No matter how committed we are to getting in the recommended five to nine servings of vegetables and fruits every day, sometimes we come up short. It may be that we are busy and barely have time to eat at all, or perhaps we find ourselves in eating situations that don’t include many fresh vegetable choices. Or maybe we just don’t like them.
On days that you find it hard to eat enough vegetables and fruits, a green drink is the perfect answer. It is a great way to boost your health and even detox your system.
Green drinks are just that—green, because they contain the juice of fresh green vegetables and other vegetables and fruits. There are many reasons to consider adding green drinks to your diet.
Why drink green juice?
Vegetables and fruit are full of essential vitamins, minerals and enzymes that your body thrives on. And because you are consuming it in liquid form, your body can digest it quickly. This is especially helpful if you have digestion issues, because the process of juicing ‘pre digests’ the food for you by breaking down the cell walls. This means that the nutrition can easily go right into your system.
Drinking your veggies and fruits also allows you to take in more nutrients. You may find it difficult to eat an entire bunch of kale in a day, but drinking the juice from that same amount is no problem at all!
You will also detox your body by drinking fresh juices. The enzymes contained in the juice help to release built-up toxins, leaving your body much healthier.
Many people have found that juicing helps them to lose weight, increase their energy and even improve some medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Smoothies too!
An alternative to juicing your veggies and fruit (my preferred method) is to turn them into smoothies. While a juicer extracts the juice and leaves behind the pulp, a high-powered blender can be used to blend the juice and pulp together into a thicker drink. Either method is fine--it just depends on your preference. The fiber in the smoothies will cause you to feel full longer, which may help you to have fewer cravings.
Watch Your Calories and Sugar Intake!
WARNING: Juicing can really jack up your calorie and sugar intake when you use a lot of fruit. Be mindful of what you’re putting in you green drink…
Get started with these recipes
Here are some recipes1 to help you jumpstart your health and energy.
Baby’s First Green (a great starter juice)
1 large pear
1 apple
1 cup pineapple, cubed
4 large stalks kale
1 cucumber
Gena’s Classic Green Juice
1 green apple
1 inch knob ginger
5 large stalks celery
1 cucumber
1 large handful parsley
5 stalks kale
Veggie Ginger Juice
3 large carrots
1 beet
1 green apple
4 large stalks celery
1 large handful of spinach, parsley, or other dark green
1 small cucumber
1 inch knob ginger
Do you juice? Let me know your favorite recipes!
To your success,
Coach Travis Barrett MS, CSCS
P.S. If you’ve found any of this helpful, please be sure to share, like, subscribe to this channel (and my YouTube channel listed below). DHP is exclusively built on word of mouth. We need your help in order to continue to grow and help more people!
P.P.S. - Whenever you're ready, here are 2 ways I can help
1) Subscribe to the DHP YouTube Channel for our most up to date free information about training, nutrition, and recovery
2) Private Coaching
Check out these testimonials below
Traci Counley said “I have been working with Travis for 6 years and he is an amazing coach! I have had several personal trainers over the last 15 years and by far Travis is the most dedicated, thorough, and up to date trainer I have ever had the pleasure to work with. He programs workouts for me on a really progressive and easy to use iPhone app and I do the workouts in my home gym. I love this flexibility and the ability to track my workouts easily. He really gets to know you as an individual and focuses on your goals and how best to achieve them. Travis has an extensive background in kinesiology, various training methods and power lifting and is constantly adapting to the needs of his clients to get them in the best shape of their lives. He consistently seeks out additional training and workshops to expand his fitness knowledge and then passes that onto his clients with new workouts. If you are committed and follow his scheduled workouts and put in a little extra time for mobility work, I guarantee you will be satisfied with your fitness goals. I am in the best shape of my life in my mid 40’s and the strongest I have ever been and the reason why is because Travis has me on a program that changes every 4 weeks and uses different exercises with different rep ranges, intensity and volume each block. He is amazing at coming up with new exercises that work muscle groups in different ways so that you are consistently making gains. He also uses the concept of periodization effectively to maximize strength but also works in appropriate deloading weeks. I cannot say enough great things about Travis not only as a strength and conditioning coach but as a human being. He is one of the kindest people I have ever met and is very easy to talk to and work with. Working with Travis has been the best decision I’ve ever made. Make the commitment now to the best trainer out there!
Emma Price said “Travis has been phenomenal to work with! As an avid runner and a stay at home mom, I was struggling to find a workout routine/program that wasn’t all “fluff” workouts and cardio, yet was also nervous to do anything at the gym beyond a treadmill due to a 15 yr old chronic back injury. Enter Travis! He has 100% met me where I’m at and created a path forward. I’m an absolute novice, and he’s helping me become comfortable in the gym, has handled all my questions and concerns, and most important to me, is helping me get stronger and more limber without hurting or aggravating my injury. Travis is extremely knowledgeable and attentive to detail, which I highly appreciate. As well as meeting in person, he uses a great coaching app we can communicate through and where he can share videos of the workouts I need to do and in return I can share my videos so he can check my form. I’m just a regular person, not a gym rat or body builder, so I was a bit hesitant to seek out a personal trainer, but it has been one of the best decisions I’ve made! Travis is just all around a great guy and amazing coach!!”
Fredrick Lee said “Travis is an absolute professional! I’ve been in special operations for over 12+ years and have had many injuries. I was about to get another back surgery when I started working with Travis. Within 6 months I was pain free, 6 months later I was reaching performance and strength I haven’t seen in years!”
