Not all juices are created equal. This is what I’ve come to discover in the past few years of the juice craze, where everyone seems to be imbibing some kale laden, aloe stirred, chia seed dotted bottle of liquid produce. With a yoga instructor for a mom, and an eccentric grandfather who used to swear by doing the master cleanse with every changing season and spent years going to nudist retreats (another story for another time) – it is clear that the health and wellness bandwagon has been something I was on since my booster seat. As an adult, I’ve balanced my love of chimmichurri slathered ribs, griddlecakes and pommes frites (those blessed blessed fried chunks of perfection) with juicing. A green juice instead of an espresso for a pick me up at work, a deluge of fresh pressed juices when I feel a cold coming on, or just as a reset button – when your system is feeling sluggish or you want your skin to glow and your eyes to look clearer, sharper. When you want to feel more alive.
In NY, I sometimes stumble into a juice place where five bucks will get you a green elixir the size of a Big Gulp. But let’s not kid ourselves – they are blended with water, the veggies are not organic and it’s probably riddled with pesticides. And in a crunch, this works fine (some juice is better than no juice after all), but if you’re looking to actually detoxify your system, to imbue it with such solid nutrition that you are a poster child for all things good & green, then you have to go with the real deal. My favorite is Greenhouse Juice Co. in Toronto, where co-founder Anthony Green, shared some incredible insights with me about what makes them special. Here’s my devil’s advocate to some the fun facts he shared:
They cold press their juices.
Why does everyone say that, and why does that even matter? Cold pressing means using hydraulic pressure to extract juice from plants without breaking down nutrients with high levels of heat or oxygen. So basically it’s laborious, but worth the wait because it keeps all the good stuff in there.
A bottle contains up to twelve servings of organic fruits and vegetables.
Isn’t it better to eat your fruits and veggies whole? Realistically you aren’t going to eat 12 servings of fruits and veggies in a day, and because the juice has not been blasted with high levels of heat or oxygen, it’s alive. So unlike the spike and crash you get from caffeine, you will feel sustained all day long. I promise you the jolt you’ll get from a green juice will trump a coffee any day.
They use glass containers.
Yeah, so? Well first off, it’s infinitely better for the environment (ya know that whole “this land is your land, this land is my land” song from days gone by). It’s also part of Greenhouse’s ethos – they never compromise their juices with pasteurization, high pressure processing (HPP) or plastic bottles. Which makes me love them even more.
They are absolutely delicious.
There is no conversation for this one – who’s going to argue with taste?
My other favorite shops to find incredible organic juices include: Organic Avenue in NY, Juice Tonic Organic Juicery in London, and Juice Served Here in LA. Invest in your health – seriously guys, it’s worth every penny!
Photos via: The TIG, Greenhouse Juice Co.