I have a confession – I think I’m in love with salad. Aside from smoothies, I would have to say that a hearty salad is my favorite way to nourish. Falling for an inanimate objects such as lettuce, dressing and all the other accouterments that make up a salad could be viewed as worrisome for many, I know…alas, it seems that this week in particular, I am indeed in love with salad.

There are so many ways to prepare and serve salad. In my opinion, I believe one could never tire of them. I have a friend who owns a restaurant that offers a vast array of salad, and tasting all their offerings has inspired me. Not to mention salad is just so good for you – not the Kraft Caesar dressing kind of salad, though, as those happen to be worse than a Big Mac.

So, why the salad kick?

Salads pack a nutritional punch in so many ways, as they are chock-full of fiber and other nutrients. And, when garnished just right, salads are so much more than just rabbit food.

A salad is like a smoothie that is chewed rather than sipped, and in my kitchen, many of my salads mirror the same ingredients as my smoothies. Just as a smoothie can be supercharged with hemp seeds, nuts and fruit, salads can, too.

Carrots are the Toyota of vegetables. Beyond healthy and cheap as dirt, they can be grated and combined with sprouts, cilantro, snap peas, hemp seeds and various Asian flavors, which is sure to make your body feel joyous from the inside out.

In addition to being delicious, the salad recipe I’ve got for you below has the high honor or being easy to prepare, as this requires not one minute of cooking. I used my food processor to grate the carrots, because I was feeling particularly lazy.

For some reason, I feel a false sense of nobility doing things by hand, sure, as if to assert my chef prowess to myself; but I cannot deny the ease and convenience of man-made machines. you may be like me in that regard, and if so, know that a food processer works great for preparing these ingredients.

Carrot Salad

• 7 medium sized carrots, grated
• 1 cup sprouts
• ½ cup sugar snap peas, cut into strips
• ¼ cup hemp seeds
• *½ cup of cilantro
• ¼ cup sesame oil
• ¼ cup canola oil
• ¼ cup dark soy sauce
• ¼ cup rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp sambal olek (chili paste)

In a bowl, combine the carrots, sprouts and peas. In another bowl, wiz the remaining ingredients with a hand blender to make the dressing. Add the dressing to the vegetables and mix.

I recommend mixing by hand, as this makes for more even distribution. Garnish with hemp seeds and enjoy!

So your shiny new juicer has just arrived, and you’ve got it all set up and plugged in.

What now? Do you fling yourself into a frenzy of beet greens, nettle tea, and broccoli florets? Do you fill your juicer with stalks of kale and hope it turns out tasting like chocolate milk?

We’ve got your back on this one. Try this simple, sweet-tasting recipes that will have you asking for a refill.

The Ingredients

• 4 carrots
• 1 cucumber
• Handful of spinach
• 1 lemon
• 1 apple or pear

The Directions

First of all, wash everything! Peel the cucumber and lemon, then core the apple or pear. Carefully feed the produce into your juicer, alternating between soft produce (cucumber, spinach, fruits) and three of the carrots. Finish off with the last carrot to make sure everything gets pushed down and juiced.

Pour the juice into a frosty glass and sip away, preferably through one of those fancy, curly fluorescent straws.

The Flavor

This recipe balances the sweetness of carrot, apple, and/or pear with the grassiness of spinach and the tartness of lemon. (Let’s be honest: can anyone taste the cucumber? We can’t!) It’s a great mix of accessible flavor for the juicing neophyte. Spinach is one of the easiest leafy greens to disguise in a juice—its flavor is gentle, and quickly overpowered by sweeter fruits and vegetables.

The Benefits

Juicing breaks down the cell walls of the fruits and vegetables, making the nutrients easily absorbable and digestible. Essentially, the juicing action does the chewing for you, so you can consume huge amounts of fruits and vegetables without having to gnaw on a bag of carrots all day.

It’s important to add plenty of vegetables to your juice, since pure fruit juice can lead to a spike in blood sugar.

