If the holiday season didn’t kick your health conscious ways to the curb, clearly you didn’t have a good time. Or, you’re much stronger than the rest of us.

But with the New Year brings a need for rejuvenation, often from the inside out. And for you, dear readers, I’ve completed such a rejuvenation via a juice cleanse and reported back on the results (someone had make sure it was delicious). As a first time juicer it wasn’t all smooth sailing upon the liquid diet seas. While seasoned cleansers may scoff at the mere 120 hours of me trying not to stuff my face with tortilla chips, here are my brief highs and lows of my first cleanse, made possible by Anthony Spadaro and his Tiny Empire line of organic cold-pressed juices. Spoiler alert: it was all delicious and I lived to talk about it. Read More

Nestled between busy restaurants on North 6th Street and the beaten path of Bedford Avenue lies an organic health oasis called Tiny Empire. Walk in and find yourself facing a rainbow assortment of fresh-pressed juices and healthy dessert options of açai bowls and chia seed pudding. Face the counter and get thoroughly confused on what to order as you decide between earthy, delicious blends like raw cacao, blueberries and maple syrup or kale, coconut meat and bee pollen smoothies. Read More

Photo: Food Thinkers

In the foodie world, juicing has quickly become the newest healthy habit around. Juice cleanses and juice bars are popping up everywhere faster than cupcakes shops and food trucks. The biggest positive from juicing comes from the fact you’re consuming optimal amounts of vegetables and nutrients in an efficient, straw-driven manner.

The Cancer Institute of America suggests we all have five servings of vegetables and three servings of fruit every day.  With that said, given our busy lifestyles and the whole “fast-food” nation epidemic, it’s becoming more and more difficult to consume the proper amount of healthy nutrients every single day.

Once upon a time, smoothies had their big “moment,” and while the fruit-driven drinks are nevertheless a healthy option, the prevalence of juice bars and “green” drinks are momentarily outshining their fruity fro-yo counterparts.

Juicing, especially with organic, fresh and local ingredients, allows you to absorb all the possible nutrients vegetables have to offer. Read More

Photo: Food Thinkers

By: Michele Wolfson

When it comes to juicing- I’m hooked. If I don’t have a fresh juice in the morning, I feel somewhat deprived. As hooked as I may be, finding new and interesting ingredients can be difficult to come up with. So we went to the experts in search for which ingredients would be not only creative, but would bring the most nutritional value per juice.

The eatery Uptown Veg in Harlem has a juice bar with many different concoctions to select. I asked the juicer named Drew to tell me what juicing ingredients are the most nutritious to add to my drink. He suggested ginger and celery stating, “Celery is a must-have in all juices.” I asked Drew about beets and he said that they are great to add to juices because they are one of the most powerful vegetables available.

Vegetable and fruit juices are well suited for our fast moving lifestyles because it makes it possible for all of us busy people to add more healing foods into our diets with minimal effort. Below is a list of the top 6 juicing ingredients that pack a nutritional punch and should be included in any juice that you create.

Also, be sure to check out our list of 5 Healthy Root Vegetables and try using some of those in your juices as well! Read More