Let’s be honest here, 3-day weekends can lead to a little (or a lot of) overindulging. Between parties, BBQ’s, lots of food and drinks, we can all feel a little sluggish the next day.
Not you? Well, more power to you, my friend. As for me, I spend the wedding down in Chapel Hill watching one of my friends that I’ve known since we were in preschool together get married, in the most amazing and fun wedding! And then, Memorial Day. When I had my a** handed to me (as many crossfitters across the US did) by doing the traditional Murph workout. Google it. It’s brutal. And I even did it with a partner (my little bro)!
Anyway. Between the wedding and Murph yesterday, my body is pretty much on fire and in need of a little detoxing from the inside out. And that brings me to this healthy drink of-epic-proportions: Sweet & Spicy Green Juice with Pineapple, Grapefruit & Mint. Ummm heck to the yes.
Can I just say, that as I was totally a smoothie skeptic, I was still a green juice skeptic until this spring. Yeah, sure, I knew they were good for you. But I think it’s hilarious when people go on juice cleanses and say they’re “not eating any sugar” because UM HELLO you are eating approximately 100 fruits a day, that mean’s you’re eating a TON of sugar, natural or not. It’s still hellavulot of sugar. So I either thought green juices were just for the “juice cleansers” or vegans. Which, as you know, I am definitely not one. But hey, those guys got something right. Green juices are legit. Usually, I’ll have them as a snack during the day or in addition to my breakfast. Definitely not as a meal in itself, because I would be hungry in about 5 minutes if that’s all I “ate”.
I was still having some health/stomach issues this spring (damn you, celiac, and parasite, and everything else that’s going on), so I figured some green juice couldn’t hurt. And I won’t say it’s a miracle drink, but it definitely helped getting a bunch more servings of veggies in me every day. Especially if you’re trying to “detox” from something (aka a hangover from drinks or too much food, ha!), so now I drink them whenever I can.
Plus, this is no ordinary green juice. It’s slightly sweet from the pineapple and grapefruit, totally refreshing from the cucumber, plus you feel healthy AF from the spinach (though you can’t taste it!), and then there’s a slightly spicy kick from the jalapeno at the end. Plus, I added in some of my favorite Vital Proteins Collagen for an extra healing/detox/protein boost! Plus, if you’ve got leaky gut, collagen helps tremendously with that too. Check out my last post on Leaky Gut for more about that!
Don’t ya want some??
But Dana, I don’t have a juicer! HA, me neither, you guys. I just used my trusty blender, and then poured it through a metal sieve to get the chunky bits out. But you could totally just drink this as a smoothie too!
- 2 cups ice
- 1 cup packed spinach leaves
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 small jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, sliced
- 1 ½ cups cubed pineapple
- 2 baby cucumbers
- Juice from 1 grapefruit - about ½ cup
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 scoops Vital Proteins Collagen
- Steep the sliced jalapeno in 1 cup of water for about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine all the other ingredients in a large blender.
- Strain the water into the blender through a fine mesh sieve to remove the jalapeno slices and seeds. Add one small piece of jalapeno to the blender, setting the rest aside.
- Blend all the ingredients until completely combined, and all the ice chunks are gone.
- Taste - if you’d like it a little spicier, add another (tiny) slice of jalapeno and blend again.
- If you'd like to drink this as a smoothie, you're all set! To make it green juice, pour the smoothie through the mesh sieve into a large glass. Drink up!
What are your thoughts on green juice? I need some new recipes! Comment below and let me know!
This post was sponsored by my good friends at Vital Proteins! All opinions are (obviously) my own. Can’t you tell? 🙂
