Drinking daily green juices can do amazing things for your health and body. When you plan on making homemade green juice, which fruits and veggies should you use? Green juices can have a lot of different options and flavors, but which foods will give you the most bang for your buck?
This list of fruits and veggies will help you create nutrient-dense drinks, that will help you look and feel great!
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Best Superfoods For Your Green Juice
Spinach
This leafy green vegetable has so many helpful attributes for daily living that it would probably be a good idea to incorporate it into your green juice as often as possible. Spinach is a basic vegetable in that it can help to calm stomach acids.
According to this article from Medical News Today, it can help prevent cancer & asthma and lower blood pressure.
It’s a great anti-inflammatory, so if you have any type of swelling, it can help bring it down, and give you some relief. It’s high in iron, and it has a vitamin K content that can help you to prevent bone loss.
Broccoli
Broccoli is a cruciferous vegetable that has numerous beneficial attributes. One of the most notable being its high levels of vitamins, most interesting of these are its vitamin C and folate amounts.
You’ve probably heard of the benefits of vitamin C because it helps with the immune system, and provides you with an energy boost. But folate, or vitamin B, is just as important as it helps our bodies cells reproduce.
Without that ability, your body wouldn’t be able to repair cells or replace them with new ones. Getting lots of broccoli can help you to heal faster and it’s an easy way to get a balanced meal without having to eat a lot of different foods.
Cucumber
Some people say that cucumbers lack nutritional benefits, but that is entirely false. Although it might not contain as many vitamins as a cruciferous vegetable like broccoli, the cucumber still contains many minerals that are important for life functions like the building of cells. The silica that they contain is extremely important for the formation and building of connective tissues as well. If you add some of this to your green drink, you’ll also get a powerful punch of vitamin A, which is great for skin health.
According to Dr. Mercola Cucumbers can help protect the brain from diseases like Alzheimer's, is an anti-inflammatory, and can help reduce your risk of cancer.
Juicing Tip: Since they are a high moisture fruit, they are great as a refreshing base to your green drink. I like to add cucumber last, to help clean my juicer out of the other, more fibrous produce. Helps me get the most out of my fruits and veggies and makes clean up so much easier!
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are excellent, easily accessible sources of nutrients, and contain tons of helpful agents that can help protect the body from all kinds of damage on a cellular level.
They are especially rich in the antioxidant lycopene when cooked. These natural chemicals work together to repair DNA, soften skin, and reduce the risk of cardiac events by keeping blood vessels from becoming hardened. Try adding a tomato into your green juice once a week.
Pineapple
This sweet fruit is an interesting and flavorful addition to pretty much any drink you can think of, and they are packed with nutrients. One little-known fact about pineapples is that they contain an important enzyme called bromelain.
This enzyme gives the body the ability to dispose of or utilize proteins that haven’t been able to be digested. The only thing is that the enzyme is only really found in the core of the fruit, which means that you won’t be able to get any unless you juice the core as well.
*There are possible side effects associated with bromelain. Some people have said that after consuming foods high in this enzyme they feel nauseated, or experience diarrhea or even menorrhagia (which is an increase in menstrual bleeding.)
It can also interact with certain medications like anticoagulants such as aspirin, apixaban, clopidogrel, or warfarin, for example. If you are taking these you may want to avoid bromelain and consult with your doctor.
Papaya
This tropic fruit is known for supporting good digestive health.
It’s heavily packed with vitamin E, vitamin C, lycopene and other useful nutrients. They are also rich in an enzyme called papain, which eliminates agents that cause inflammation, and sensitivity. It can also work to break down proteins that have collected on the surface of the skin.
According to healthline the fruit even has
strong antioxidant properties may help reduce your risk of many diseases, especially the ones that tend to come with age, such as heart disease and cancer.
Apple
If you’re reading this list, then you’re probably no stranger to the fact that apples contain massive amounts of useful nutrients. They are also high in iron, can also help aid in digestion, and have high amounts of pectin.
The Pectin in apples helps rid the body of toxic chemicals that come from the environment and contaminated foods.