Welcome to the Juice Lab

Adapted by PURE from a December 2022 article by Ilene Ruhoy, M.D., Ph.D.

Keep your powders in your cupboard and try these juices created by Ilene Ruhoy, M.D., Ph.D.

Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet. Cold-pressed juicing is one way to enjoy them, and I have been juicing for years.

I was trained in both pediatric and adult neurology at Seattle Children’s Hospital and the University of Washington, and I received additional training in mitochondrial and neuromuscular medicine. Five years after my fellowship in Integrative Medicine under the instruction of Andrew Weil, M.D., I opened my own practice to combine the best of Western and integrative medicine—something I’m very passionate about. This integrative approach, plus a broader interest in food and plant-based diets, makes me optimistic about the role of lifestyle in overall well-being.

Replacing Food with Powders

Powder supplements are all the rage right now. They are capsules or packets that can be dissolved in water to satisfy a particular nutrient need. Companies create these for anything and everything, from more energy to more calm to optimal health.

How food is made into a powder

The powdered fruits and vegetables often used as base ingredients for supplement packets start their journey as whole fresh fruits and vegetables. They then undergo a process of drying and pulverization, but unfortunately, the plentiful phytonutrients in these fruits and vegetables don’t all survive the process. Those that do appear in the final capsule are highly concentrated, and our bodies can only use so much at a time.

So Why Juices Instead?

For every quart of juice we drink, we are consuming three pounds of produce. Fresh and raw foods are rich in proteins, carbohydrates, essential fatty acids, vitamins, enzymes, and minerals—the most essential building blocks for our body. The sheer quantity of nutrition you obtain from 16 ounces of juice is also remarkable.

I recommend true cold-pressed juice specifically: It is the very best juice because of the way the juice is extracted. Making juice at home ensures that it is fresh, raw, and unpasteurized.

In celebration of the season’s theme of “education,” I picked six popular powders and put together nutritious and delicious juices and nut milks, along with an explanation about these superfoods and their nutrients.

A few notes about juicing: Every recipe I’ve included makes one 16 oz serving of juice. Green juice is best consumed within 24 hours of juicing; other juices last up to three days refrigerated and stored in an airtight container, filled to the top. All juices can be frozen for up to 30 days, preserving up to 90 percent of the total nutrition. All ingredients should be organic.

Please note that we are using a PURE Juicer. The instructions will be slightly different than other juicers but these are great for any juicer—we just recommend adding 25 percent more produce for the same serving size.

Beta Carotene

These foods are rich in beta carotene, the compound that gives orange produce its color.

INGREDIENTS

⅓ cup orange pumpkin (or butternut squash)
2 carrots
1½ Granny Smith apples
⅓ cup watercress
⅓ cup orange bell pepper
Pumpkin spice

1. Cut all ingredients into lengthwise pieces to fit the feed tube of a PURE Juicer.
2. Grind all ingredients together.
3. Wrap mashed ingredients in a press cloth or bag.
4. Press into a large pitcher using the hydraulic press.
5. Serve with a shake of pumpkin spice on top.

Hydration, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes all come from the foods we eat, and this juice is a delicious way to enjoy some of them.

Anthocyanins

This juice is built around the phytonutrient anthocyanin, an antioxidant pigment found in purple and red produce. Antioxidants interact with free radicals (unstable atoms that can damage cells).

The molecule that carries energy in the body is called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The process of creating ATP is called oxidative phosphorylation. There are five enzyme complexes required for oxidative phosphorylation. Enzymes are in food that we eat and juice.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup black grapes
2 small to medium Granny Smith apples
⅓ cup red cabbage
⅔ cup small purple potatoes
Black pepper

1. Put a strainer inside a large bowl, under the PURE Juicer feed tube. Grind the black grapes and apples.
2. Wrap mashed ingredients in a press cloth or bag.
3. Cut the red cabbage into lengthwise pieces to fit the feed tube of a PURE Juicer.
4. Grind the potatoes and cabbage together.
5. Wrap mashed ingredients in a press cloth or bag.
6. Press bags into a large pitcher using the hydraulic press.
7. Serve with a fresh grind of black pepper on top.

Purple potatoes, although usually served cooked, are used raw in this recipe. They contain the pigment anthocyanin. Raw purple potatoes are a resistant starch, meaning they are not digested in the small intestine; instead they become a prebiotic in the large intestine. Red cabbage contains 2-3x the amount of vitamin C than the other cabbages and is rich in the antioxidant anthocyanins. Granny Smith apples go well with vegetables and have a low glycemic index.

Preservatives for Shelf Life

To keep fine powders shelf-stable and make sure the ingredients will dissolve together smoothly, a variety of preservatives are added, such as silicon dioxide, corn syrup solids, pectin, stevia, and maltodextrin. Powders also contain additives for food safety, such as sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, lactic acid bacteria, and metabolites.

