Juicing My Colors

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

 

Since I’ve been juicing sporadically over the past few months, I’ve noticed how much better I feel when it’s part of my daily routine. So next week, a few of us around the office are going to try to add juice to our diets two to three times a day. In order to do it right, I did a little homework on the benefits of eating different colors of fruits and vegetables.

 

Luckily I didn’t have to look far — there is a copy of Williams-Sonoma’s book Eating by Color sitting in my office. It had a wonderful rundown of the benefits of incorporating each color of food into our diet. Here’s a quick synopsis from the book:

 

Red fruits and veggies: These contain fiber, vitamins, and phytochemicals that promote heart health; help memory function; lower the risk of certain cancers; and boost immunity.

 

Orange and yellow fruits and veggies: They contain fiber, vitamins, and phytochemicals that promote heart health; promote eye health; lower the risk of some cancers; boost immunity.

 

Green fruits and veggies: They contain fiber, vitamins, and phytochemicals that lower the risk of breast, prostate, lung, and other cancers; promote eye health; help build strong bones and teeth; and boost immunity.

 

Blue and purple fruits and veggies: Contain fiber, vitamins, and phytochemials that promote heart health; help memory function; lower the risk of some cancers; and boost immunity.

 

After reading the book  I realized my rainbow is missing a few colors, most notably blue, purple and orange.  I needed a boost in my creativity, so I turned to Valerie Aikman-Smith’s new book Juicy Drinks. I’m juicing my way through her color combinations and here are some of my favorites:

• Pomegranate-Blueberry Juice
• Cranberry-Pear Juice
• Beet-Orange Juice (can’t believe I Ioved it!)
• Pink Grapefruit Juice
• Strawberry Frappe
• Mango-Lime Juice
• Mango-Pineapple Smoothie
• Orange, Carrot and Celery Juice
• Pineapple Coconut Milk
• The Green Smoothie

 

I loved every single one of these for different reasons and now my arsenal is full for our week of juicing! Stay tuned as we give it a try; I’ll report back with how we’re feeling.

 

Drink in the season’s freshest, most flavorful produce with over 40 thirst-quenching recipes for the blender or juice extractor with our new cookbook Juicy Drinks.

 

 

 

 

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.