Before you begin your 4-Day Cleanse, take the time to read this chapter in order to get an overview of cleansing in general, as well as to learn the basics of the meal plan and the equipment you’ll need for juicing. Note that you should start preparing your body for the cleanse at least one week prior to beginning it: I’ve provided seven delicious green breakfast smoothie recipes (see pages 24–31) that will help get your system accustomed to juice fasting and your palate used to “green” flavors. I have also highlighted the foods and beverages you will be eliminating during the cleanse and explained why doing so is important.
Note that the Daily Greens 4-Day Cleanse is safe for most people who are in good health. However, if you are immune-compromised, pregnant, breastfeeding, or suffering from a chronic illness or ongoing health problem, doing a cleanse may not be safe for you. For this reason, I highly recommend that you consult your physician before starting the cleanse if any of these situations apply to you, or if you have any health issues, questions, or concerns about the safety of cleansing.
It was common for our ancient ancestors to eat up to six pounds of leaves per day. But in modern-day throwback “hunter-gatherer” diets, much emphasis is placed on the “hunting” of meat by our ancestors, and we forget that wild game kills were few and far between. While our ancestors mostly subsisted on leaves, berries, and nuts, today the standard American diet consists mostly of animal protein. According to a 2010 study by the Produce for Better Health Foundation, only 8 percent of individuals get the recommended portion of fruits and only 6 percent manage to consume the recommended daily intake of vegetables. But these foods provide vital nutrients needed to fight disease and maintain good health. What’s more, the majority of the standard American diet consists of cooked food, and cooking results in the loss of many of the nutrients in the scarce fruits and vegetables that we do consume. And with our modern, fast-paced lifestyle, who has time to eat six pounds of “leaves” a day?
So what is the solution? Juice! Juicing dark leafy greens, along with other vegetables and some fruit, into a green juice can provide in a single drink many of the nutrients that so many of us are not usually getting. The other benefit of juicing? You are condensing these nutrients into a liquid form that is immediately absorbed by the body, with very few of the nutrients lost through the digestive process.
Dark leafy greens offer higher concentrations of nutrients than many other vegetables and fruits. They are a rich source of minerals, including iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium, as well as vitamins, including vitamins K, C, E, and many of the B vitamins. They also provide a variety of phytonutrients, including beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which help protect our cells from damage. Dark leafy greens even contain small amounts of omega-3 fats, which are good for you, playing a role in lowering triglyceride levels.
Perhaps the star of these nutrients is vitamin K. Two cups of dark leafy greens provides more than the minimum daily recommended amount of vitamin K. Research cited by the American Cancer Society has provided evidence that this vitamin may be even more important than once thought—and many people do not get nearly enough of it. Not only is vitamin K essential for normal blood clotting, recent studies suggest that deficient levels of vitamin K are linked to an increased risk of some cancers. In addition, studies have revealed that vitamin K may have a role in keeping bones strong, especially in older people.
You might be wondering: If dark leafy greens are so great, why not just juice kale? Well, put simply, because it tastes like crap. However, by combining dark leafy greens with other green vegetables and some fruit and herbs, you can create a green juice that both tastes delicious and is full of nutrients that your body needs for long-term health.
One of the most frequent questions I am asked is: If you don’t eat meat, how do you get calcium and iron? The answer is simple: I eat plants. Specifically, I consume dark leafy greens every day in the form of green juice and vegetable salads. Dark leafy greens such as spinach, kale, collard greens, watercress, and dandelion greens contain more iron than an equivalent serving of cow’s milk while also providing a good amount of calcium.
My doctors require frequent bone-density tests and are always very surprised to note that my bone density is fantastic, given my plant-based diet and refusal to take nutrient and mineral supplements. They always tell me that whatever I am doing with my diet is certainly working and to keep up the good work.
You’ve probably heard diet advice over the past couple of decades indicating that you should be eating very small meals every two or three hours. Sound familiar? But this type of diet doesn’t give the digestive tract a break. The theory behind juice cleansing is that it gives the body the opportunity to rid itself of toxins.
