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Broccoli Beet Juice and Juicing FAQ

This broccoli beet juice recipe will nourish you, and our juicing FAQ answers all of the questions we get about juicing and juice cleanse. 

FAQ originally published August 10, 2011

 

Two glasses of deep red fresh juice on a white background. A large tree of broccoli, a half lemon, and a garlic bulb sit next to the juice, indicating some of the vegetables that were juiced.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS - Jump to any section:

    1. Why you'll love this juice
    2. Benefits of juicing
    3. FAQ: We answer reader questions
    4. Jump to recipe: Broccoli Beet Juice

 

A brushed stainless steel juicer pours bright orange juice out into a glass pitcher with a handle.

 

Simple and tasty juice recipe

I am not a medical professional dispensing advice; anyone contemplating a dietary change should first consult their doctor. I am simply sharing my own experiences and what worked for me. Every person is different, with a variety of dietary needs, and what works for one may not be best for another.

This broccoli beet juice is one of many nourishing recipes we created during our juice cleanse. Deep earthy flavors of beet pair with bright lemon and vitamin rich broccoli. We love these flavors as is, and will add an apple or carrots if we want our juice a little sweeter.

In the summer of 2011, we completed a juice fast and enjoyed a raw food diet. We have been juicing ever since - several times a week. We include raw foods in our meal plans, which has been beneficial. 

Our version of a juice fast is actually a feast. In addition to fresh juice, we eat nuts for protein and energy, and whole fruits and vegetables for fiber and satisfying our need to crunch and eat.

 

Two glasses of deep red fresh juice on a white background. A large tree of broccoli, a half lemon, and a garlic bulb sit next to the juice, indicating some of the vegetables that were juiced.

 

Benefits of a juice fast

In addition to the benefit of extra energy, detoxing and improved sleep, raw food recipes found us both headache free, with no allergy or congestion symptoms, and for me, less joint / muscle pain. I am more aware of how my body acts and reacts, and I feel clear, both internally and in my mind.

In addition to nutrient packed juice (still mostly vegetable, generally only one fruit for every 3-4 vegetables), I begin the day with lemon water and probiotics. Daily dry brushing before showering is another self care item I look forward to.

Juice fasting gives your digestive system a break. The body spends little to no energy on digestion, and can expend that in the cleansing and detoxing process. Drinking the juice immediately after juicing gives you the benefits of the enzymes, which improve digestion and increase nutrient absorption.

This process was made easier for me because I have not been drinking coffee or alcohol for quite some time, don't regularly eat sugar or many processed foods. When we have eaten, in most cases I have made very clean choices.

 

One glass of bright orange juice sits on a bright white surface. Two lemon halves, a large broccoli tree, and a garlic bulb sit next to the juice.

 

Frequently Asked Questions:

Are you getting enough protein?

I have heard doctors, nutritionists, other qualified professionals say there is too much focus on protein. In the past, I have been one of these people, always making sure there is a good amount of protein included in each meal and snack. What I have realized is that for short periods of time, I get an adequate amount of protein and other nutrients with a juice fast – broccoli and spinach are both great sources.

Additionally, fresh juice is a highly digestible food that is packed with nutrients, raw enzymes, vitamins and antioxidants. In our method of "feasting" fast, I get healthy fats from avocado, nuts, and omegas (flax, chia). Fats are important for so many reasons, and without adequate amounts, our bodies are in starvation mode and store fat.

What is grocery shopping like?

When we started juicing regularly, I learned very quickly which markets have reasonably priced organics. Even more importantly, I learned which markets have the highest quality produce and which ones do not.

Normally the majority of my grocery shopping is from the produce section. Bulk items and staples like beans, grains and pasta make up the rest. My shopping now is even more efficient – I have a master list of all the vegetables and fruit we like, and I check what is needed before I leave the house.

Portland’s farmers markets have been a great source of many of our veggies, and we know they are fresh and local.

