Mountaineer Muscle: Boost your immune system with juices while glowing with W.Va. pride
How to make two simple juices that will boost your immune system and leave you glowing with West Virginia pride. (Whitney Wetzel)
Over the last year, coronavirus has forced us all to take a step back and focus on what’s really important in life. Perhaps the most important in the fight against said virus: our health.
There are small, simple ways to give our immune systems a boost, which will help our bodies successfully fight off colds and viruses. The best way to do that is by using what was created naturally to fuel and heal the human body: fruits and vegetables.
But, let’s be honest, we don’t always want to eat our fruits and veggies. That’s why juicing allows you to consume more nutrients from fruits and vegetables in one drink than what you’re even capable of eating in a day. So, let’s make it fun and add in some West Virginia pride and get to juicing!
First, let’s make this Mountaineer Gold Rush Immunity Shot.
Mountaineer Gold Rush Immunity Shot (Whitney Wetzel)
All you need is a juicer and these four ingredients:
Ginger (1” thumb)
Turmeric (1” thumb)
Lime (1/2 to 1 lime, peeled)
Cayenne pepper (just a pinch)
How to make: For one 2 oz. shot, juice a thumb of ginger, a thumb of turmeric, a half to a whole organic lime, then finish with a pinch of cayenne pepper.
*Tip: For best results, always juice the least watery ingredient first and the most watery ingredient last. So in this case, the roots first, followed by the lime. That will help flush any remaining ginger and turmeric through the juicer and into your finished juice.
Double up the ingredients if you’d like to make a shot for the next day too and store it in an air-tight mason jar in the refrigerator. Typically, juices are best fresh or consumed within 48 hours. I recommend drinking this shot first thing in the morning before eating breakfast. It will help aid in digestion and give you a kick of energy to get your day started.
Ginger and turmeric have numerous proven health benefits. Each has a long history of boosting the immune system and fighting inflammation. Both roots have also been shown to have other medicinal benefits: they are pain-relieving, heart-healthy and cancer-fighting.
Basically, they’re so great that we’re also going to use them in our Thundering Herd Immunity Green Juice.
Thundering Herd Immunity Green Juice (Whitney Wetzel)
See what I did there? Thundering Herd + Herd Immunity = Thundering Herd Immunity!
Anyway, for this juice you will need these six ingredients:
Ginger (1” thumb)
Turmeric (1” thumb)
Green apple (1 whole)
Lemon (1 whole, peeled)
Celery (About 5 stalks)
Cucumber (1 whole)
How to make: For one 16 oz. juice, begin with putting a thumb of ginger and turmeric through the juicer, followed by 1 organic green apple, 1 peeled organic lemon, roughly 5 stalks of organic celery and a whole organic cucumber.
*Tip: It is best to use organic, local produce when juicing. It is also best to wash produce and cut the peels off of any fruits or vegetables with thick skin (like lemons and limes) to reduce the amount of any chemical pesticides that may have been sprayed on them from getting into your juice and your body.
This green juice will not only boost the immune system, aid in digestion and fight inflammation, but it will also promote weight loss, hydrate and help give you clear and glowing skin and increase your energy levels.
When I decided to ditch caffeine, I replaced my 2 cups of coffee every morning with this green juice. It gave me the energy to get my day started without the caffeine crash a few hours later.
I would recommend starting your day with this green juice for breakfast or you can drink it 30 minutes before lunch or as an afternoon snack.
If you are new to juicing, these recipes might take some getting used to, but they are relatively easy ways to consume and absorb powerful, immune-boosting nutrients.
Share your Mountaineer Gold Rush immunity shot and Thundering Herd Immunity green juice with the hashtag #MountaineerMuscle and let us know what you think! Cheers!
