Juices + Smoothies / Health + Detox

I've been on quite a health quick these past few weeks. I'm not a resolutions-type of girl, and I don't quite hooray at the turn of the Gregorian calendar, but this health resurgence happened conveniently around the time many people resolve similar endeavors. I love eating healthy, and I as far as I can remember I'd crave succulent fruit as snack. Unfortunately I'd fall for decadent chocolate bars just as much. So, like many, I slowly nurtured a pattern of healthy eating along with convenient, processed food eating. I'd alternate between a phase of green-filled salads and one of sugar-filled cereal bowls for three meals a day. 

Ultimately nothing can compare, I just feel so good when I eat healthfully, and as a fringe benefit I love my closet so much more. The lethargy dissipates; I smile brightly even at 6am. The cravings stop, the sugar rush disappears, and instead of staring at a cupcake longingly, I almost get repulsed when I imagine the tooth-achingly-sweet cake and the subsequent bloating. Key word here is almost. Almost. Somehow some confections make it back into my repertoire eventually but instead of total annihilation, I'm working on being more mindful. I'm into the 80/20 rule, where 80% is clean eating and 20% is a party.

Many of you might be curious what "diet" I'm on. With so many eating lifestyle in vogue there are many options to choose from: vegan, vegetarian, Paleo, gluten free, herbalife, etc. I don't really subscribe to any one, but rather over the years I've learned what works for me and my body. A few years ago, I did the Clean detox here, and I loved it. It was approachable and I completed it successfully. Since then I'm more aware of the messages my body is sending me and I know what I need to avoid in order to feel my best.

One thing that always works is juicing. I totally fell in love with juicing. After I drink a juice filled with vegetables I literally feel my skin beaming. It's the best, most efficient and natural way to get a boost of micronutrients. I've made so many variations, and some I've shared on instagram. There's one juice I made that stood out. I combined some beets, carrots, celery, pear, and ginger. I then decided to turn that juice into a smoothie, so I blended it with spinach, almonds, and frozen pineapple. It turned out interesting. It tasted, you know, healthy. The smoothie addition thickened the consistency of the beet juice, and as much as I love smoothies, it wasn't my favorite fusion. I did it mainly because my smoothies usually contain more fruit than vegetables and I wanted to balance it out with the juice. It was an interesting experiment nonetheless.

I still have a few more juicing combinations I want to try. My brother-in-law once told me about a carrot, ginger, and cayenne pepper shot he had. I imagine it's lethal, and an efficient boost instead of a caffeine shot, not that I'd drink coffee. Anyhow, come to LA, you'll find many to converse on juicing with. For now, here are some of the things I've concocted.

 juice:
3-4 small beets, peeled
3-4 carrots, peeled
3-4 celery stalks
1 inch ginger, peeled
1 pear, core removed

smoothie:

handful of frozen pineapple
handful of almonds
 2 handfuls of spinach

Pass the first five ingredients in a juicer. Transfer to a blender and blend with the remaining ingredients.

Other delicious combinations:

carrots, fennel, apple, ginger

carrots, celery, spinach, pear, lime

beets, lime, pear, celery, ginger

purple cabbage, carrots, lemon, apple, pear