Do you use organic, and why?

I buy as much organic as possible, if it looks good. If the non organic looks fresher or what I want isn’t available, I’ll buy non organic. I then make sure to scrub clean (I do this with everything) and in some cases I will take the time to peel the skin.

Why do I use organic? Little to no chemicals, wax residue or preservatives is a good thing, and the absence of those things also means fresher produce with more nutrients. Also, organic pulp can be used things like dog treats – no waste!

Organic produce or not, juicing is highly beneficial.

How can I start juicing?

Prepare ahead of time. A week or so prior, cut back and stop coffee, alcohol, processed foods - eating as clean as possible.

If you can fast for at least 10 days you will see benefits. The first couple days of a juice fast, your body is processing the food remaining in your digestive system. The next couple of days, your body focuses on the reserves stored in your liver. After 3-5 days, your juice fast really begins!

Start with your favorite fruit and vegetables, so it will be something you want to consume. Gradually move to most if not all vegetables, with one fruit here and there. Plan to shop every few days if possible, or invest in green bags that prolong the life of produce.

Finally, know where you can find fresh juice away from home – juice bars, gyms, even Jamba Juice has fresh juice!

Did you have unpleasant reactions?

Since I juice regularly anyway, and eat fairly clean much of the time, I did not experience many of the common side effects of a juice fast. Some of the possible temporary effects resulting from detoxing include headaches, dizziness, breakouts, feeling tired or lethargic, weight loss.

The first couple of days I was a little tired, and in five weeks I have had ONE headache (a happy and positive side effect!). I lost 10 pounds in the first couple weeks, and another 5 since. I am not in the habit of a scale, and I think the weight loss has plateaued.

The positives include increased energy and we feel incredibly healthy!

How do you know what tastes good; do you have a favorite recipe?

I don’t always know what will taste good – trust me, not all of my juices turn out well!

I have had to go back and add some pineapple or apple to mask some interesting flavors. I happen to be one of those people who loves the taste of greens, so most things still taste good to me.

I am juicing for Jason, too, and while he likes a lot of flavor combinations too, I do try to make things taste good and have a vast collection of recipes for all of your juicing needs!

How long will you do this?

I am currently on a 2 week fast, the end of which is timed with an upcoming event. (We have had weddings, house guests, birthdays and other events where we happily broke fast).

We are loving this, and are talking about keeping it up long term in some form. I have some great new raw food recipe ideas that I cannot WAIT to incorporate, and will juice regularly, at least once a day.

Are you still exercising?

I am exercising regularly while juice fasting. For the first week, it was very little – walking only. Now I am running (or at least faced paced walking!), weight lifting, and all of my regular activities at regular intensity depending on the day.

Do you juice once a day to drink all day, or several times a day?

The enzymes and nutrients in fresh juice begin to break down immediately, so I drink it immediately and make fresh juice each time to get the most out of my juicing. Yes, I know for many, the biggest complaint is having to clean the juicer.

Do you clean your juicer each time?

Yes, I do clean my juicer each time I juice.

I make myself clean it before I drink my juice, and it really only takes a few more minutes, at most. I have it down to a pretty quick routine now:

  1. Turn on the hot water as soon as I am done juicing
  2. Grab my scrub brush and just clean each piece as I take it apart
  3. Stack all juicer components on drying mat

After much use and sitting on the drying rack by my kitchen window sometimes in the sun, the pieces have become slightly cloudy over time. This does not affect the juice or juicer at all.

Additionally, once or twice a week I’ll run the dishwasher safe pieces through the dishwasher (EXCEPT the plunger – that will melt / lose shape and not fit right after).

Yes, it can be a pain with what, six pieces plus wiping down the base, but when I think of cleaning dishes and cooking equipment, I think it more than balances out. If you think of how much time you are probably saving, the extra clean up each time might be more manageable?

What kind of juicer do you have?

