Incredible Anti-Inflammatory Green juice
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From personal experience I know that joint pain, headaches or ‘brain fog’ caused by inflammation can be extremely debilitating, and seriously affect your quality of life.
This green juice is my go-to remedy against inflammation - nothing else I have taken has such a rapid effect whilst making me healthier at the same time! I also drink it every morning for all the health benefits it brings.
Inflammation & Chronic Illness
Inflammation is an important part of our immune response, however too much inflammation can be very unpleasant and harmful if left unchecked.
Many chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (or M.E. ), fibromyalgia or rheumatoid arthritis often feature extensive inflammation which can result in serious pain or ‘brain fog’.
The question is what to do about it without resorting to prescription drugs? Pharmaceuticals that are designed to reduce pain have a multitude of potential side-effects and can be addictive.
Thankfully there are a number of natural substances with well documented anti-inflammatory properties, which can make a huge difference to your symptoms without the same side-effects or risks.
Natural Anti-Inflammatory Juice Ingredients
Curcumin - a compound that is found in turmeric root, a substance that is often used as a dry herb in Asian dishes. It is highly anti-inflammatory, boosts the anti-oxidant status of the body and can help protect against heart disease, cancer and depression.
Ginger - also a root that offers potent anti-inflammatory properties, as well as reducing nausea and digestive problems.
Carrots - containing Vitamin A and other beta-carotenes, carrots and other orange vegetables help reduce inflammation while also offering protection against heart disease and cancer.
Kale - containing Vitamin K cruciferous vegetables contain large amounts of antioxidants and the perfect balance of omega fatty acids to be powerful anti-inflammatories.
Celery - contains non-starch polysaccharides which offer anti-inflammatory benefits
Other Health Benefits of Green Juices
As well as offering anti-inflammatory benefits, green juices contain high levels of antioxidants which fight free radicals in the body. An excess of these free radicals can cause damage to healthy tissues accelerating ageing.
The alkalizing properties of green vegetables and lemons also help the body to maintain a healthy pH balance which supports an effective immune system.
In general, juices containing vegetables include an abundance of vitamins, minerals and enzymes which support health. They also contain many electrolytes which combine with the filtered water to efficiently boost hydration.
Getting to the Site of Your Pain Quickly
The great benefit of making a juice from these and other ingredients is that unlike food which requires breaking down in the stomach before being absorbed in the intestines, the juiced ingredients are absorbed both in the mouth and the throat before even hitting the stomach.
By removing the fibre and offering only the nutrient rich juice, the stomach and intestines then have to do very little work to turn the anti-inflammatory constituents into a form that can be absorbed by the body.
This means that it is an incredibly effective way of getting ingredients to the site of pain or inflammation quickly. If possible it is best to drink the juice on an empty stomach – this will also help to increase the speed of uptake.
Storing Your juice
It is possible to store the juice in the fridge and drink it later, however the fresher it is the more nutrients it holds. As the cell walls of the vegetables have been broken, after juicing the nutrients will start to degrade gradually over time.
Top Tip: To make the whole process easier I prepare 2-3 portions alongside the one I am going to use, and store them in bags in the fridge. That way I can just blitz and get drinking quicker!
You Will Need
Juicer / Blender
Strainer Cloth / Muslin
Large Jug
Large Glass
There are plenty of very good juicing machines available on the market. However, while the better devices make possibly the best quality juice, they take a long time to juice the ingredients and to clean afterwards. If you want 2 juices a day like me, this becomes a chore pretty quickly!
Using a much more affordable Nutribullet (or any decent blender) to blend the ingredients and then squeezing them through a muslin cloth or jam/jelly strainer is a much faster approach.
Not only is the juicing much faster, but cleaning the Nutribullet and the jelly strainer takes a matter of seconds. Just wash out the blending jug, put the remaining vegetable pulp in the compost bin, and wash off any remaining residue from the straining cloth – easy!
Ingredients
Try to use organic ingredients wherever possible. Non-organic vegetables can have trace amounts of industrial pesticides and other chemicals. Organic farming has also shown to increase the level of healthy nutrients in vegetables. If you can’t use organic make sure to wash the ingredients thoroughly.
Curly Kale / Spinach 1 good handful
Parsley 8 medium stalks & leaves
Celery 1 stalk chopped
Carrot 1 medium chopped
Lemon ½ with rind removed
Fresh Ginger Root Piece the size of your thumb head (above the knuckle)
Fresh Tumeric Root Same as above
You can add half an apple to add sweetness if you want, but ideally this juice is fructose free
Making the Juice
Step 1: Add the ingredients to the Nutribullet’s large blending cup in the order that they are given above. This ensures that the green leafy matter doesn’t clog the blade at the beginning of the blitzing.
Step 2: Add 300ml of cold, filtered water to the cup and screw on the blending-blade head
Step 3: Turn the capped container upside down, connect to the Nutribullet and turn clockwise to start blending. Blitz the ingredients for about 30 seconds. Make sure the ingredients look well mashed but don’t run for too long as the mixture will start to warm up
Step 4: Twist the blending container anti-clockwise to stop the motor then remove the cup, turn it right-way-up again and unscrew the lid
Step 5: Cover the top of a large jug with the muslin or strainer cloth. One with an elasticated top is ideal as it will sit in place by itself. Otherwise hold the edges round the top of the jug so that when you pour the juice in, the muslin will not get dragged into the jug.
Step 5: Pour the unfiltered juice into the muslin cloth or jelly/jam strainer and using one hand to hold the top of the bag together, gently squeeze and twist the bag with the other hand, forcing the juice into the jug whilst leaving the pulp behind. Keep doing this till it feels like there is not much moisture left in the pulp
Step 6: Pour the contents of the jug into the glass and drink. It is best to drink the juice slowly over 5 minutes or more, allowing absorption to start in your mouth and throat.
All being well, you should hopefully notice a reduction in symptoms within 20-30 minutes. Personally I have one of these delicious juices every morning before breakfast, but I very often have a second in the afternoon, especially if I have a bought of pain or brainfog. Enjoy!
