Three Of The Best Leafy Greens To Juice

When it comes time to make green drinks, you’re going to have to figure out what are the best leafy greens to juice. There are a bunch of really great leafy greens as well as different varieties of each. For instance, you might have someone tell you to juice kale. There are lots of kales: micro green kale, red kale, dino kale, and regular kale.

 

What Tastes Good?

 Unless you’re a dire hard health nut, you will want your juice to taste nice. This means picking a combination of vegetables and fruits that are not too overpowering. It also means adding things like lemons and apples to your leafy greens. It’s no use making a gigantic kale juice, or wheatgrass juice, if you end up finding it totally disgusting and can’t finish it.

Kale

Kale is my favorite leafy green to juice. It has large amounts of zeaxanthin and lutein, which are powerful anti-oxidants that protect the eye from macular degeneration. It is also a powerful anti-cancer food. It is one of the healthiest vegetables in the garden.

 

You have a bunch of choices when it comes to juicing kale.

 

Micro Greens aka Baby Kale is popular with people who make smoothies. It is very easy to break up. However, if you’re juicing, especially if you’re juicing with an auger style masticating juicer, you don’t have to worry about that. Micro greens are great, but they do spoil quickly. So, if you’re not juicing everyday, I wouldn’t suggest using micro greens.

 

Dino kale, also called Tuscan kale, or lacinato kale, is your best bet. It’s superior to juice for a few reasons. The first, is that it stays fresh the longest. It doesn’t wilt as easy as red kale or curly kale. The second reason is that it has a lower oxlate number than the other kale. Oxalates are controversial because they have the potential to cause muscle soreness, kidney stones, constipation, and other problems. The oxalic acid is kales natural defense against insects in the wild. It is harmless to humans in most cases. However, people who juice big amounts of kale or make large kale smoothies everyday will sometimes run into problems. This is why Dino kale is the best bet.

The popular belief is that all kale is high in oxalic acid. This is just not true. Curly kale is high, but Dino kale has 1/3 the amount. You still get the beneficial anti-oxidants and flavanoids, just without the oxalic acid.

Spinach

Some people prefer the flavor of spinach to kale.  Spinach has more potassium and magnesium then kale.

It does have more oxalate acid then kale.

So, if you’re planning on juicing spinach, be aware that it will spoil quicker than kale. When you purchase spinach, make sure to keep it in a dry area of your refrigerator.

Wheatgrass

 

Wheatgrass is a favorite amongst juicing fans because it is a called a “super food”. What exactly does that mean? Wheatgrass fans normally refer to its high amount of Chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is popular because it is believed to be helpful in preventing DNA damage and cancer. It is also good with promoting healing.

Most peoples problem with wheatgrass is its taste. It has a really unpleasant taste. If you’re a purist, you can drink it straight. But for most people, the best thing to do is add a lemon. Juice 1 whole lemon, skin included. Make sure you are buying an organic lemon because you don’t want to get any pesticides. The lemon skin is important because it has the lemon oil. It is a really strong flavor that will mask the wheatgrass. You can add an apple or some purified water.

While you can get away with using a regular juice for most leafy greens, you don’t want to try and use a regular juice for wheatgrass. You need an auger style masticating juicer for leafy greens. I like the Omega, but you can also get a Hurom. They sell manual juicers that are specifically designed for wheatgrass, but I would only suggest getting one of those if you are only doing wheatgrass. If you plan on juicing other leafy greens or apples, celery or lemons, you want a electrically powered auger juicer.