When we started juicing, we used thisjuice fountain, which is the same juicer Joe Cross uses in the documentary Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. Jason and I saw this movie about a week after we began our fast, and it completely validated what we were doing, and gave us even more motivation. 

When we realized juicing was going to be a standard practice, we upgraded to a cold press, twin gear juice extractor. This juicer is extremely efficient, producing a large amount of juice and minimal pulp, which is very dry.

It juices leafy greens very well also - I never juiced greens in my centrifugal, instead I would juice and then blend the greens in after. I still do this for more protein (spinach), but if I want only juice, we now have the benefit of greens.

Another benefit of the Super Angel - the twin gear mechanism grinds the produce in such a way that the enzymes do not immediately begin to break down - I still drink most of the juice right away, but if we want to take juice with us to work during the day, it will still be nutrient rich hours later.

 

Two glasses of deep red fresh juice on a white background. A large tree of broccoli, a half lemon, and a garlic bulb sit next to the juice, indicating some of the vegetables that were juiced.

 

Did you make this broccoli beet juice? 

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Yield: 2 servings

Broccoli Beet Juice

Two glasses of deep red fresh juice on a white background. A large tree of broccoli, a half lemon, and a garlic bulb sit next to the juice, indicating some of the vegetables that were juiced.

Easily increase your daily veggie intake with this bright and earthy juice. We answer all of our reader questions about juicing!

Prep Time 7 minutes
Total Time 7 minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Juice the garlic clove first, so the other veggies can push the garlic residue through the juicer.
  2. Continue juicing the lemons, beets, and broccoli.
  3. Pour juice into glasses and enjoy immediately.

Notes

Benefits of this juice blend

First, I am not a doctor, and I am not qualified to give medical advice. Juicing does not replace any medical plan or medications. Juicing can be part of a healthy diet and a way to ensure you are getting nutrients through recommended servings of fruits and vegetables.

If you do not have a juicer but you do have a powerful high speed blender, you can chop all of these veggies small enough to blend at high speed, making a delicious smoothie with all the fiber benefits.

You can also simply eat these veggies! Make a big salad brimming with the beneficial fiber in addition to the other benefits these vegetables bring.

I chose the first 5 ingredients of this recipe for their vitamins, minerals, and antioxidant properties, which is feel good energy for me! The other fruit ingredients were chosen for natural sweetness.

For potential benefits of these specific vegetables, let's go down the ingredient list:

How we recover from travel, exercise, and more

We travel pretty often, for both business and vacation.

Travel can be exhausting in many ways. Long travel days, recycled airplane air, late nights, dinners out, celebratory cocktails and fun, fun, fun. All of this can wear you down.

When I return home from travel, I crave fresh food like avocado shiitake spring rolls, juicy grapefruit kale salad, and flavorful and satisfying Mediterranean lentil salad.

I also use my juicer to make deliciously beneficial juice like this one, that I call my healthy defense juice.

We have been juicing regularly for at least a couple decades, and we love it so much! We used a few juicers until we got serious and invested in a cold press, horizontal twin gear slow juicer. 

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

2

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 188Total Fat: 1gSodium: 71mgCarbohydrates: 14gFiber: 4gSugar: 5gProtein: 4g

nutrition calculations results vary by calculator, are for informational purposes only, and are not intended to replace medical advice or treatment.

© Kristina Sloggett
Cuisine: Gluten Free / Category: daily juice

about Kristina:

Kristina is spabettie! She found cooking at an early age, and created spabettie in 2010 to share vegan recipes. Kristina turned her culinary training into sharing vibrant vegan food!  Read more...

Kristina sits on a deck chair in the back yard with her dog, Dutch.

spabettie / Kristina Sloggett is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Felicia says

    Thank you so much for your great blog and candid answers on juice fasting. My husband and I, too, just watched "Fat Sick & Nearly Dead" two weeks ago and are now awaiting delivery of our Breville juicer (sold out at department stores in our neighborhood!).