Spinach is packed full of vitamins A, C, and B2, as well as manganese, folate, iron, calcium, and potassium. Carrots are your friendly neighborhood powerhouse source of vitamin A (and they ain’t bad when it comes to vitamin K, C, and potassium, either). And the vitamin C punch of the lemon will help your body absorb the iron in the spinach. Win-win-win!

Photo attribute: www.nicolewaterhouse.com

It’s an enticing concept, but besides salad bar creations, how does one keep it fresh while reaping vitality through a blend of vibrant foods?

Eat Your Reds

• Lycopene

Found in abundance in tomatoes, watermelon, red bell peppers and pink grapefruit, this rich nutrient contains carotenoids that may reduce the risk of prostate cancer up to 35%, one study suggests.

When cooking these crimson gems, combine them with fat as the body best absorbs lycopene when fat is present. And lycopene is further increased in these foods when they are consumed at a higher temperature; think tomato sauce, soups and the like.

Capsaicin

This scarlet enzyme is found readily in chili peppers, and those spicy little bites help stave off hunger and burn calories. Here’s a tip: to minimize the heat in chili peppers, remove the seeds prior to cooking.

Resveratrol

Brimming in red wine and grapes, resvertrol has the health world a buzz as of late, because it’s reported to be an amazing polyphenol with the ability to neutralize free radicals and inhibit inflammation.

Eat your Oranges

Cur-cumin

Found in turmeric, the antioxidant properties of cur-cumin may help counter the body’s negative response to high fat foods. To use this spice in cooking, mix it into salad dressing or sprinkle it over cooked vegetables like kale – and be easy – a little goes a very long way.

Alpha Carotene

Found in sweet potatoes, carrots, winter squash and cantaloupe. Alpha carotene is known for having anti-aging properties, which converts to vitamin A in the body and bolsters immunity. Like other carotenoids, it is best absorbed with fat. Try roasting the vegetables with oil or pair cantaloupe with avocado.

Eat your Yellows

Bromelain

The active ingredient in pineapple, this enzyme may ease indigestion and asthma. Pineapple paired with Greek yogurt is a stomach loving snack.

Limonoids

As the name would suggest, limonoids are found in limes and other varieties of citrus. They help protect against breast, skin and stomach cancer, and they lower cholesterol. Limonoids are concentrated in the citrus peel, so use the zest and juice to maximize your limonoid intake.

Eat your Greens

Catechins

This stuff is brimming in green tea, especially Matcha, as the whole leaf is consumed. Catechins may lower bad (LDL) cholesterol.

Chlorophyll

Best sources of this enzyme are watercress, leeks, arugula and parsley, but it’s present in nearly every green plant food- even pistachios! chlorophyll is also known to decrease the risk of liver cancer.

Eat your Purples

Anthocyanins

Found in red cabbage, grapes, berries and eggplant. This antioxidant has been proven to improve brain function and balance, as well as reduce the risk of cancer, stroke and heart disease.

Tasting the rainbow is not just for candy lovers. With a diet full of vibrantly colored food, health and wellness become effortless.

The weathers finally warming up, and we’re actually getting kind of excited to stop gorging on cheesecake, jalapeno poppers, and rum-based drinks for a few weeks in order to celebrate the freshness of our favorite season.

And with that seasonal change, as always, comes the need to cleanse and detox. Whip up these detoxifying juices several times a week to cleanse your liver, brighten your eyes, and stock your system with potent vitamins in order to counteract those rainy spring sniffles.

Use organic vegetables if at all possible—that way, you’ll avoid any pesticides that come in contact with non-organic leaves and peels.

Dandelion-Spinach Detox Juice

Long praised for their liver-detoxifying properties, dandelion greens are rich in beta-carotene and have a signature bitter bite to them. Add more lemon (or toss in some agave) to taste if the juice is too bitter for you.

