Drinking Plant Blood
August 18, 2009 at 12:09 am 12 comments
I juiced up some red deliciousness today in my Breville Compact Juice Fountain and I just had to share it with you! It was SO good…sweet and just a little tart. And of course, yummy. The beets made it taste really different than my normal green lemonade…much sweeter. Here is what I included:
- 2 apples (whole, with cores)
- 1 meyer lemon (peeled)
- small chunk of ginger
- 1 head of romaine
- Large handful of leaf lettuce
- 2 small beets (golf ball size)
I’ve had lots of questions about the difference between juicing and blending. And even though I’ve posted about this before, I’m going to post it again.
Blending keeps all of the fiber in, whereas juicing takes it out. That’s the only difference…and there are benefits to both. I look at juicing as a “supplement”….or almost a “treat”. I don’t juice everyday…probably 2-3 times a week…all with GREEN juices. I do BLEND every day though with my green smoothie. Juicing offers the added benefit of “instant” assimilation in to the body…which is why you might get a “juice high” after you drink it!
- Both green juices and smoothies are highly alkaline…and disease cannot survive in an alkaline environment. They do LOVE an acid environment though…and 3 acid forming foods are meat, dairy, coffee.
- Both green juices and smoothies have chlorophyll, which increases the flow of oxygen in our blood/body, which in turn, creates an aerobic environment where disease cannot thrive.
- Both green juices and smoothies 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…although they are very similar.
The main reason why someone who is sick (with cancer or other disease) should juice is because it takes the LEAST AMOUNT OF ENERGY from the body to digest. Even green smoothies take more energy because the fiber needs to be digested. When you can take away the energy need for digestion, it leaves your body more energy to HEAL. This goes for raw food in general, but it’s particularly applicable when fighting disease. You want to free up as much energy as possible to heal the body.
I do think both should be incorporated in one’s diet…however, if you can only afford one machine right now, get a blender and save up for the juicer 🙂
Entry filed under: Green Smoothies, Greens, Juicer vs. Blender, Juices, Juicing, Raw.
Happy Foody 
1.
Gypsy | August 18, 2009 at 3:03 am
Yummm … I’m not set up for the green smoothie challenge yet, but am aiming for 3 green juices a week each with spinach or kale. Have you tried a green juice with beetroot as well? I often do celery, apple, beets and ginger, that’s pretty delicious.
2.
cavewoman | August 18, 2009 at 2:53 pm
What a lovely picture of your juice!
Do you think the same ingredients would make a good smoothie?
3.
livelightly | August 18, 2009 at 2:56 pm
cavewoman…probably not 🙂 I REALLY don’t like romaine in a smoothie, but maybe you would? I would modify it to this:
Apples
Lemon juice
Beet juice
Kale
Ginger
Water
4.
Margie | August 18, 2009 at 4:30 pm
WOW, the color!! I’ll bet I could convince Lil that it’s what ALL the princesses drink. That’s how they get their rosy cheeks 🙂
5.
KMH | August 18, 2009 at 4:39 pm
My second day of the challenge is starting out much better. I don’t have any trouble with the extra stuff, but yesterday’s smoothie was a disaster.
This morning’s was good: orange, apple, banana, strawberries, and spinach.
Kim
6.
tera | August 18, 2009 at 4:48 pm
can you explain about the coffee/meat/dairy acid forming notation? thanks!!
7.
Kristen's Raw | August 19, 2009 at 12:27 am
YAY for Plant Blood! YUM for green smoothies! I can’t imagine my life without either of them. Today I made lovely concoction of both! I blended fresh green juice that I made with my GreenStar with an avocado and an apple using my blender. It was so divine… I didn’t want the cup to ever empty!
Cheers,
Kristen
8.
livelightly | August 19, 2009 at 3:37 am
tera…some foods are acid forming and some foods are alkaline…within your body. You always want to eat more alkaline foods than acidic foods to remain healthy. There is a good article here that sums it all up. Here is a good chart:
http://www.essense-of-life.com/moreinfo/foodcharts.htm
Kristen…that sounds amazing! I’ve never added my green juice to a smoothie but I bet it’s tasty. Today I made this same concoction and added a handful of grapes. Oh my. Sooooo tasty.
9.
amy | August 30, 2009 at 8:07 pm
where do you get Meyer lemons this time of year?? i made ice cream out of them awhile back but seems like they are a spring thing. it was so good.
10.
Jenna | January 23, 2010 at 12:32 pm
I have been juicing for a few weeks now — following Natalia Rose’s book “Detox 4 Women” and her green lemonade is:
1 head of Romaine Lettuce or Celery
5-6 stalks any kind of Kale
1-2 packets Stevia (nu Naturals)
1 Whole Lemon
1-2 tablespoons Ginger
As organic as possible! and the Stevia & Lemon really “cut” the green taste.
Right after Christmas, I let go of caffeine (specifically “A Venti Whole Milk Wet Cappuccino” from Starbucks ;-P) and feel SO much better. It turns out, after all these years, I built up a pretty tough addiction to coffee, tea and caffeine… but one day at time, I have been able to replace it with green drinks…
Thank you so much for your posts, I still have so much to learn!
11.
Carey | March 14, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Hello,
Apparently you were sitting next to me at the Brass Eagle mortgage meeting 🙂 Kimberly and I were talking about eating healthy and such via email and she sent me her blog and yours.
I’m a juicer all the way. My morning “breakfast” if you will is 4 carrots, 2 apples, and a handful of parsley. All organic.
Then throughout the day I try to have 1 or 2 “green” juices. I actually tried to use a blender the other day to make a drink with kale and a bunch of other stuff but well it didn’t go so well.
Basically, I think my blender sucks lol but I didn’t like feeling the seeds of the strawberry or what have you in my mouth. I’m not use to that when juicing. I was going for a smoothie and although my mixture tasted good, the texture from the seeds I couldn’t get in to. Perhaps a better blender would do the trick for smoothies?
And for the folks that are thinking about juicing..I highly recommend the Omega 8003 juicer (that’s the one I have..could you guess? lol)
I’m gonna check out your blog a little more. It looks good so far!
Carey
12.
Carey | March 14, 2010 at 5:53 pm
P.S. Oopsie…..you weren’t the one sitting next to me at the meeting lol you weren’t even at the meeting….but Kim did send me your blog too, obviously! lol