    I'll be checking your blog often for the awesome recipes! Thank you!

    Reply

    • spabettie says

      hi Felicia! I am so happy you found this Q + A and that it was helpful! that movie certainly is inspiring, and I'm excited for your juicer to arrive! keep in touch and let me know how things are going, PLEASE let me know if you have any questions I can help with! 😀

      Reply

  2. Darren says

    thanks for all this. very in depth and helpful (we are thinking of purchasing a juicer and I googled types and found you!!) and I will return visit for recipes. thanks

    Reply

  3. Nikko says

    Hi, I recently found your blog and am completely convinced I need this juice fast. I've attempted to start yesterday, and drank 2 cups of juice which were soooo good but I found it really difficult to keep going. The juices taste great but I get these awful pangs in my stomach that I couldn't resist eating something. I have started again today and vowed not to eat and only stick to juices. I'm really curious as to how you do it. Do you drink another glass when you feel like your stomach is begging for food?

    Also, about the fats, I don't know how to incorporate that into the juices. I dislike avocados, is there something else I can use, like avocado oil? Or how do I use nuts with the juices?

    I appreciate any input and advice you can give!

    Reply

    • spabettie says

      hi Nikko! happy to help in ANY way I can! 🙂 I usually drink enough (often a WHOLE pitcher size, the pitcher that comes with my juicer, about 45-5- ounces) so I am usually FULL after drinking that, and it lasts a while. If I get hungry, yep, I make another juice. I drink a lot of water. Sometimes I'd actually eat an apple. Part of the idea of a fast is to "give your body a break" from digestion, so eating an apple goes against that, but you have to think about why YOU are doing this, and adapt, come up with your own rules. If you're doing this more for a "cleanse", eating an apple or some raw veggies won't hurt. As far as feeling hungry - what are you juicing? I try to do one fruit to 3, 4, even 5 veggies for the nutrients and less sugar. I don't know if that makes a difference in my feeling full, but maybe?

      Fats, there are plenty of things you can do, yes avocado oil, or a flax oil, you can add it right to your juice, a tablespoon or so. I add raw nuts (almonds, cashews, pistachios, whatever you like) to the blender... I make juice through the juicer, then pour that juice into the blender with a handful of nuts, it will be more of a smoothie with some pieces, but it's GOOD! You can also take a supplement to get omegas.

      Hope this helps, PLEASE let me know if you have any other questions, and also check in to let me know how you are doing!! 🙂

      Kristina

      Reply

      • Nikko says

        Sorry for such a late reply but thank you sooo much for your answers to my questions. I hit a bump earlier and couldn't go through with my juicing plans as too many dining out days could not be avoided but now I'm ready to do this! I just finished running through all your posts and made a word doc of every juice recipes you gave for easier access and can't wait to taste them all eventually. I have only 1 more question: you mentioned flax oil. Can I blend flax seeds right into the juice after juicing or will that not provide the same benefits as flax oil? Thanks again for being such an inspiration.

      • spabettie says

        no problem, Nikko! as far as the flax seeds, YES that works! flax seeds are the freshest form of oil, and have more benefits (when crushed), including higher omega 3, more fiber. they generally cost less, also - I buy in small amounts so they do not go rancid. if you start to use on a daily basis, you'll eventually see how much you go through, so you can buy accordingly.

        you are SO welcome!! please continue to ask any questions, and keep in touch with how things are going, or if you just need some motivation! take care, great to hear from you!