Spinach’s list of vitamins and nutrients is too long to list here, but let’s start with vitamin K, vintaim A, manganese, folate, magnesium, and iron (thinking of sneaking an extra handful of leaves into your juice yet?) If after you’re finished with this recipe, be sure to checkout our growing list of spinach blog archives for some other info and ideas on how to use this magical green!

• 1/2 bunch dandelion greens
• 4 cups spinach
• 4 carrots
• 1/2 cucumber
• 5 stalks celery
• 1/2 lemon, peeled

Feed the dandelion greens and spinach into your juicer. Then add three carrots and the rest of the ingredients, using the last carrot to push all the rest of the ingredients through. Drink immediately.

Carrot-Beet-Celery Detox Juice

This peppery drink offers powerful detox action from the root vegetables, while the spiciness of garlic and black pepper gives your immune system a boost. Beets are packed full of a variety of antioxidants; carrots, as you know, are an amazing source of beta-carotene; and celery is a rich source of vitamin C (not to mention that its water content makes it great for juicing).

Radishes also help to cleanse the liver and improve digestion, as well as being a good source of vitamin C. Parsley isn’t just a garnish—it can actually neutralize certain carcinogens, and it’s full of antioxidants and folic acid. Enjoy this bright drink once a week for maximum benefits.

• 1 carrot
• 1 c. beets
• ¼ c. celery
• 2 tbsp radish
• ¼ c. fresh parsley
• 1 clove raw garlic
• ¼ tsp. black pepper

Feed parsley through your juicer, followed by the celery. Add the rest of the ingredients, and top the juice with fresh ground black pepper. Drink immediately.

Photo attribute: kblog.lunchboxbunch.com

Look out, y’all, because March is about to come in like a lion. If the promise of spring hasn’t quite reached you yet, and you’re still slogging through slush and sniffling through a final winter cold, use the last of your root vegetables to blend up a delicious, antioxidant-heavy, super-detoxifying smoothie to keep you healthy and energized until you can actually go outside for and soak up some vitamin D.

Beets—especially raw beets—might not be the most popular veggie in the crisper, but they’re incredibly purifying. They’re a unique source of betalains, a type of phytonutrient that’s antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and, of course, detoxifying.

Beets are also great for your eyes, keeping ‘em bright and shiny. They’re wonderful sources of folate, manganese, fiber, potassium, and vitamin C. Plus, they’ll give your smoothie an amazing ruby-red hue.

More root veggies to make you smile

Carrots, the sweeter sister of beets, protect against cardiovascular disease—in fact, they do more to prevent CVD than any other vegetable. The carotenoids in carrots are full of antioxidant power, and the veggie is also a source of phytonutrients, like beets. We probably don’t even need to tell you that they’re a legendary source of vitamin A (over 400% of your daily requirement in one cup!), but they’re also full of vitamin K, fiber, vitamin C, and potassium. And they look pretty.

Ginger is obviously not a root vegetable, but it’s more of a root than a veggie, and the spicy-warm flavor of fresh ginger makes any smoothie so much better. Plus, it’s great for your stomach, quells nausea, boosts the immune system, and reduces swelling. So since we’re going for an end-of-winter health boost, how could we leave it out?

Think of this ingredient list as a list of suggestions—a mix-and-match smoothie, if you will. Select what you like, ignore what you don’t. Missing an ingredient? Don’t stress! Have some wilted kale in the back of your fridge? Toss it in!

The Stars: Root Vegetables

• 1 carrot, peeled and sliced or grated
• 1 beet, peeled and sliced or grated
• A peeled slice of ginger

The Fruits

• 1 cup frozen pitted cherries (antioxidants, heart health)
• 1 ripe banana (cardiovascular benefits, potassium source)
• 1 cored pear (great source of fiber)

The Extras

• 2 tablespoons flaxseed (omega-3s)
• Cinnamon to taste (can lower cholesterol)
• 1 cup coconut water (potassium)
• 1 teaspoon chia seeds (omega-3s)

Blend the ingredients of your choice until everything is smooth, and enjoy!

