This post comes courtesy of Williams-Sonoma Test Kitchen manager Amanda Haas.

As the manager of the test kitchen for Williams-Sonoma, my job description includes tasting everything that our wonderful cooks make all day. In the past two days alone I’ve had porterhouse steaks, grilled lobster with compound butter, gluten-free muffins, Superfood Smoothies, and Prime Rib tastings. It’s an amazing job, but after a weekend of holiday gluttony I’m just full! I feel sluggish, achy and sleepy. So what’s a professional eater to do? Reboot and get juicing!

I am a strong believer that food is at the core of how we feel, meaning we really are what we eat. It’s amazing how terrible I feel when I overdo it, and how great I have started to feel when I am more mindful of what I eat. I can literally see and feel the benefits of adding more fruits and veggies into my diet. So I have been really excited to try juicing here at work and to encourage others to give it a try as well.

Over the past three months, we in the test kitchen have been trying out many different combinations. In order not to scare people away, I started out with some easier combinations that were fruit-based and have graduated people to my favorite green juice: carrot, kale, beet, ginger, apple and lemon.

What’s amazing is that we have all been surprised by how good these juices taste. And even as we’ve started working with trickier ingredients like kale, chard and beets, a generous squeeze of lemon juice at the end seems to make everything taste better. (Plus lemon juice acts as a natural aid in balancing the acid levels in your body, which can naturally reduce inflammation. So cool!)

One thing I’ve noticed is that when I’m adding one juice a day to my diet, I feel better. The funny part is that all of us can feel the difference. When we go for a few days without juicing, someone inevitably walks into my office and says, “I need a juice!”

So hop on the juicing train with me and I’ll share our best creations, OK? If you’re just starting with juicing, try a couple of our favorites (each makes 1 large or 2 small servings):

• 1/2 pineapple (peeled and cored), 1 pint strawberries, 30 mint leaves, and 2 apples or pears
• 6 carrots, 3 apples, 2 oranges (skins peeled), 6 celery stalks, and the juice of 1 lemon

About the author: Amanda loves spending her days talking about food as the Manager of the Test Kitchen at Williams-Sonoma. She moonlights as a cookbook author, recipe tester, and founder of the website One Family One Meal. When she’s not thinking about food or eating food, she loves hanging out with her husband and two young sons. She lives in the Bay Area.