Okay, the title is a little overdramatic, but I wanted to discuss an important when it comes to getting your daily greens in a quick and easy way.
There is no denying that the best way to get fresh veggies into your diet is to use organic fresh vegetables immediately from your juicer.
You can mix a bunch of veggies in one go into a glass and chug it down giving you’re a potent dose of your greens. In one go knowing that you set for the day whatever challenge strikes.
But is it as simple as that? For me, this was a resounding no.
So, let me tell you why in my post on the dark side of juicing your daily greens.
Are you keen on juicing fresh vegetables to get your daily greens? I reveal why after spending a fortune on a blender, I soon gave up.
I tried over 40 brands: check out my best powdered greens supplement!)
The reason I started juicing
I first tried juicing when I lived in London. Even with the abundant choice of fresh vegetables in my local supermarket, I wasn’t eating enough each day and relied on a multi-vitamin for my vitamin and mineral intake.
After discussing with my wife, I went out to buy the fanciest juicer I found in my favorite high street shop at the time – John Lewis.
The juicer was one of the best, it had such a good blade I genuinely believed it could chop anything put inside.
The juicer/blender I got was and still own to this day is the Vitamix 5200 (you can see it here on Amazon).
This blender was super expensive at the time and cost me around $600 from a popular high street shop on Oxford street.
I remember joking with my wife the first few occasions that she made us fresh smoothies that it was costing us like $40 per glass!
You want to improve your health and the “simplest” way to do this is to increase your vegetable intake, to ensure you get ample micronutrients each day.
You may take a multi-vitamin to fill in the nutritional gaps, but you know that you can’t beat fresh veggies. So, you research the best juicer on the market that you can afford and believe you’re making a life-changing decision to be healthier.
I am confident that you have experienced a similar journey.
But you soon realize what a pain in the A**E it is to actually do it!
Why I gave up on juicing
Finding organic produce, all the preparation of peeling, chopping and then juicing. This isn't even taking into account buying an expensive juicer, which sometimes can cost $500 or more (like the one I bought).
It's a major pain then clean it and make sure you don't cut your hands on the sharp blades; I have done that a few times too! When you're looking forward to drinking your elixir of green juice you quickly realize how disgusting it tastes.
Sometimes though you hit the jackpot and it's refreshing and feels super healthy. But the thing is you don't get this every time and is very much a hit and miss to get the same taste each time.
This routine rarely lasts and if you're anything like me, after 2-3 motivated juicing sessions you eventually give up. You tuck your fancy expensive juicer into the cupboard and soon forget about it.
You are then back to square one without your healthy dose of daily greens.
Does this story sound familiar?
Myths I found out about Juicing
The juicing movement is popular and given the right situation is certainly one of the best ways to get your greens. But in practice, I found it rarely lives up to expectations.
Here is what I found out when I tried juicing for my daily greens and give you a false sense of security.
- Freshness of your raw vegetables – The nutrient content and taste is very much affected by the freshness of your vegetables bought at the store
- Juicing can be expensive – Buying fresh organic produce nearly every day can work out costly. This is not even taking into account the cost of the blender!
- Time consuming – Buying, chopping, and cleaning up takes forever and is not fun
- Keeping fresh and portable – Once prepared you to have to drink straight away and doesn’t keep outside of the fridge for very long
- Unreliable taste – Sometimes you hit the jackpot and it tastes great, other times not. It can be inconsistent with how your juice actually tastes each day.
How I now get my daily greens
I spent a long time a couple of years ago looking for an easier solution to getting my daily greens without needing to juice and blend raw vegetables each day.
This led me to discover a group of supplements called “super greens” or “green powders”, which are powdered vegetables that are then into a tub or pouch to be mixed in water or your preferred smoothie.
I tried most of the popular green powders you can buy and settled on trying a few but there was always something missing.
It could be taste, the cost, or in most cases that the ingredient amounts in the formula weren’t disclosed.
Every day now I mix my green powder into cold water. I really look forward to taking it as I am a huge fan of the taste. It’s refreshing. More importantly, it gives me the confidence to know that I have my nutritional gaps filled!
I still own the Vitamix blender but it’s mostly sat in my utility room collecting dust. I much prefer the convenience of a powdered greens powder over the hassle of juicing, it's easy to see why.