A Refreshing Green Drink To Jumpstart Your System…(This Is NOT A Cleanse!)

Recently, my parents relocated to Northern California (Marin County area), so I went to visit them and my younger sister over the Thanksgiving holidays. We had an excellent time–went on a gorgeous hike in the Marin Headlands, drove up and down the Coast, took the Ferry into San Francisco….and ate. No, it was not just an elaborate Thanksgiving dinner Thursday night…it was a ginormous catered birthday dinner Saturday night complete with a massive ice cream cake and do-it-yourself sundae bar. It was a dungeoness crab lunch with potatoes and that amazing buttered San Francisco sourdough bread that those San Franciscans do so well…it was See’s lollipops, fleur de sel caramels and a lemon meringue pie my father bought that got chipped away at late at night while we watched television…let’s just say, when I got back to town last night up until this morning, I was still full. I worked out the whole trip as well! However, my body is obviously not used to eating like that for 6 days straight, so this morning before I left to Trader Joe’s, I made a list of all the healthy things I would buy, including ingredients for a  an amazing jump-starter juice recipe that would get my system going and my skin glowing again.

I am not really a fan of juices as a cleanse. Meaning, to go for 4-5 days just drinking juices to cleanse your system. I am, however, a fan of a juice as a supplement for vitamins and minerals, and obviously it is best if you make your own. This juice I made this morning was meant as a supplement before I ate a meal. It made me feel amazing the whole day and got my system going and my energy up. I will admit I do NOT have a juicer, I used my Vitamix and just ate the whole blend. It tastes refreshing and even if you don’t like the taste it is worth it for the way it makes you feel after. All those vitamins and minerals coursing through your blood stream!! I will be drinking one of these every morning this week.

Jumpstarter Juice Recipe

1 green apple

1 cup lacinato kale (you can use spinach if you prefer)

1 bunch of parsley ( I used the italian parsley from Trader Joes)

1 cup basil

2 Persian cucumbers

1 lemon, squeezed

1 lime, squeezed