Photo attribute: beantownbaker.com

During my pregnancies, I didn’t have Morning Sickness – I had All Day Sickness that lasted the entire nine months.  There wasn’t much that would bring me relief, so I was willing to try anything and everything. This is when I discovered a little root called ginger.

You can find ginger root at your local supermarket or specialty store. It typically costs about $1.99 a pound and will survive for up to 3 weeks if stored in a plastic bag in your refrigerator.

To relive my nausea, I’d peel the root and slice a one inch chunk into 15 pieces, then boil the chunks in water for 30 minutes, and viola! I had a tea that settles the tummy. Little did I know that the power in ginger was oh so much more than it’s awesome soothing abilities.

What else can ginger do for you?

•  In addition to helping with nausea, ginger also relives bloating and gas!
•  Ginger contains antioxidants and phytochemicals. It’s a natural anti-inflammatory that helps arthritis, asthma, and even migraines.
• In the battle against heart disease, it prevents cholesterol from oxidizing and lowers your LDL (lousy) cholesterol. Ginger also lowers your triglycerides, which are important as a mechanism for storing your unused calories.
• Ginger helps prevent blood clots, which then lowers your risk of stroke and heart attack.
•  In the home, ginger is used to treat coughs, colds, and congestion. Ginger also acts as an antihistamine to help with allergies.
•  Ginger juice can also be used on snake bites. As a natural pain killer it provides immediate relief for tooth aches and minor burns!
•  The University of Minnesota conducted a study that found ginger may slow the growth of colorectal cancer cells (colon cancer).
•  A study conducted at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center found that when ginger powder was applied to ovarian cancer cells it induced cell death.
•  Heartburn sufferers can find relief in the root. It also helps protect against ulcers and gall stones.
•  And ladies…ginger can help with those awful menstrual cramps!

Impressive, right? My husband calls it the miracle spice!

Juicing with ginger!

Ginger can be added to almost all your favorite juicing recipes! The daily recommendation is 5g, so I usually use recipes that call for 1 inch of ginger.

Kick start your morning with this simple recipe (pictured above):

• 8 medium Carrots
• 3 Apples
• 1 inch of Ginger

Remember to wash your fruits and veggies before juicing, especially fruits that have a wax coating – like apples. The ginger adds a nice finish to the juice and you’ll find yourself with a boost of energy!

Here is a yummy recipe that will also get you going. Literally.

• 3 medium Apples
• 3 large Pears
• 1 inch of ginger

This recipe is a mild laxative, so it’s great for regulating bowel movements.

For a sweet green juice, try this:

•  1 cucumber
•  1 carrot
•  1 green apple
•  1/4 cup parsley
•  1/4 cup mint
•  1 stalk of celery
• 1/2 inch ginger
• 1/2 lemon (peeled)

Cucumber is great for your skin and the celery is a natural diuretic, helping with the unwanted water weight!

What is your favorite Ginger juicing recipe?

Tell us in the comments below!

No measurements are needed in this simple chip recipe. In fact, you can do it in six lightening-fast steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
2. Wash and dry one bunch of kale.
3. Chop or rip the kale into bite-size pieces, removing the tough stems as you go.
4. In a large bowl, toss the kale pieces with a few drizzles of olive oil and a few shakes of your favorite sea salt.
5. Spread the kale pieces in a single layer on a baking sheet.
6. Bake for 10-20 minutes until kale is crisp but not browned. (Keep an eye on your chips—they taste best when they’re still dark green. Burnt kale has a pretty unpleasant flavor, believe it or not!)

Olive oil and sea salt not doing it for you? You can flavor these chips any way you want, just like regular potato chips. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. Salt-n-pepper chips: toss a half-teaspoon of pepper in with the raw kale pieces.
2. Spicy chips: throw a few shakes of red pepper flakes into the bowl before baking.
3. Garlic Parmesan chips: toss a half-teaspoon of garlic in with the raw kale pieces, then sprinkle a generous helping of freshly-grated Parmesan cheese over the chips after they’ve baked.
4. Asian-inspired chips: replace the olive oil with a splash of soy sauce and a drizzle of sesame oil.
5. Bright lemon chips: Squeeze half a lemon over the raw kale pieces after you’ve mixed in the olive oil and sea salt.

