’t really take an extreme stance either way. I do think that there are benefits to both juicing and blending smoothies. If you are ONLY juicing and never getting fiber from any other source, then yes, it could be bad. But I tend to look at juicing as a “supplemental” nutritional source. You juice in ADDITION to your other foods…and use it as a sort of medicine.
Juicing offers the added benefit of “instant” assimilation in to the body. In your mom’s case, I would highly recommend juicing, and focusing on GREEN juices, not necessarily the sweeter juices with primarily apple/carrot, etc. The reason behind the green juices for cancer treatment:
*Green juices are highly alkaline…and disease cannot survive in an alkaline environment. They do LOVE an acid environment though…and 3 main acid forming foods are meat, dairy, coffee…
*Green juices have chlorophyll, which increases the flow of oxygen in our blood/body, which in turn, creates an aerobic environment where disease cannot thrive.
*Green juices enable you to eat A LOT more greens at one time than you normally would.
This list could go on and on…but you get the idea. Juicing has a purpose…and blending has a purpose. I think both should be incorporated in one’s diet.
Have you seen the movie “Crazy Sexy Cancer”? It’s EXCELLENT and Kris Carr, the producer and subject of the documentary has great extras on the DVD where she shows how to make her smoothies, juices, etc. Not to mention that it’s just a wonderful, spirit-lifting movie. I hope you can find it…it’s on Netflix and possibly at your local movie store.
xxoo,
sara
4.
Streuselmama | July 13, 2009 at 2:40 am
Just to take the fiber vs. not question a bit further…if I have a vitamix, that basically creates a juice with the fiber included, right? So you could have the best of both worlds? If you have a vitamix, why also use a juicer? (I see you’re a vitamix affiliate, so I hope it’s OK to ask this – that I’m not putting you on the spot.) I was thinking of forgoing the juicer and just using the vitamix…but am wondering whether that’s really the best choice after all. This is all new for me, so I’d love to learn more – thanks!!
5.
freshfloralart | July 13, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Beautiful Photo. Wish I had a lemon!
I appreciate the info. on juicing. We have a juicer but it is so difficult to clean! Since starting the green smoothies I haven’t juiced in a while, but I may have to consider occasional juicing.
6.
joan | July 14, 2009 at 1:22 pm
I usually do smoothies but this post inspired me to get out the juicer. Plus my compost pile gets the leftover waste.
7.
JRo | July 16, 2009 at 2:29 am
I have heard that you can use a blender, then strain the fiber out using nut milk bags. A woman on another blog that I read did a 90+ day juice only ‘feast’ using only her blender and nut milk bags. I bought some, since it still takes me FOREVER to clean up my Breville. I will be trying them out tomorrow!
8.
Carrie | July 16, 2009 at 6:18 am
I totally agree JRo, I have a blender and a vitamix, but the blender takes so long to clean I gave up with it. For the past few months I;ve been blending greens up with water and then straining with my nutmilk bag and it works a treat. There is very little waste of pulp and it only takes a few seconds to clean. I’m currently 18 weeks pregnant and was laughing at all the comments about not being able to stay raw during pregnancy. I was 100% raw before pregnant and reverted back to bread, chips, unhealthy cooked foods for the first 13 weeks before I was able to face raw again, nearly back to 100% now and loving it!
9.
emily | July 21, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Thank you so much for answering that question! I’ve been wondering which is better. If my juicer saves all the fiber pulp, do you know if there is something I can do with it? You know, to enhance my fiber intake? Last time (my first time making a green juice with my juicer) I just ate some of the pulp later because I hated to waste it… is that dumb? I was thinking about freezing it to use in a green smoothie later… are these dumb ideas? I’m new to this whole exciting world.
10.
Karen | July 21, 2009 at 8:11 pm
I own a Breville Fountain Elite and a Vita-mix, and use each at least once a day – the blender, I admit, gets more action because the kids prefer thick, chocolate smoothies to green juice.I don’t eat exclusively raw, but am finding that a green apple lemon ginger juice is the ultimate if you want a very refreshing, delicious energy boost. I’m hooked.
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[…] Green Lemonade with a Twist « Happy FoodyGreen Lemonade with a Twist. We love juicing…but don't love the clean up. The Champion is great, but is a little heavy on clean up time, … […]
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