THE MINI JUICE FAST: I discovered the first way to detox my body was to conduct a mini juice fast every day. So I replaced my usual breakfast with a green juice—a practice that I continue to this day. On an empty stomach, the juice makes its way through to the intestines in minutes. While I give my digestive system a break from the hard work of digesting solid food in the morning, I also infuse my body with a huge flush of vital nutrients and minerals. My first meal of solid food is always lunch. This creates a mini juice fast of eighteen hours or more each day, from dinner until lunch the following day. Even though I don’t consume solid food until lunch or later, I don’t experience low blood sugar, hunger pangs, or any of the other symptoms one would expect from skipping a solid breakfast in favor of a low-calorie green juice (my juices are approximately 100 calories or less). The most important benefit of the mini juice fast is that I am full of energy all day long.
MULTI-DAY FASTING: The second way I learned to cleanse and detoxify my body was through periodic longer multi-day juice fasts. At first, I tried just drinking juice for several days in a row, but I quickly learned that this did not work, and it even seemed to make me feel more toxic. Why? Simply because I was not completing the job of actually moving the toxins out of my body. I was juice fasting (only drinking green juice) for long periods of time, and toxins were being pulled out of my cells and into my bloodstream, but I was not moving them out of my body through my bowels. As a result, those toxins were accumulating in my bloodstream and giving me horrible detox symptoms including headaches and flu-like symptoms. If I wanted to continue the juice fast, my options at this point were either: 1) take a large fiber pill each day to help move my bowels, or 2) subject myself to a lower intestinal colonic to assist in the process. But neither of these options appealed to me at all.
So I came up with a third option. I decided to consume only green juice during the day, but at night I would eat a raw vegetable dinner. Raw vegetables are digested very quickly, allowing the body to quickly get back to fasting and cleansing. I realized that the benefit of a raw vegetable dinner as part of a healthy cleanse was twofold: First, it allowed me to actually eat something during my multi-day cleanses, providing vital energy to help me function. Second, all the roughage and fiber from dinner prompted my bowels to move and expel the toxins that had accumulated during the day. Since fruit also moves through the digestive tract very quickly, I added small amounts of fruit (or raw vegetables) during the day to maintain a healthy blood sugar level and sustained energy levels. So while I was flooding my body with large quantities of nutrients and minerals from my green juice, I was simultaneously collecting toxins from my body and getting rid of them. And I was accomplishing all of this by simply consuming raw plants. No supplements, no processed foods, no added anything. Isn’t simplicity a beautiful thing?
During your 4-Day Cleanse, you will drink three green juices daily while eating sufficient raw fruits and vegetables to maintain a normal level of energy throughout the day. This will create an extended period of fasting throughout the day that will allow your body to start gathering up and expelling toxins (the juice does not count as food since it will immediately assimilate into the bloodstream when consumed on an empty stomach). Because the green juice recipes in this book are low in sugar, you may need to consume additional fruit or vegetables to maintain a normal level of blood sugar and sufficient energy to go about your daily routine. Note that you should also drink plenty of water throughout the day as you don’t want to get dehydrated. Plus, drinking water will assist in flushing out toxins from your body.
For each seasonal cleanse, we’ve provided a selection of delicious green juices that you can make yourself. If making three juices per day sounds like a lot of work (and time you don’t have!), feel free to make larger quantities of your morning green juice, or any other green juice recipes you like, and substitute them for your lunch and snack juices later in the day. You can double or triple the recipes on any of these. When making a large batch, store your juice in an airtight container right after juicing, and keep it refrigerated until you are ready to consume. The juice should be consumed within twenty-four hours, as it spoils quickly. Note that the recipes tend to get “greener” as you move through the cleanse, because your taste buds should be adjusting to more “green” flavor and you should start losing your sweet tooth. For this reason, I strongly encourage you to try a variety of the recipes during your cleanse.
If time and convenience are issues for you, also note that all of the green juices produced by my company, Daily Greens, are low in sugar and can be substituted for the green juice recipes provided. While substituting a bottle of Daily Greens for a homemade juice is a great time-saving measure, I still highly recommend making some of your own green juices as well. You might come up with your own perfect green juice blend!
In the evening, you will prepare a delicious raw vegetable appetizer and salad to eat for dinner. These recipes can all be mixed and matched depending on what you have available in your fridge. I also encourage you to improvise and substitute your own raw vegetable dishes. The idea is simply to consume a big raw vegetable dinner in order to provide your body with sufficient fiber and roughage to get your bowels moving and expel all those toxins that you have accumulated during your day of juice fasting (this may occur immediately or the next morning). Repeat this cycle for three more days, and I promise your body will thank you for it!