How did your kale chips turn out?

Tell us about it in the comments below!

So it is essential that we give ourselves the fuel required to perform our daily duties, while still being able to cleanse our bodies – we’ve all had ‘diet brain’, and it’s no fun.

One of the reasons that most cleansers fail out of the gate is because by the time lunch rolls around our resolve is weakened. We’re flat out hungry by at that point. But there are ways to cleanse our bodies without the feeling hungry or weak.

Fiber is so important during a cleanse because it allows us to feel full while still staying within our boundaries. There are a variety of fibers that are good for a cleanse, including bulgur, quinoa, millet and barley. Taking care to make sure that we have enough fiber in our diets while cleansing will ensure that we don’t get hungry, thus we reduce the cravings!

Another reason why cleansers fail out of the gate is a lack of planning. On Sundays, I like to prepare meals and little fixins’ for the whole week ahead so that there’s never a time where I find myself wondering what to cook for lunch or dinner. I like to have a variety of soup when I’m cleansing because they’re easy to prepare in large batches and they’re super healthy and filling!

One of my favorite go to cleanse soup recipes is made with carrots. I simply juice a pound of carrots, then heat the pulp, the juice and quinoa altogether. I refrigerate it and have it as a go-to lunch – it’s filling and surprisingly delicious, and keeps me going throughout the whole day.

A new product on the market that is rather that is excellent for cleansing is kombucha. This fermented tea contains more probiotics than Greek yogurt and has the natural sweetness and effervescent that makes it feel like a treat. It also helps incredibly with helping our digestion do what it needs to do (be prepared for a lot of bathroom trips during a cleanse!)

Kombucha is a nice addition, and helps get us going without the need for dairy.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention water. Water is important every single day of our lives, especially while cleansing. Our bodies are composed of over 50% water and we need it to carry out even the most basic of tasks. Sometimes thirst manifest itself as hunger, so be sure to drink at least 2 liters of water a day while attempting any type of cleanse or detox.

The power in both of these juices is the no-holds barred essence of nutrition in the ingredients, like organic spinach, celery, carrots, cucumbers, and parsley.

Spinach offers an exceptionally well-rounded approach to vitamins and minerals to get your daily values. Click here to learn more about the nutritional benefits of spinach.

Celery is the King of Vitamin K with over 44% of your daily value. Vitamin K is a powerful bone-builder, supports the cardiovascular system, and smooths the way for a healthy nervous system. Celery, unassuming as it is, does more than you think. Click here to find out more.

Carrots, of course, are a staple in any juicer’s pantry. Carrots offer the power of orange, a.k.a beta-carotene. Click here to read what else the carrot offers.

Cucumbers add support to the health and luminosity of your skin. Adding celery to your juices soothes skin irritation and reduces swelling. Click here to learn more about cucumbers.

The inclusion of parsley in both of these recipes adds a gentle detoxifying effect. In addition to supporting the liver, this vibrant herb does a whole bunch of other good things to your body. Read more about parsley here!

Vibrant Veggies

This juice gives a wake-up call to your digestive system, getting it “on-line” for the day, gently. Because of its dense nutrients, dilute the juice concentrate with water. A 50/50 split of juice and filtered water does the trick. Choose organic veggies for the best taste and absorption.

• 1 medium cucumber
• 4 stalks of celery
• 2-3 handfuls of spinach
• 8 green or red leafy lettuce leaves
• 1 handful of flat-leaf or curly parsley
• ½ – 1 lemon
• Options: add arugula, kale, alfalfa sprouts, or micro-greens.

Juice all the greens together and add lemon to your taste.  Lemon will enhance the alkalinity of the juice. Remember to mix the juice with filtered water at a 1 to 1 ratio.

