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| Kale/Apple/Beet Juicy Juice |
INGREDIENTS
- 12 organic kale leaves
- 3 beets
- 4 apples
- 1 tsp spirulina
Makes about 35-40 ozs
Put it all in your juicer and juice!
As per the norm...No juicer? No problem! Blend in your Vitamix.
Then strain through a nut milk bag or a paint strainer bag...and pour
in your storage container. For detailed instructions on making juice in
the blender click here.
This is seriously a great cup of red juicy juice! Try it! It tastes like fruit punch! mmmmgood!
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Some Health Benefits
Apples: are a source of both soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber such as pectin actually helps to prevent cholesterol buildup in the lining of blood vessel walls, thus reducing the incident of atherosclerosis and heart disease. The insoluble fiber in apples provides bulk in the intestinal tract, holding water to cleanse and move food quickly through the digestive system. It is a good idea to eat apples with their skin. Almost half of the vitamin C content is just underneath the skin. Eating the skin also increases insoluble fiber content. Most of an apple's fragrance cells are also concentrated in the skin and as they ripen, the skin cells develop more aroma and flavor. Apples are rich in antioxidant phyto-nutrients, flavonoids and polyphenols. The total measured anti-oxidant strength (ORAC value) of 100g apple fruit is 5900TE. The important flavonoids in apples are quercetin, epicatechin, and procyanidin B2. Apples are also good in tartaric acid that gives tart flavor to them. These compounds help protect the body from deleterious effects of free radicals. In addition, apples are a good source of B-complex vitamins such as riboflavin, thiamin, and pyridoxine (vitamin B-6). Together these vitamins help as co-factors for enzymes in metabolism as well as in various synthetic functions inside the body. Apples also contain small amount of minerals like potassium, phosphorus, and calcium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure; thus counters the bad influences of sodium.
Spirulina: Spirulina is the common name given to a family of blue-green algae produced by a class of cyano-bacteria called “Arthospira”.
It is abundant in both fresh and sea water. Spirulina benefits come
mostly nowadays as a
type of dietary supplement that comes from a type of microscopic alga,
which is shaped like a spiral coil. Spirulina is cultivated from all
around the world and is used as a dietary supplement as well as a whole
food available in tablet, flake and powder form. One of the most
important
of all spirulina benefits is that it has an unusually high amount of
protein, which is an almost complete protein that contains 18 of the 22
amino acids the body needs. It is of a
superior quality when compared to plant protein. It is also rich with
several different types of essential fatty acid, and contains Vitamin
B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin A and Vitamin E. It is
also a source of such minerals as potassium, calcium, chromium, copper,
iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, selenium (selenium benefits),
sodium, and zinc. The most important and popular spirulina health
benefit that comes
with regular supplementation is undoubtedly weight loss. Spirulina
weight loss has become quite a popular diet food; it is natural, it has
all the major vitamins, amino acids and nutrients required by the human
body and it has a very high protein content (60-70% of its body weight
is pure protein). It is also free of carbohydrates and sugar. As a
result, it acts as a potent appetite suppressant reducing body weight
over time. Of course, if you are using spirulina weight loss as a magic
pill remedy it will not work by itself but it should help you in
diminishing your hunger while eating a completely natural food. It has
also been shown to help correct anemia for undernourished
children, it also be effective against melanosis and keratosis caused by
chronic arsenic poisoning. Spirulina is also found to protect against
hay fever, reduce
inflammation caused by arthritis. Also, another one of the spirulina
benefits is that it is a rare source of gamma-linoleic acid (GLA) which
is otherwise only present in mother’s milk. This particular amino acid
helps reduce bad cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood. It
also improves cardiovascular health in general. Spirulina is known to
help contain the effects of type 2 diabetes.
Regular Spirulina supplementation is known to lower blood sugar levels.
