Begin your day with a glass of green juice

Macrobiotic expert Shonali Sabherwal tells you why green juices should be preferred over their fruity counterparts 

There are facts about juices that are commonly known such as drink vegetable juices as opposed to fruit juices, ensure that you use a mixer and not a juicer so that you get the fiber from the veggies. Other known facts are — don't strain the juice, but have it with the pulp and almost always, include doodhi in your juicy diet. 

However, few know that one must opt for green juices as opposed to just vegetable juice. So what makes the green juices better option? This is because without the fiber, fruit juice is basically sugar, which will add to your weight. So juice fruits as a treat but try and eat them whole as far as possible. While the fiber content takes a beating, juices do deliver a powerful array of vitamins, minerals and enzymes that are absorbed immediately into the blood stream. However, avoid combining vegetables with fruits, as they require different enzymes for digestion. The only exception is an apple, which has a more neutral effect. 

Benefits of green juices 

Green juices are power-packed with nutrition. Green vegetables have the ability to transform sunshine into the food that all creatures consume. True to their nature, greens produce chlorophyll, which oxygenate your body. This enables us to release stored toxins in the body. Your hemoglobin (that has a similar molecular structure as that of your red blood cells) will get elevated, improving the blood circulation as a result and giving your body a boost of energy. A green juice will cleanse your digestive system, lungs, liver (which will rev up, if sluggish — causing you to retain weight) and uterus. So if you are a smoker, this is an excellent supplement to your diet. 

Fact file 

Magnesium is essential for efficient calcium utilisation. The chlorophyll molecule has magnesium at its centre and its impact on the body's magnesium levels is highly significant. When you include green juices in your daily diet, it helps them absorb calcium better. All green plants have Vitamins A and C, which are important co-factors for calcium absorption. Chlorophyll foods also act as a form of 'stored sunshine', to regulate calcium and Vitamin D deficiency. So if you get no sunshine, then increase the greens in your diet. 

Methods to follow 

-Always rotate your greens, don't use one green all the time. Plants carry a trace of alkaloids (which in small doses is okay) and you don't want the same alkaloids to build up in your system. 

-If you have a strong digestive system, blend greens in a mixer and if not, juice them. 

-Even though you eat a gree vegetable everyday, your body will assimilate many more nutrients from blended greens rather than the ones chewed. It's always beneficial to add spirulina and wheat grass powder, as it increases the chlorophyll quotient in the juice. 

-If taste is important to you, mix dates in your juice. However, watch out if you have yeast, candida, diabetes or hypoglycemia. 

-They are best consumed fresh, but you can keep them only for a day at the most in the fridge. Add some lime to preserve them. 

-Green juices should be ingested on an empty stomach, so have it first thing in the morning or inbetween meals. 

A recipe to start with 

-3-4 leaves of spinach and rotate it with pak choy on other days 

-A fistful of parsley 

-A fistful of celery 

-3 inches of carrots 

-3 inches of doodhi or zucchini (optional) 

-4 broccoli florets 

-½ a tomato 

-1 green apple (optional) 

Blend all the above in a blender with ¼ cup water, do not strain, squeeze a lime into it and add some cumin (jeera) powder. You could thin it down with some warm water. While drinking it, roll it in the mouth before taking it down (this aids in digesting the juice).
By Shonali Sabherwal, Mumbai Mirror | Dec 31, 2012, 11.50 AM IST