Detox Your Day

This juice is sweeter and not as green-tasting, but is still chock full of nutrition. This is a light and delightfully gentle daily detox.

• 3-5 carrots
• 1-2 handfuls of spinach
• 1 handful of flat-leaf or curly parsley
• 3 stalks of celery

Juice the ingredients in order. Dilute with water as desired or drink straight up.

Cherry Ginger Punch

• 4 cups organic or fresh cherry juice, chilled
• 1 Liter of ginger ale, chilled (try organic with real ginger for a snappy treat!)
• Ice ring (instructions follow)

Juice cherries or use an organic variety and mix with the ginger ale just before your guests arrive. Add the ice ring and enjoy. Yields about 16 servings.

Make a decorative ice ring by placing a ring mold in the freezer and chill it thoroughly. Rinse and return to the freezer until a thin coat of ice forms. Cover the bottom of the mold with fresh (pitted) cherries. Add cherry juice to cover the fruit and then freeze until firm. Add additional cherry juice and then freeze overnight.

The Power of the Cherry with Antioxidant Assistance

Cherries are a festive fruit with fantastic super powers as an antioxidant provider. Free radicals are molecular thieves – they steal electrons from healthy cells. This heralds the beginning of cell degeneration (a.k.a “oxidative stress”), which eventually mutates or kills the cell. This oxidative stress is what causes disease and premature aging.

Antioxidants circumvent free radical damage to the cells, because they provide what the free radicals need before they attack cells.

Cherries contain 17 antioxidants.  These include anthocyanins (protector against heart disease and cancer) and melatonin, (heart rhythm and sleep cycle regulator). These two are some of the most powerful and efficient antioxidants that you can consume!

Research from the Michigan State University finds that cherry juice has the highest antioxidant rating out of all fruits and vegetables.

This score, called an ORAC value (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity), is a measurement of the antioxidant capacity of food. It measures not only how many antioxidants exist in a particular food, but how powerful they are individually and collectively.

Tart cherry juice tops the list in antioxidant bounty by taking the top two slots in a measurement of 12 fruits. (list courtesy of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and Brunswick Laboratory.) Here are the ORAC values that were found among the following fruits:

Other Nutritional Benefits of Cherries

1 cup of cherries or juice contain only 74 calories, 25 grams of carbohydrates, and 20 grams of sugar. When eaten raw, cherries provide 13% of the daily amount of fiber.

Cherries contain 18% of the daily value of Vitamin C, the vitamin necessary to help the body absorb iron, and assist in the formation of blood, muscle, and bone (among a myriad of other qualities). Cherries also provide a supporting amount of Vitamin K (a bone builder), Vitamin B6 (an amino acid processor), and Vitamin A (eye health promoter). Cherries actually contain 19% more Vitamin A than either blueberries or strawberries.

Cherries contain 10% of the daily value of potassium. Potassium is a salt that helps keep our digestive and muscular systems strong. It also assists in the proper functioning of the kidneys.

Additional minerals in cherries include copper, iron, calcium, manganese, magnesium, phosphorous, and zinc.

Cherries contain a high concentration of phytosterols (18.5 mg) which assist in lowering LDL cholesterol levels. The lowering of LDL reduces the risk of heart disease and angina.

Cherries are a well-known reliever of the gout. The key nutrient in the cherry that assists in reducing the inflammation and pain associated with gout is flavonoids. Flavonoids reduce uric acid levels in the bloodstream. Gout is caused by an excess of uric acid that crystallizes and then migrates to the joints and other body tissues.

Due to the cherries success in relieving gout, they are also a recommended fruit to relieve arthritis and for joint soreness and stiffness in athletes. It is also thought that cherries can reduce symptoms of fibromyalgia.

Enjoy the delectable cherry for the holidays with this tasty punch – it’s sure to please everyone and give them a health boost!

Sources:

• http://www.livestrong.com/article/18611-nutritional-value-cherries/#ixzz1eqCXmbWM
• http://www.cherryjuicepower.com/fruitresearchbenefits.htm