Wondering why there are four cleanses, one for each season? I started doing these four-day cleanses every couple of months, and fell into a rhythm of doing one at the beginning of each season. I would do one the first week of January to start off the new year right. I would do another one as soon as spring arrived, feeling the need for a good spring cleaning. I would do one the first week of summer to kick off swimsuit season in style. And I also loved doing a back-to-school cleanse, as I started my fall routines. The different recipes featured in the different seasonal cleanses are based on my own philosophy for consuming fruits and vegetables that are in season or available from my local farmers market. There are three very important reasons to eat seasonally:
1. Ideally, fruits and vegetables are harvested when they are ripe. This is when they contain the highest level of nutrients they will ever contain during their life cycle.
2. Eating foods in season often means that you can select your produce from your local farmer or farmers market and lessen the environmental impact of shipping produce across the country.
3. Finally, eating seasonally will save you money. The price of produce is lower when it is in season and available locally.
I recommend that your fruits and vegetables be organic to the greatest extent possible. I know they can cost a lot more at the grocery store, but I believe the benefits far outweigh the cost.
1. I find that organic produce tastes better.
2. While there is differing research on the topic, I believe that organic produce contains higher levels of nutrients (the Organic Trade Association at ota.com lists the results of several major scientific studies).
3. Produce that comes from organic farms does not contain pesticides and other poisons commonly used to kill insects and maximize production. As reported by the National Cancer Institute, it is many of these same pesticides that are now being linked to cancer, and which I personally hold responsible for my untimely battle with breast cancer.
4. Another important reason to buy organic is to support organic farmers, as they use sustainable farming practices that protect and rehabilitate the soil, as well as prevent further contamination of our environment by employing natural fertilizers and pest repellents instead of poisonous chemicals that contribute to the contamination of our groundwater, lakes, rivers, and oceans.
If you are on a budget, I would highly recommend that—at a minimum—you consider purchasing organic versions of the produce that appears on the “dirty dozen” list. This is a list of the fruits and vegetables that retain the most residual poisons from pesticides used by non-organic farmers. Below is the 2014 list published by Dr. Andrew Weil, a health expert who is internationally recognized for his views on leading a healthy lifestyle, his philosophy of healthy aging, and his critique of the future of medicine and health care.
Apples
Strawberries
Grapes
Celery
Peaches
Spinach
Sweet bell peppers
Nectarines (imported)
Cucumbers
Cherry tomatoes
Snap peas (imported)
Potatoes
Hot peppers
Blueberries (domestic)
During your cleanse, you will need to eliminate several items from your diet. Some of these will be tough, but do make the effort. You’ll be happy you did.
Coffee can be a diuretic causing dehydration, which is counter-productive to your cleanse goal of fully hydrating and cleansing your body. Other negative effects that coffee can have include acid reflux and an increase in heart rate. Coffee can also increase the body’s level of the hormone cortisol, which can lower the activity of the immune system.
As you’ve probably suspected, alcohol is not conducive to cleansing. It is dehydrating, spikes blood sugar levels, causes inflammation, and adds “empty” calories that are devoid of nutrients. Drinking alcohol in any form, including wine, is simply not productive during a cleanse.
Refined and packaged foods are not usually what I consider “real food,” as they contain countless preservatives and added mystery ingredients. As a rule, if a package contains any ingredients that I don’t recognize or can’t pronounce, I will not buy it. These refined and packaged foods are at the heart of the current food and health crisis we have in America. By eating these instead of whole foods, people are missing out on many of the essential nutrients provided by the latter. Plus, packaged foods often contain potentially harmful ingredients used as preservatives to extend their shelf life. Some of these packaged foods are “fortified” with artificial and chemically based nutrients like iron, calcium, and vitamins, but these are a poor substitute for the nutrients that naturally occur in real food. During your 4-Day Cleanse, you will enjoy the full benefits of a plant-based diet that is free of artificial additives, and you will see a dramatic difference in your mood and energy level.
Animal protein takes hours to digest and is not conducive to cleansing. It is important to eat foods that digest rapidly to give your intestines a break. Note that animal protein also usually contains toxins from pesticides that are used in the animals’ food supply, as well as hormones and antibiotics used to optimize production of animal protein. This places an even greater burden on the body to get rid of the animal toxic waste.
