Mean Greens!

Who wants to see a movie.....?: I recently watched the movie "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" and I highly recommend watching it, it was amazing. It's a great movie on many levels; it's inspiring to watch the personal transformations that the people in the documentary experience, it's eye-opening to see what so many people think they know (or don't know) about nutrition, but most of all it really drives the point home that nutrition and one's state of health are oh-so intimately related to one another. In the movie Joe, who is the man who created the documentary sets out to get healthy, lose weight, and find more balance in life by drastically changing his dietary habits while on a road trip across America. I won't give away too much, but he definitely achieves his goals and far, far more.

Movie Motivation: In the movie one of the fresh pressed juices that Joe and some of the other people in the film consume is called "Mean Green" and it looks absolutely delicious. I am not sure exactly what goes into their Mean Green drinks, but I was inspired to come up with a delicious, balanced Mean Green Juice of my own.

Nutrition Note: I have always been skeptical about juicing, since you lose so much of the fiber and other nutrients of the fruits and veggies that you are juicing, BUT at the same time their is the benefit of being able to consume nutrients (such as antioxidants, phytochemicals, enzymes, and fruit sugars) from far more fruits and veggies than you could ever hope to eat in one sitting (unless you're looking to have a 10 lb food baby). I think that juices are great as a supplement, side, or snack but should not be used as meal replacements too often. As long as you are eating whole fruits and veggies every day, I think supplementing your diet with a great green juice is a wonderful & delicious idea.

Mina's Mean Green Juice Recipe:

Recipe Note: 
1) Unfortunately, you absolutely need a juicer in order to make this juice. You could always turn the juice into a smoothie by adding a little non-dairy milk and a banana; this would be a delicious smoothie, I just don't have a good enough blender to make it work. A vitamix is absolutely my DREAM machine, so if you are fortunate enough to have a vitamix or blendtec blender, then smoothie yourself into oblivion!
2) Refrigerate your fruits and veggies in advance if you want a cold juice!

Ingredients:
- 6 large stems kale
- 1 medium persian cucumber (what can I say..... nothing beats the persian version)
- 2 stalks celery
- 1/2 - 1 green apple, cut into quarters (I personally prefer 1/2 a green apple because I have made it both ways, and using the whole green apple makes the juice too sweet for my liking, but I am sure that some people would prefer a sweeter juice)
- 1/4 inch slice of ginger

Directions:
1. Turn on your juicer and let it warm up.
2. Start with the kale, following it with one of the more substantial veggies like the celery.
3. Add in the ginger, followed by the cucumber, and lastly the apples.
4. Make sure you have pressed your fruits & veggies all the way through the juicer.
5. Turn off the juicer.
6. Once your juicer is completely off, disassemble it and wash it immediately. I suggest washing the blade, filter, and all other parts of the juicer that get messy immediately so that you don't give the plant matter the chance to sit and get stuck in the filter and blade.
7. Giver your juice a little stir to make sure the apple juice gets evenly distributed, and drink up!