It also improves the antioxidant potential in people, which decreases
muscle breakdown and exhaustion after exercising and improves overall
health. However despite all these benefits their are a few (mostly
minor) spirulina side effects you might want to learn more about in my
other post. However, the only real side effect you probably have to
worry about is that spirulina also contains an amino
acid called, phenylalanine, which should be avoided by people with
phenylketonuria, a metabolic disorder, which prevents the body from
metabolizing this particular amino acid, making it to build up in the
brain causing damage. And although very rare it may sometimes contain a
type of toxin called microcystins, which can cause liver diseases,
including cancer. Unfortunately, as of yet no standard exists to
regulate its safety,
however as mentioned it is an extremely rare toxin, so as long as
properly tested there is no need for an alarm. As you can see theirs
definitely a lot of benefits linked to spirulina so it might be a
supplement you want to add to your diet when looking for the best
multivitamin that can compliment your eating habits!
Beet root: Beets are highly nutritious and
“cardiovascular
health” friendly root
vegetables. Certain unique pigment antioxidants present in root as well
as top greens
have found to offer protection against coronary artery disease and
stroke, lower cholesterol levels in the body and have anti-aging
effects.
The root is rich source of
phytochemical
compound Glycine
betaine.
Betaine has the property of lowering
homocysteine levels
in the blood. Homocysteine, one of highly toxic metabolite,
promotes platelet clot as well as atherosclerotic-plaque
formation, which can be harmful to
blood vessels. High levels of homocystiene in the blood
results in the development of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke and
peripheral vascular diseases. Raw beets are an excellent
source of folates;
contains
about 109 mcg/100 g (Provides
27% of RDA).
Folates are necessary for
DNA synthesis in the cells. When given during peri-conception period
folates can prevent neural tube defects in the baby. It contains significant
amounts of vitamin-C,
one of the powerful natural antioxidant, which helps body scavenge
deleterious free radicals one of the reasons for cancers development. The root is also a rich
source of niacin (vit.B-3), pantothenic acid (vit.B-5), pyridoxine
(vit.B-6) and carotenoids,
and minerals such as iron, manganese, and magnesium. In addition, the root indeed has very
good levels of potassium. 100 g fresh root has 325 mg of potassium or
7% of daily requirements. Potassium lowers heart rate and regulates
metabolism inside the cells by countering detrimental effects of sodium.
Kale: like other members
of the brassica family, contains health-promoting phytochemicals, sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinol
that are appears to protect against prostate and colon cancers. Di-indolyl-methane
(DIM), a metabolite of indole-3-carbinol
has been found to be an
effective immune modulator, anti-bacterial and anti-viral agent
through its action of potentiating "Interferon-Gamma" receptors. Borecole is very rich source
of beta-carotene,
lutein
and zeaxanthin.
These flavonoids have strong anti-oxidant and anti-cancer activities.
Because beta-carotene is converted to vitamin A in the body, it is also rich in Vitamin A. Zeaxanthin,
an
important dietary carotenoid, is selectively absorbed into the retinal
macula lutea in the eyes where it is thought to provide antioxidant and
protective light-filtering functions. Thus, it helps prevent retinal
detachment and offers protection against "age related macular
degeneration disease" (ARMD) in the elderly. Vitamin A is required for maintaining
healthy mucus membranes and skin and is essential for vision.
Foods rich in this vitamin offer protection against lung and oral
cavity cancers. It is one of the excellent
vegetable
sources for vitamin-K. Vitamin K has
potential role bone health by promoting osteotrophic (bone formation
and strengthening)
activity. Adequate vitamin-K levels in the diet
helps limiting neuronal damage in the brain; thus, has established role
in the treatment of patients suffering from Alzheimer's
disease. 100 g of
fresh leaves contain 120
mg or 200% of daily-recommended levels of vitamin C.
Vitamin
C is a
powerful antioxidant, which helps body develop resistance against
infectious agents and scavenge harmful oxygen free radicals. This leafy vegetable is
notably good in many B-complex group of vitamins such as niacin,
vit.B-6
(pyridoxine), thiamin, pantothenic acid, etc that are
essential
for substrate metabolism in the body. It is also rich source of
minerals like copper, calcium, sodium, potassium, iron, manganese, and
phosphorus. Potassium
is an
important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling
heart rate and blood pressure by countering effects of sodium.
Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant
enzyme,
superoxide
dismutase.
Iron
is required for cellular oxidation and red blood cell formation. Kale provides rich nutrition
ingredients that offer protection from
vitamin A deficiency,
osteoporosis, iron deficiency anemia, and
believed to protect from
cardiovascular diseases and, colon and prostate cancers.
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