Sleep Elixir Green Juice

This detox green juice with romaine, cilantro, celery, cucumber, apple, and lemon from The Decadent Detox 3-Day Juice Cleanse helps rebuild, rejuvenate, and re-mineralize your body. Chock-full of minerals from the celery and cucumber, cilantro to purify the blood, and the calming properties of romaine, this green beauty is a happy hydrator that prepares the body for sleep.

The Health Benefits of Romaine Juice

This flavorful lettuce was believed by the ancient Greeks to induce sleep, so it came into their banquet halls at the end of the meal. The Romans carried on the custom, and it’s from them that the green derives its name. Romaine does more than aid sleep and alleviate pain. It offers compounds that prevent macular degeneration and osteoporosis, iron-deficiency anemia, and cardiovascular disease. The leaves are an excellent source of vitamin A and beta-carotene, as well as vitamins K, B, C, and folate, xanthin and carotenes. Romaine reinforces all this with iron—and calcium, magnesium, potassium, manganese, and copper. And with a nice crunch, too, come to think of it.

We use romaine as a natural sedative in evening juices. It is cooling, but as it’s inexpensive and available year-round, we include it in cleanses for every season. Juice the core from which the leaves grow, along with the leaves themselves, for a mellow, slightly bitter, fresh “green” flavor. Pair romaine with any fruits and vegetables; it’s especially nice with lemons and limes. Too much romaine can yield a bitter juice. A pinch of Celtic sea salt helps balance flavor.

The Health Benefits of Cilantro Juice

This herb is a health enhancer in an era when heavy-metal toxicity is rampant. Cilantro’s vigorous store of antioxidants makes it one of the most effective foods at flushing that stuff out of our systems. The controversial herb also contains powerful anti-inflammatory agents that ease digestion, nausea, headaches and bloating, and help stabilize blood sugar levels. Cilantro easily gets overpowering in juices. A handful per serving usually does the trick. The entire plant—leaves, stems, and roots—is juice-friendly, the flavor pairing beautifully with pineapple, cucumber, lemon and lime. If you’re not a fan of cilantro, substitute flat-leaf parsley.

The Health Benefits of Celery Juice

Alkalizing, detoxifying, anti-inflammatory, and loaded with nutrients: essential amino acids, tryptophan, vitamins A, B complex, C, calcium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium, iodine and copper, celery is also effective against respiratory conditions like bronchitis and asthma, and helps lower blood pressure. The organic sodium and potassium in celery make this juice a great post-workout refresher that helps replace electrolytes. It’s also a natural laxative and diuretic, supporting bowel and kidney health. Celery is a cooling vegetable, and we work it into our juices to take advantage of the rich mineral content and natural calming and sedative properties. We like it just as much, though, for its great flavor.

The natural salts are more abundant in the leaves, so when juicing celery, push the entire stalk (leaves and all) through the machine. That will yield a tangier, more savory juice. Celery makes a nice addition to almost any mix, especially juices made with leafy greens and other vegetables. As it sits, celery juice tends to get more assertive flavor-wise, so it’s best enjoyed right after it’s made. If you’re not using immediately, chill it, sealed up, but for no more than a few hours.

The Health Benefits of Cucumber Juice

This vege-fruit truly is the ultimate cool-hydrate-cleanse food. It’s right in there regulating body temperature and easing inflammation. A relative of squashes and melons, the cuke is a natural diuretic (due to that abundant water), aiding in cell hydration, waste removal, and dissolving kidney stones. Cucumber’s high silica content is great for the skin, and helps alleviate eczema, psoriasis, hair loss, and strengthen nails. The silica in cucumber also reduces the concentration of uric acid, which causes inflammation in the joints, muscles and tendons. A natural blood-pressure regulator, cucumber is high in vitamin A (mostly in the peel), B complex, C and folic acid, amino acids (methionine and tryptophan), potassium, sulfur, and natural chlorine. To take advantage of the nutrients in the skins, we always use the less-bitter-skinned English/Dutch variety. Any cucumber, though, goes well in our recipes.

We add cucumber to many juice blends as a way of adding mineral-rich water that’s way more beneficial than the plain filtered stuff. Cucumber juice is chock-full of nutrients, yet barely alters flavor. Cucumbers are intensely alkalizing, and a half (or whole) cucumber worked into a batch of juice offsets the acidic effects of high-sugar fruits and aids detox. Cucumber is our go-to base for sugar-free, alkaline juice blends, too. Make sure your cucumber is organic and hasn’t been embalmed in a coating of wax.

The Health Benefits of Apple Juice

Tasty, able to break down toxins, lower cholesterol, and enhance digestion, this fruit is a popular, versatile, and cost-effective go-to for juices. With phytonutrients, powerful antioxidants like quercetin, vitamin A (in the peel), vitamin C, and significant potassium, apple is a prime detox food that’s available year ‘round. As an aid to cleansing, apples’ high pectin content provides a great bowel regulator, able to slow the colon down or speed it up, as the body needs.

Apple is a cooling food, and we include it in juices to balance the bitterness of leafy greens and other vegetables. The sweet tang of apple blends with almost all fruits and vegetables; our preferred variety is Granny Smith, which has a tarter flavor and lower sugar content than common reds like Fuji, Delicious, and Honeycrisp. That said, this fruit is versatile, and our recipes work with any apple you have on hand.

We recommend coring apples before juicing, as the jury is still out as to whether the bit of cyanide occurring naturally in the seeds is detrimental to health.

The Health Benefits of Lemon Juice

This alkalizing tart tamer is a potent detoxifier and natural antibiotic that improves liver function, relieves constipation, and can help dissolve kidney and gall stones. High levels of vitamin C help boost immunity and alleviate symptoms of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as combat heart disease. Lemons provide calcium and magnesium for strong bones and teeth, along with unique compounds that have powerful antioxidant properties. The flavonoids in lemons have even been shown to halt abnormal cell division.

While lemons are cooling, this superstar can be balanced with warming foods like cayenne and fennel. We use lemons in lots of juice blends to lift the earthy and pungent quality of leafy greens and vegetables, add zip and tang, and balance the acidifying impacts of high-sugar fruits. You may want to remove the rinds of these fruits before juicing, as in substantial quantities they’re slightly toxic, or you may enjoy the zesty punch it adds—a good compromise is a bit of the peel along with the flesh.

Other Green Juice Recipes For You

Green-Aid – The Best Green Juice
Immune-Boosting Green Juice
Morning Detox Green Juice
Allergies-Be-Gone Green Juice
Alkaline Low-Sugar Green Juice

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