May 5, 2014

We call this our Superfood Good Mood Juice. Admittedly, some look at the ingredients and expect something reminiscent of wheatgrass. But I and many surprised individuals can assure you it is delicious, refreshing, and nutritious. It was designed to pack in several of the top superfoods to bring you into nutritional nirvana as fast as you can make it. We encourage you to experiment with the ingredients or quantities to your liking.

The Superfood Good Mood Juice
Makes 2 servings

Ingredients
1/2 small watermelon (aka icebox melon) or equivalent
1 batch of kale (approx 10 leaves)
1 batch of broccolini (approx 8 stalks)
1 beet
1 inch of ginger

Directions
1. Clean and prep all veggies. Chop into small enough pieces to fit into your juicer.
2. Juice all veggies and pour over ice.

Preparation Tips
The beet greens are even more nutritious than the beet root, so it's worth juicing them. Likewise, the watermelon rind is also very nutritious and can be juiced. However the rind will give you a lighter taste. You can also try apples instead of watermelon.

• Kale - this veggie powerhouse can help prevent cancer and support detoxification. It's also very high in flavonoids and vitamins K, A, and C.
• Broccolini - as with kale and broccoli, this member of the cruciferous family has a smooth flavor with many of the same benefits. It's a product of cross-breeding Broccoli and Chinese kale (not to be confused with GMO).
• Ginger - this superfood has multiple therapeutic effects such as boosting immune function, acting as an anti-inflammatory, helping with motion sickness, and stomach relief.
• Beets - beets are beneficial for antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and detoxification support. It's also a good source for folate and manganese.
• Watermelon - it's remarkably high in lycopene (which is good for prostate health) and citrulline (improves cardiovascular health). And with anti-oxidants to boot, I think we can justify this as our base even with the sugar content.

Now if you're new to juicing, let me explain a few of the benefits. First, raw fruits and vegetables contain the most nutrients such as enzymes, vitamins, etc. which are otherwise broken down by cooking. Nutrients are also more absorbable in the form of juice since your stomach doesn't have to work so hard to break it down. Yet another benefit of juicing is it gives you the ability to condense a lot more vegetables into your diet than otherwise possible. Imagine trying to eat all the veggies above in 1 sitting! It's still advisable to get some of your veggies as solid food, as they're high in insoluble fiber. Fortunately we can still get soluble fiber with juicing. A final tip ... to the extent possible, juice more with veggies than fruits due to the fact that fruits are high in sugar. With that, you should be well on your way to juicing. Cheers!