Apples and Ginger Juice

Recently, I have been changing up my diet to be more healthy and conscious of what I'm actually putting in my body.  No, I'm not on a diet.  I don't believe in diets for many reasons but I won't delve into that subject because it can be a very personal and sensitive topic for many.  But, for me, I'm all about trying to do what's right and best for the one body I have and sticking to it.

My goal recently was to give up one thing until I kicked it completely and then move on to the next thing.  I started small by getting rid of my sweet-n-low in my coffee.  I did that for one week and it was no big deal AT ALL.

The following week I moved on to bigger pastures.  I decided to quit coffee...

chirp. chirp. chirp.

Yes, you heard me correctly.  I decided to try to quit coffee 3 weeks ago today.  On the 11th day, which was a Friday, I had to be at work extra early and I had a long night before.  I decided to treat myself to Starbucks on that Friday morning.  I doubt I even had half of my Soy Mocha No whip before I chunked it.  I haven't had any coffee since.  More importantly, I haven't really wanted it either.

I have replaced my morning and afternoon coffee kick with a healthier green tea and I haven't looked back.  In addition to my green tea, I have been enjoying either freshed squeezed fruit juice or a fresh fruit smoothie every single morning (all organic)...and I am so happy I made this switch from coffee.

People who know me know that I don't like juice.  I have always been anti-juice if it's pre-packaged from the store.  I'm not a fan of all the sugars, flavoring, and food dyes (to name a few reasons) in juice and just prefer fresh organic juice.  My go-to fruit juices so far are straight organic orange juice -YUM to the max - or an organic apples and ginger juice.  There are some other fresh juice recipes I am looking at to try but I'll let you know when that time comes. 

The apples & ginger juice is such a random combination (or at least to me it was at first) but I absolutely love everything about it.  Apples and ginger root separately each have great health benefits.  Here are 15 Health Benefits to eating Apples and here are 10 Health Benefits of Ginger.  Those are just two weblinks I found but there is probably a plethora of information out there for you to pick and choose what you think is right.  As for me, I think it's better for me than coffee and it tastes dee-lish. 

Apples and Ginger

2 Granny Smith Apples

A little bit of ginger root

For my juicer, I cut the Granny Smith Apples into fourths and then drop each fourth into the machine to be juiced.  Half way through I add the ginger root into the juicer to be juiced.  Ginger root is very strong so not much is needed to get the taste.  The ginger will definitely give the apple juice a nice kick or spice so depending on your tastes, start small and work your way up if so desired.  I prefer just about a 1/2 inch (or smaller) cut while Sparky prefers at least double that amount.

Isn't Sparky a great hand model?

I'm going to whiz the juice!  - name that movie...

Wonderful tart granny smith juice with a kick of ginger. 

Sometimes I'll add in some strawberries or mix the oranges and apples together.  They are all super yummy.  Also, you can see the appx size of ginger cut in this photo.

I guess since I've kicked coffee I need to find the next thing to kick.  I've actually already started kicking something else and I'll fill you in once I've done more research on it.

Keep on Keepin on.