Juicing = Feel Great!

For Christmas, my husband and I opted out on buying each other expensive gifts and we both agreed we wanted to invest in our health instead. After becoming parents in 2013, our health & fitness got pushed to the waste side. We already owned a Jack Lalane Juicer, but if you own one, you know that this machine is bulky, veggies have to be cut up and you lose a lot of nutrients. Therefore, we bought ourselves the best gift ever a Vitamix blender! 

We have been juicing since January 2, 2014 one to two times per day.  We make a bulky smoothie and use it as a meal replacement.  Speaking for myself I feel amazing! So far I have lost a few pounds, and the main thing is how healthy I feel. 

It makes my life as a stay-at-home mom so much easier! Since I plan and cook all of our meals, it is great not having to worry about meals all the time. At least three times a week I have a breakfast smoothie in the morning. My smoothie recipe is as follows (please keep in mind that I make enough to make it a meal replacement and to fill up my 22oz smoothie shaker cup): 

Breakfast Smoothie

1 cup of Keifer 

1 cup nonfat milk

1 small banana 

1 cup mixed frozen berries

1 tbsp of flax seed

1tbsp of chia seed

1 tbsp of coconut oil 

This makes for a delicioso breakfast! 

Now for our favorite green smoothie. We make this for dinner almost every day as our meal replacement. We both prefer to have a big breakfast or lunch, and have a light dinner. We make our evening green smoothie say cheers and drink away as we catch up on our day and enjoy our DVR shows. Here's one of our favorite green smoothie recipes:  

Green Sweetie Smoothie 

2 cups of water

3 cups of spinach (or kale)

1 cup of red grapes

1 cup of frozen fruit (mango & pineapple)

*1 banana 

1 tbsp of chia/flax 

I would suggest that if you want to try juicing, be exploratory! Invest in a good blender and have fun with it! Everyday try out different combinations and once you have a few favorites it will get faster. (*We use 1 banana per day.  Therefore, if we added banana to our morning smoothie, then we do not add it to our evening smoothie.) 

Take it from me, a self-professed foodie, green smoothies are actually delicious! And when I do want to indulge, I do not feel guilty because I know I get in 3 cups of greens on a daily basis! 

If you are juicing, please share your favorite recipes. Cheers!