Although certainly important to ensure the safety of consuming these products, the idea that they need further ingredients for consumer protection goes against the intent of a natural lifestyle approach. This bioprotective culture is a consequence of the increasing amount of packaged, boxed, and bagged foods—decreasing our work burden.

Antioxidants

Each of these foods contains antioxidants.

INGREDIENTS

1⅓ cups broccoli (include the stalk, it’s delicious!)
1⅓ cups green cabbage
⅔ cup radishes
1⅓ cups dandelion greens
1⅓ cups cilantro
Ground cloves

1. Cut all ingredients into lengthwise pieces to fit the feed tube of a PURE Juicer. For greens, cut the ends off, fold in half, and move through the feed tube.
2. Grind all ingredients together in a PURE Juicer.
3. Wrap mashed ingredients in a press cloth or bag.
4. Press using the hydraulic press into a large pitcher.
5. Serve with a shake of cloves on top.

Note: These are great as a traditional juice or frozen into juice cubes (we used a rose ice cube mold above).

Lycopene

Each food has substrates and cofactors for the electron transport chain. The electron transport chain consists of five enzyme complexes, all of which require cofactors for their enzymes to function and substrates for the enzymes to “work on.” The chain’s function is oxidative phosphorylation to synthesize the energy molecule adenosine triphosphate.

INGREDIENTS

1 medium red beet
1 Granny Smith apple
1½ cups greens (or more—you can’t go wrong doubling this)
Cinnamon stick

1. Cut all ingredients into lengthwise pieces to fit the feed tube of a PURE Juicer. For greens, cut the ends off, fold in half, and move through the feed tube.
2. Grind all ingredients together.
3. Wrap mashed ingredients in a press cloth or bag.
4. Press into a large pitcher using the hydraulic press.
5. Using a microplane, garnish with cinnamon from a cinnamon stick.

The mitochondria is the “powerhouse of the cell” because it stores and creates energy for our cells and body from adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Digestion is the conversion of complex carbohydrates via fermentation. This is a core activity of the human gut microbiome and efficient production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), such as butyrate, acetate, and propionate, which are found in the apple in this recipe. Our whole body depends on our mitochondria to provide us with energy.

Flavonoids

Each of these foods contains phytonutrients, including flavonoids.

INGREDIENTS

4 lemons
2 palm-size pieces ginger
2 palm-size pieces turmeric
Cayenne pepper

1. Cut lemons into a fan (slice, but not the whole way through).
2. Wrap in a liner and then a press cloth; press.
3. Grind ginger and turmeric with a #12 grid.
4. Wrap and press the ginger and turmeric into the same pitcher.
5. Serve as a 2 oz “shot” with a dash of cayenne pepper.

Note: These are delicious fresh or as a juice cube.

Environmental Toxins

We are exposed to contaminants and toxicants daily. Unfortunately, we do not have direct control over what is in our air, our water, and our soil. We can do our best with filters, etc., but we do have control over some exposures, including the foods we choose to eat.

Anethole

INGREDIENTS

1½ cups (250 g) almonds
19 oz filtered water
2 pitted dates (optional, for sweetness)
½ fennel bulb (217 g)
Cardamom

1. Soak almonds overnight in filtered water.
2. Rinse almonds and peel (we peeled the almonds for this milk).
3. Combine almonds, dates (if using), and water, and blend in a blender.
4. Strain, then wrap the wet pulp in a PURE cloth or bag.
5. Grind the fennel in the PURE.
6. Wrap mashed ingredients in a press cloth or bag.
7. Press into a large pitcher using the hydraulic press.
8. Serve with a shake of cardamom on top.

No True “Hacks” for Health

Our busy world celebrates “life hacks,” and we understand why.

The implication of a hack is that the real deal is burdensome and complicated, so why not try something that makes the process easier? We wish these hacks were a perfect solution, but like with exercise, there are no true hacks for real health. While it may be more convenient to use a dissolving powder or capsule (especially for those who travel), they are not the same as fresh fruits and vegetables.

About Ilene Ruhoy

Ilene Ruhoy, M.D., Ph.D., is a board-certified neurologist for adults and children (as of December 2022). She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology and is a graduate of the University of Arizona Integrative Medicine Fellowship. She is also a graduate of the Helms Medical Institute Acupuncture for Physicians certification program. She is the founder of the Center for Healing Neurology in Seattle; a coeditor of Integrative Neurology, an Andrew Weil, M.D., Integrative Medicine series published by Oxford Press in July 2020; medical director for the EDS/Chiari Center at Mount Sinai Hospital South Nassau; and was PURE’s Chief Medical Officer.

*Please cut produce lengthwise so it fits through the feed tube. If you are using another juicer, consult the instructions for the best way to prepare produce for juicing.

This article is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Talk to your doctor before changing your diet, especially if you have a health condition or take medication.