Lou Corona's Lemon Ginger Blast

In my most recent post I talked about a few of the YouTube channels that I often turn to whether I have questions about juicing, or just want a new recipe. I have one of these channels to thank for my latest (and most courageous) juice recipe that I recently made. This recipe comes courtesy of Dan The Man McDonald's Liferegenerator YouTube account. Actually, this recipe is something Lou Corona introduced to DTM. I don't know a whole lot about this Lou Corona fellow, but I do know that he's someone that DTM highly regards, and he's served as somewhat of a mentor to DTM. I also know that he's been eating a clean, living, raw food diet for almost forty years, and, although he is 60 years old, he looks like he's in his thirties, and from other videos I've seen, he looks to be in better shape than most 21 year olds. Anyways, I'll go ahead and introduce the recipe for Lou Corona's Lemon Ginger Blast, as well as the video of it that I came across (this is one of DTM's most popular videos and it has over 100,000 views on YouTube.)

Lemon Ginger Blast

• 2 apples
• 1-3 inch piece of ginger
• 1 lemon (peel it if it isn't organic)
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1 bunch parsley
• 1 bunch arugula
• 3 habaneros
• 1 cucumber

Although this is the recipe stated underneath the video, I decided to make a few minor changes of my own. First, thanks to previous juicing experience I know that parsley and cilantro can be very strong so I decided to cut it back to about half a bunch of each. Arugula is something I've never juiced but I know that it has a strong, peppery taste, and the only arugula I could find was the packaged stuff so I used one large handful of baby arugula. I kept everything else the same, except for the habaneros. The recipe states that three should be used, but luckily I read some of the comments first and decided it would be best to start with just one. I'm sure glad I did because that juice was spicy! And I like spicy foods. I think I had the same reaction that Lou had after his first gulp around the 8:15 mark.

My guess is that it would probably be spicy even without the habanero. If you don't tolerate the heat very well then I'd start off with a milder pepper (jalapeno for example,) or maybe only a piece of one and build your way up. If it isn't hot enough then you can always add more, but you can't take any out. I also think that there's normally celery in the juice as well, because I heard Lou mention that in the video, but the recipe doesn't say anything about it (I think DTM forgot and left it out,) so next time I make this I'll throw some celery in as well.

YouTube and Juicing

If you're anything like me then you love YouTube. Although I consider it to be one of my biggest time-sucks, I also consider YouTube to be a useful tool. It's a place that I'll often turn to when I have questions on something, regardless of the subject. I prefer to watch how something is done, rather than just read about it. So, it should come as no surprise that I turned to YouTube when I started juicing to try and answer some of the questions that I had. I'm glad that I did because I came across a ton of useful videos on the subject. So for this post I figured I'd share a few of my favorite YouTube channels when it comes to juicing. Below I list the channels (in no particular order,) along with my brief overview of each one, as well as a link to each channel (on the title of the channel.) If any of them interest you, then check them out for yourself.



Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead
Surprise, surprise, it's back again. Only this time it's their YouTube channel, and it's probably the first YouTube channel that I came across when it came to juicing. Most of the videos feature the "star" in FS&ND, Joe Cross. A lot of them are videos answering the most common frequently asked questions that people have, even though many of these deal with questions that people have about doing a Reboot (only eating/drinking fruits and veggies for a period of time, as well as cutting out things like caffeine, cigarettes, etc.) You won't find a ton of juice recipes, but the site does have some helpful videos.


Fitlife.TV
The host of this channel is "transformation specialist" Drew Canole. He has tons of videos devoted to helping people live healthier lives. At first I couldn't stand him. He seems like the kind of guy that would probably hit on your girlfriend the moment you left the room, and, to make matters worse, your girlfriend would probably fall for him. Once I put my first impressions aside I realized he's very knowledgable and has tons of good info to offer newbs like me. Check the channel out for tons of information on juicing and juicing recipes, or for his workouts and life lessons.


Liferegenerator
The Liferegenerator is Dan McDonald, commonly known as Dan The Man, or DTM for short. From what I've seen he is by far the most popular juicer on YouTube, with over 17 million views and tons of videos. Actually, describing DTM as a juicer doesn't do him justice. There's simply no way I can describe this guy or his videos in a few sentences, or even paragraphs. He's an interesting individual with tons of knowledge on the raw food vegan diet, and juicing is a very large part of his lifestyle. He recently stated that this channel will become more like his personal video diary, but people are going to tune in anyways. Check out his past videos where he offers tons of recipes. One disclaimer about DTM: he's out there, far out there.  He kind of looks like Jesus with his long hair, has a tendency to ramble, and if you watch enough of his videos then he'll probably offend you at some point (without intending to.) Some of his videos can be quite long (due to his ramblings) and he likes to label some of them about one thing, even though he never talks about the labeled subject (I once watched a video of his titled something like "WHY DAN HAS FOUR GIRLFRIENDS" and not once in the 10-20 minute video does he make any mention of girlfriends whatsoever.) Decide for yourself what you think of him.


There are many other YouTube channels that have juicing videos, but these are the ones that I've gone to the most. I hope they can help you if juicing is truly something that interests you.

Just Beet It

In my last post I introduced my go-to juice recipe for the Mean Green. I stated that it's the recipe that I juice most frequently, which is true, but variety is the spice of life and it's important to mix things up and try something new every now and then.

One of the advantages of juicing fruits and vegetables as opposed to eating them is that it's a easy way to take in foods (and their nutrients) that we might not normally eat. Not long ago I was at the grocery store looking for something new to juice. I try to buy organic as much as possible and when I was in the organic produce section I came across some beetroot. I honestly wasn't sure if I'd ever had beets in my life, but I figured the worst thing that could happen is that I'd hate them and that'd be the end of it. So I purchased some beets along with other produce and headed home to do some investigating.

I came across this WebMD article that discusses the health benefits of juicing beets. I read about how beet juice promoted heart health and blood flow, both of which are especially important to me because I've been dealing with hypertension (high blood pressure) for the last several years. (I used to smoke a pack a day, binge drink heavily, and live a sedentary/unhealthy lifestyle. I've been cig free for two years, only drink occasionally, and exercise fairly frequently, but hypertension is something I'm still battling.)

The next thing I had to do was find some tasty juice recipes that contain beets. I stumbled across this site, and this is where I've found the first two recipes that I listed below.

'Beeten Apple' Juice (recommended for people new to beets and juicing them)

• 3 apples
• half a beet

'Basic Beet' Juice

• 2 beets
• 2 carrots
• 1 orange
• 1 stalk (stick/rib) of celery
• small piece of ginger root

ABC Juice   (recipe found here)

• 3-5 carrots (depending on size)
• 2 medium beets
• 2 medium-large apples
• 1 lemon
• 1 small piece of ginger (optional)

Review: I really liked all of the recipes that I listed above. The beets have a really sweet taste and I'll definitely continue to juice these in the future. If you decide you want to try juicing beets I'd definitely start with the 'Beeten Apple' as a way to ease into juicing them. When you prepare the beets for juicing you'll want to remove the top and bottom of the beets (you can juice the leaves, but only if they're fresh and still firm.) I also heard that it's best to peel the beets because it's practically impossible to remove all the dirt from the outside of them otherwise.

One last disclaimer: don't panic if you see some red while you go to the bathroom (#1 or #2,) it's perfectly normal.