While cooked whole grains are an important part of a long-term healthy diet, they also take a long time to digest, and for some people, the gluten in many of these (wheat, rye, barley) causes inflammation in the intestines. One of the goals for your 4-Day Cleanse is to reduce inflammation and give your intestines a rest, so it is best to eliminate cooked grains while cleansing.
While you will need a few basic pieces of equipment like a home juicer and a high-speed blender, the 4-Day Cleanse is pretty simple and does not require much preparation. Here is a list of equipment you should make sure you have at home before you start your cleanse.
While I own several high-end expensive juicers, I almost always use my simple Breville Juice Fountain to make green juice at home. It is inexpensive in the juicing world, works wonderfully, and is easy to use. I recommend the two-speed version, which will allow you to alter the speed depending on the produce you are juicing. Using the recommended speed will prevent waste. The fountain opening allows you to put larger pieces of fruit and vegetables into the juicer, thus requiring less time for cutting your produce into small portions. It also breaks down into three parts for easy washing. As of late, there are a number of juicers on the market that attempt to bridge the gap between cold-pressed juicers, like the professional-grade Norwalk, and the centrifugal juicers like the Breville. I have experimented with several of these, including the Huron. While they are nice and may extract slightly more nutrients, they do slow down the process of making juice. I encourage you to do some research on the best juicer for your budget.
A word of caution: Do not attempt to use a blender as a juicer. It just cannot be done. A blender retains all the fiber and, thus, works for making a green smoothie, but not a green juice.
You will be using a blender to make green smoothies during the week prior to your cleanse (see pages 24–31) and to make raw soups for dinner during your cleanse. As you will see later on, I am very passionate about my Vitamix. I could not live without it. When trying to break down raw produce into a creamy texture for smoothies, I find it is the only blender that truly gets the job done. I know it comes with a high price tag, so feel free to substitute a regular high-speed blender.
Over the course of your 4-Day Cleanse, you will be washing large quantities of fruits and vegetables, both for your juices and for your raw food dinners; a large colander will make this process easier.
You will also be chopping up large quantities of fruits and vegetables, so a set of sharp knives is highly recommended. If your knives are dull, you can sharpen them yourself or take them to a store that does knife sharpening before you begin your cleanse. Take extra care when using ultra-sharp knives—you don’t want to hurt yourself!
You will be making a big raw salad most evenings, and a salad spinner can make it easier to prepare your greens. If you don’t already have one, a colander to drain your washed lettuce will work just fine as a substitute.
These tools can come in handy for preparing paper-thin veggie slices (on the mandolin) or spaghetti-thin vegetable curls (on the spiralizer). Both are inexpensive and can easily be found online or in retail stores carrying kitchenware.
There are three key changes in your diet that I highly recommend you incorporate a week prior to starting the 4-Day Cleanse. These are particularly important if you have never cleansed before, and even more important if you are not accustomed to drinking a green juice every day. If you already drink a green juice on a daily basis and consume a diet high in raw vegetables and fruits, then these early preparations will be unnecessary, and you can proceed right away with your 4-Day Cleanse.
If you drink coffee every day, then I strongly recommend switching to black tea or green tea one week prior to starting your 4-Day Cleanse. This will give you a reasonable dose of caffeine every morning so as to limit your caffeine withdrawal symptoms and let your body start getting used to having less caffeine before you begin the actual cleanse. During your cleanse, you will be drinking green tea, which not only contains less caffeine than coffee but also has the added benefit of providing you with wonderful antioxidants, including high quantities of catechins, which fight and may even prevent cell damage. What’s more, some research shows that green tea improves blood flow and helps lower cholesterol.
So now that I have taken away your morning cup of coffee to get your bowels moving, what next? You can start motivating your bowels by filling them with fiber and roughage from raw fruits and vegetables in the form of a thick, delicious green smoothie. I have included a number of fabulous green smoothie recipes in this chapter in order to provide you with a wide variety of options for the week. Note that it is important to swap out your regular breakfast for a green smoothie. This will start to get you accustomed to the “fasting” element of the 4-Day Cleanse so it won’t be as much of a shock to your system. Another reason you’ll be drinking a green smoothie for breakfast is so you can start developing your “green palate”—your taste for greens. The more consistently you drink green juice, the more you will crave greens and the less you will crave sugar and sweet things.