  4. The Cilantropist says

    So glad to hear about your experiences, Joy from Joylicious was doing a juice fast recently too, and between the two of you I think I have a clear idea now about what it entails and how best to go about doing it. No time for a juice fast in my life now, but definitely trying it out in the near future! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

    • spabettie says

      you are so welcome! this has been a great experience for us, energizing and we have learned a lot! we will definitely be doing these a couple times a year, and have continued juicing as a regular daily thing. if you ever have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask! 🙂

      Reply

  5. janetha @ meals & moves says

    Thank you for such a thorough post! I am really curious about this and am for sure Netflixing that movie. xo

    Reply

    • spabettie says

      you are very welcome! even if it doesn't lead to a full on fast (and it does not need to!), the movie is a REALLY GOOD one! so inspiring, and Joe Cross is a likable guy who tells it like it is. 😀

      Reply

  6. S. says

    I will try that soon! I just finished 2 weeks fasting with broth only. I guess you just have to have the right mind set about it and strong will power. Love fasting and this seems to be a welcome spin! Interesting that most people I talk to refer to it as "death diet" - hard to convince people that this is actually pleasant once you get past the first 2 days. And I realized that with every time it's getting easier .... Keep it up!

    Reply

  7. Pure2raw twins says

    this was so helpful!!! thank you! I have this bookmarked so when I do a juice cleanse next I will have a good reference thank you!

    Reply

    • spabettie says

      thank YOU - I'm glad you found it helpful and will use as a reference! it's been a GREAT learning experience for both of us and we're committed to doing them regularly.

      Reply

  8. Megan says

    I always find the "Are you getting enough protein?" inquiry to be so silly (and very uneducated). Most Americans get far too much protein! It puts such a strain on the kidneys, causing calcium excretion in urine, increasing the risk of osteoperosis (especially since most of us have the false "Dairy is Good for you" complex).
    Now, my question is, what about fats?? Juice is basically sugar and proteins... isn't two weeks going a long time without fats? And what about those who do juice fasts for 1, even 2 months??

    Also, I'm guessing no defecation during juicing? :p

    Reply

    • spabettie says

      hallelujah, Megan! so SO right about protein consumption - and going through this juice fast made me realize I was doing this too, to an extent (I made sure I had protein with everything I ate, and looking back now, sometimes it was excessive!).

      fats! I have been adding an avocado (juice, then add juice to blender and make a smoothie with avocado, spinach, etc...) for fat. I also have been taking my coromega supplement and or flax. I would hope the people fasting for a month or two are taking in natural fats, or their body will begin to store fat (starvation mode!).

      first time talking poo on the blog! 😉 the first several days your body is processing contents of digestive system, then liver stores, then... it's less. I am still getting fiber (when I blend in place of or in addition to juicing - spinach, avocado, the random banana...) so I am still... working.

      Reply

  9. Rebecca says

    I'd love to try juicing, but it seems so unaffordable! From buying a decent juicer to buying tons upon tons of fruits and vegetables, I'd have to guess you're spending a lot more money than you would on regular food. Can you prove me wrong (please)?

    Reply

    • spabettie says

      for us, honestly the bill is about the same, some weeks LESS. we dine out a fair amount, so that's gone right now. also, no beer or alcohol purchases. no extras (my beloved gummi bears!) and some produce we find (farmers markets) pretty inexpensive. organics are more, but juicing can still be VERY beneficial without organic. a juicer is expensive, sure, but if you are wanting one, maybe look on eBay or craigslist? OR - ask if anyone you know has one that you can borrow if they are not using it, to see if it is something you'd want to invest in!

      Reply

  10. hihorosie says

    You're awesome! Thanks for this helpful post. I'm of the opinion that when it comes to protein, everyone is different. Some need more than others and getting lots o'greens in is key. Anyway, I would love to get back into daily juicing. One day I might venture down the juice fast road. 🙂 And like Eva mentioned above, watermelon rind is awesome! Adds a slight green taste to it. Definitely get organic (of course you know that though) if you decide to juice it.

    Reply

    • spabettie says

      you are so welcome, my friend!! 🙂 I am learning that I do absolutely do not need as much protein as I always thought, so that's a good thing to come out of this - a specific thing learned in all of the ways I am becoming more in tune to my body and it's needs! I am so on the watermelon rind - I can just imagine the FRESH flavor it must have!!

      Reply

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