Health: How Juicing Rejuvenates You

re·ju·ve·nate [ri-joo-vuh-neyt]

verb (used with object), re·ju·ve·nat·ed, re·ju·ve·nat·ing.

1. to make young again; restore to youthful vigor, appearance, etc.

(from www.dictionary.reference.com/browse/rejuvenate)

Rejuvenation is basically the act of restoring vigor and/or energy being restored into someone or something. One thing that most teens face is a sense of constant fatigue; being mentally and physically drained. Whether it`s caused by school, family or any other type of stress, it`s so unhealthy and prevents us from doing our very best. How many of you want to be those type of people who seize the day or go out and do exciting things? What about the type of people who go on runs every morning and work out? There`s one easy solution to this and surprisingly, it`s not too hard. Juicing. Drinking natural juices from fruit and vegetables is so good for you and gives you that boost of energy you need. Fast food and ready-to-eat, microwavable foods are so bad for you and lack those vitamins and minerals that you need to function. You can drink a whole entire basket of fruits and veggies in literally two bottles of juice, how great is that? It`s also so easy to digest since it`s all liquid.

Pros: GLOWING SKIN. ENERGY. CLEARER MIND. LESS HEADACHES. MAYBE EVEN SOME WEIGHT LOSS (if you`re into that.) 

Cons: You`ll probably have to pee a lot because your body is detoxing and flushing out the toxins... but that`s about it.

Juicing is such a healthy way to lose weight as well, if some of you are looking for a beach bod or that nice summer body. And glowing skin? Who doesn`t want that? Well, no more nagging – let`s get started!

What you need:

·         juicer (mine was $76 since it was on sale!)

·         bottles/containers (I like to use mason jar styled cups, haha)

·         fruits and veggies

·         cutting board and knife

Optional:

·         water

·         yogurt

·         tea

·         flax seed

·         blender

So the reason I didn`t specify what fruits and veggies to get is because I don`t believe in having set recipes for this. I think it should be unique and personal! So this recipe says put in a whole cucumber, apples and carrots. Ew, maybe you don`t like cucumber or carrots are nasty. And suddenly half of the recipe is gone. Then you try to find another recipe and maybe this week, pineapple is really expensive or you couldn`t get your hands on kale. Honestly, go out, find what you like and experiment!

TIPS:

·         Adding banana or mango will overpower your juice so you can sneak a whole tomato or some carrots in there and you`ll barely taste it.

·         Don`t mix greens and reds, oh my baby Buddha. They`re complimentary colours so mixing them will turn your drink into an ugly brown so avoid that! (Unless you`re fine with it and you have an opaque bottle.) This means that if you have strawberries, mango and watermelon (random), don`t go putting in cucumbers and kale in there also (at least not too much for colour change.) but it might be okay if you sneak a banana in a blueberry and cucumber juice to hide the cucumber.

·         If you do choose to find recipes online, you are more than welcome to substitute ingredients: ie) oranges instead of carrots, tomato instead of pears, pineapple instead of grapefruit, etc.

·         You can make it into a smoothie by juicing regularly, but then adding yogurt and using a blender to mix it all together!

·         Add flax seed to your juice if you want some protein.

·         Adding water can thin out your juice if it`s a little too thick or if the flavor is too strong.

·         You can also add some tea to make it more relaxing: I like to use the teas from Bentley’s (from Winners and Marshalls)

 My Recipe!: Summer Blush

Ingredients: (For 2 bottles of juice)

·         Half to a full container of strawberries

·         1 – 2 sliced mangoes

·         1 apple

·         1 – 2 bananas

·         1 tomato

·         Half to a quarter of a cucumber

·         A small handful of baby carrots

I wash all of my fruits and veggies in cold water then I cut the stems off of the strawberries, slice up the mangoes and the apple, peel the banana, and slice the cucumber. There`s really no order so shove them all into your juicer and watch the magic happen.

Go back to the tips if you want to spice up your juice and voila!

There are so many options and I dare anyone who decides to juice to post a picture and your own personal juice recipe! Have fun~

♡ - jj