Swap out your normal burger or cold cuts at lunch for a raw salad. Any type of raw salad will work, but eliminate animal protein and grains from it. Save the meat and grains for dinner. This will start preparing your body for the new eating routines you will practice during your 4-Day Cleanse. Take note of how you feel eating just raw vegetables and fruits during the day. You should feel energized, since your body is not burdened with channeling so much energy into digesting food all day long, as the raw fruit and vegetables will digest very quickly using only a fraction of the energy.
Note that all of these tips are also great food habits for life. As we will discuss in Chapter 6: Maintaining Post-Cleanse (see page 149), these wonderful habits will help you maintain optimal health following your 4-Day Cleanse.
No. If you are immune-compromised, pregnant, breastfeeding, or suffering from a chronic disease or ongoing health problem, cleansing may not be safe for you. As such, I highly recommend that you consult your physician before starting the cleanse if any of these apply to you, or if you have any health issues or questions about the safety of cleansing.
Yes! This is one of the questions I get asked most frequently. By the fourth day of the Daily Greens Cleanse, most people will start to feel really amazing, and as a result decide they might want to extend their cleanse. I encourage everyone to continue the Daily Greens Cleanse as long as you feel comfortable, and always consult your doctor if you’re not sure. I usually end up continuing a few extra days or until I have some social engagement that gets in the way. Mayim Bialik, a star from the hit TV show The Big Bang Theory and a vegan diet and lifestyle ambassador, continued the Daily Greens Cleanse for nine days the first time she tried it. When you are ready to break the cleanse, be sure to follow the plan laid out in Chapter 6: Maintaining Post-Cleanse (see page 149).
No. One of the problems with cleansing is that the body releases a substantial amount of toxins into the system while it detoxes, and this can be harmful for your baby.
A cleanse that lasts for four days is what personally feels right for me and this seems to be the magic number for most people looking to reset and recharge. Through years of practice, I have found this to be the most effective time frame for cleansing. However, every person will have his or her own unique response, and I have found that even one or two days of cleansing is a helpful boost to your system. Any decision to move toward a healthier you is a positive one, so congratulate yourself for taking the first step!
Yes! The Daily Greens 4-Day Cleanse is designed to provide you with sufficient energy to do your normal day-to-day activities, including exercise. I do recommend, however, that during a cleanse you stick with lighter forms of exercise that do not cause increased hunger. You’ll have to determine which forms of exercise are right for you, but during a cleanse I try to stick with light strength classes like yoga and barre or light cardio like a short run or spin class.
In my hometown of Austin, Texas, I am well known for this green smoothie. I started making it over nine years ago at the beginning of my own journey back to good health. I used to take a pitcher of it to my workout to share with everyone in my fitness class. They thought I was crazy for asking them to drink a smoothie that was a brilliant shade of green. Plus, my gym already had a smoothie bar—but they made the type of smoothies popular at the time, with berries or bananas, some form of milk (usually cow’s milk), and a big scoop of animal-based protein powder. Since they did not make anything that I would drink, I brought my own. Once folks got past the “greenness” of this smoothie, it was a universal crowd-pleaser.
INGREDIENTS
Big handful of spinach (2/3 bunch)
Handful of mint leaves (from 3 to 4 stems)
1/4-inch (0.6 cm) piece ginger root
1/2 banana (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup (88g) mango chunks or sliced peaches (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup (120ml) filtered water
1 Wash the spinach, mint, and ginger root.
2 Add all ingredients to your high-speed blender or Vitamix, and blend on High until smooth and creamy.
3 Add more water if needed to obtain desired consistency for drinking.
This smoothie is nice and green, but has a fun spicy kick to it because of the ginger and cayenne. It will definitely wake up your taste buds first thing in the morning.
INGREDIENTS
3 to 4 kale leaves
Handful of cilantro (coriander) leaves (from 3 to 4 stems)
1/4-inch (0.6 cm) piece ginger root
1 cup (165g) pineapple chunks (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup (120ml) filtered water
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 Wash the kale, cilantro, and ginger root.
2 Add all ingredients to your high-speed blender or Vitamix, and blend on High until smooth and creamy.
3 Add more water if needed to obtain desired consistency for drinking.
TIME SAVER
Most grocery stores carry bags of frozen fruit that are perfect for making smoothies. I try to keep a variety of frozen fruits on hand to assist with quick smoothie making.
It does not get any more basic than combining spinach, banana, and orange into a super-simple green smoothie. I love making this one in the winter, when oranges are in season and a bit sweeter. It takes less than five minutes to prepare, so this is a great go-to recipe when you are in a hurry in the morning.
