12 Healthy Juice Recipes, Plus a Nutritionist’s Tips for Making It at Home
Contrary to popular belief, eating your daily recommended fruits and veggies doesn’t get any easier once you’re an adult. But before you start trying to stomach three salads a day, there’s a quicker way to down all that good-for-you produce: juicing. According to the Mayo Clinic, juicing can reduce your cancer risk, boost your immune system, cleanse your body of toxins and even help you lose weight. Read on for tips from Dr. Felicia Stoler, DCN, a registered dietitian, nutritionist and exercise physiologist, on making better, healthier juice at home, plus 12 healthy juice recipes to get you started.
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4 Tips for Making Healthy Juice at Home
- Use in-season produce. You can make juice out of just about any fruit or veggie. So, your home juicing menu will lean heavily on what’s fresh, what you’re trying to use before it goes bad (we see you, wilted spinach buried in the crisper drawer) and what you like.
- Juice the rainbow. Whatever you use, it’s important to juice a range of vibrant produce whenever possible. “The more colorful the fruits and veggies, the more phytonutrients end up in the juice,” says Stoler.
- Use the peels and seeds whenever possible. Juice provides vitamins and minerals no matter what, but blitzing the skins and seeds too ensures a fiber boost, meaning the juice will keep you feeling full longer.
- Consider eating your produce in addition to drinking it. Homemade juice is easy to make (with the right equipment) and nutritious, but Stoler reminds us that juice is mostly just straight carbohydrates, plus some amino acids if it contains veggies. While there’s nothing wrong with a glass of carbs, it’s better to chew your produce than to drink it to ensure that you’re getting all the fiber it contains. “It takes longer to eat and digest [whole food] than drinking pure liquid that will leave the stomach rapidly and enter the blood stream quicker,” explains Stoler. “Think about a cup of apple juice, which has about 100 calories. One medium apple has almost the same calories, but it takes significantly longer to eat, and you’ll feel fuller after.” Nevertheless, juice is OK every so often, especially if you have trouble working fresh produce into your diet.
12 Healthy Juice Recipes to Get You Started
2. Celery Juice
Main ingredients: organic celery
Chalk the celery juice trend up to the veggie’s gut-healing powers. It’s also said to reduce inflammation and keep you hydrated.
3. Lemon-Ginger Turmeric Wellness Shots
Main ingredients: orange, lemon, turmeric, ginger
Speaking of trendy, tiny bottles of this magical elixir can be found at a ton of supermarkets nowadays. But it turns out these turmeric-spiked immunity boosters are a breeze to make at home.
4. Simple Green Juice
Main ingredients: kale, apple, celery, cucumber
A large Granny Smith apple curbs the bitterness of fresh greens and herbs. Add a light drizzle of honey if you need to.
5. Watermelon Juice
Main ingredients: watermelon, lime
Don’t sweat getting a fancy juicer for this one: Watermelon is soft enough that you can juice it in your blender instead. (It also makes a great base for a margarita…just sayin’.)
6. Vitamin Boost Detox Juice
Main ingredients: carrot, orange, apple, kale, spinach
You’d be shocked how many greens are in a glass of this sipper. Fresh citrus and a tart-sweet apple makes it more palatable.
7. Kiwi Agua Fresca
Main ingredients: kiwi, water
An agua fresca calls for cutting fresh juice with cold water to make it milder in flavor and easy to drink. Add a drizzle of agave if you must, but we’re betting it’ll taste great without it.
8. Super-Powered Orange Juice
Main ingredients: carrot, orange, lemon, nectarine, mint
Like brunch for your immune system. This mix of root veggies, citrus and stone fruit will become a mainstay at your breakfast table in no time.
9. Immune-Boosting Kickstart Juice
Main ingredients: tomato juice, spinach, parsley
Like Bloody Marys? Then this is the bev for you. Think fresh tomato juice meets spinach, herbs and lots of supercharged spices.
10. Apple Carrot Beet Ginger Juice
Main ingredients: beet, apple, ginger, whole carrots
Bring on the vitamins, folate and polyphenols. Add a splash of unfiltered apple juice if you’d like it a bit sweeter.
11. Carrot Pineapple Orange Juice
Main ingredients: carrot, pineapple, orange
Psst: This three-ingredient juice would be twice as nutritious if you added a handful of greens to it, like kale or spinach.
12. Sparkling Pomegranate Juice
Main ingredients: pomegranate, lemon, seltzer
If you’re looking to ease back on your soda consumption, try spiking plain soda water with mouth-puckering pomegranate juice.
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