INGREDIENTS
Big handful of spinach (2/3 bunch)
1/2 banana (fresh or frozen)
1 medium orange or two small oranges
1 cup (235ml) filtered water
1 Wash the spinach.
2 Add all ingredients to your high-speed blender or Vitamix, and blend on High until smooth and creamy.
3 Add more water if needed to obtain desired consistency for drinking.
Avocados get a bad rap for being high in calories and fat. However, these are the good kinds of fats—the ones that help lower your cholesterol. Even better? Avocado makes a smoothie creamy, filling, and delicious.
INGREDIENTS
Big handful of spinach (2/3 bunch)
1/2 large avocado or 1 small avocado
1/2 banana (fresh or frozen)
1 cup (235ml) filtered water (or coconut water if desired)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Dash of cinnamon (optional)
1 Wash the spinach.
2 Remove the meat from the avocado.
3 Add all ingredients to your high-speed blender or Vitamix, and blend on High until smooth and creamy.
4 Add more water if needed to obtain desired consistency for drinking.
The ingredients in this smoothie all promote beautiful glowing skin, especially the kiwi. If you want to switch things up a bit, it’s fun to swap coconut water for regular water. This will add electrolytes to your smoothie while offering a fun tropical taste.
INGREDIENTS
Big handful of spinach (2/3 bunch)
1/2 large avocado or 1 small avocado
1/2 banana (fresh or frozen)
2 kiwi
1 cup (235ml) filtered water (or coconut water, if desired)
1 Wash the spinach.
2 Remove the meat from the avocado.
3 Add all ingredients to your high-speed blender or Vitamix, and blend on High until smooth and creamy.
4 Add more water if needed to obtain desired consistency for drinking.
This smoothie is great for summer, combining two of my favorite summer fruits: strawberries and peaches. My son loves this one because these are two of his favorite fruits, as well. If you are looking for some extra protein, throw in some ground chia seeds. You will feel full a lot longer.
INGREDIENTS
Big handful of spinach (2/3 bunch)
1/2 cup (100g) sliced peaches (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup (55g) whole strawberries (fresh or frozen), stems removed
1 cup (235ml) filtered water (or coconut water if desired)
1 to 2 tbsp ground chia seeds (optional)
1 Wash the spinach, peaches, and strawberries (if fresh).
2 Add all ingredients to your high-speed blender or Vitamix, and blend on High until smooth and creamy.
3 Add more water if needed to obtain desired consistency for drinking.
Green grapes and honeydew melon combine so well to form a super-sweet base for a smoothie. Again, if you are looking for a boost of protein, add a couple spoonfuls of ground chia seeds. Make sure they are ground up so all the good stuff can be absorbed by your intestines.
INGREDIENTS
3 to 4 kale leaves
1/2 cup (75g) green grapes (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup (90g) cubed honeydew melon (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup (120ml) filtered water
2 tbsp ground chia seeds (optional)
1 Wash the kale and grapes.
2 Add all ingredients to your high-speed blender or Vitamix, and blend on High until smooth and creamy.
3 Add more water if needed to obtain desired consistency for drinking.
Unlike the other drinks featured in this chapter, this is a recipe for a green juice, as opposed to a smoothie. So you’ll be using your juicer here—not your high-speed blender. When I first began drinking green juices, I had to incorporate a substantial amount of apple to this one to make it appeal to my taste buds. But day after day, I noticed my palate being cleansed of my cravings for sugar, and the apple started to taste sickeningly sweet. After several months of drinking this every morning, I could actually taste every single ingredient in it with a newly refreshed palate, similar to the one I had as a child. I started to really crave my Morning Greens.
INGREDIENTS
1/2 bunch of kale (or other dark greens, if desired)
1 cucumber
5 celery stalks, bottoms removed (or 1 head of romaine [cos])
to cut the greenness:
1/4 lemon, peeled
1/4-inch (0.6 cm) piece ginger root
to add flair:
Handful of basil or mint (6 to 7 leaves)
to add sweetness:
1/2 apple or pear, or 1/4 of either or both, cored and cut into pieces
1 Wash all ingredients except lemon (if using).
2 Cut and core the apple or pear (if using) and cut into pieces that will fit through your juicer.
3 Run all ingredients through your juicer, scrape off foam (if desired), and enjoy!
