By the time you’re looking up arugula juice recipes, you’re already a pretty hardcore green juicer. You’ve had your share of the beginner-friendly lettuce and spinach, dabbled with the ever-popular kale and now you’re looking for something a little more intense.
Enter: arugula juice.
And this is one great green to be including in your juice recipes. Sure, all leafy greens are some of the most nutritious foods out there, but some of them are healthier than others. Like, arugula, which despite looking like your average leafy green, is actually related to watercress and the radish and packs a punch – both nutritionally and with its slightly hot, peppery taste.
Want to know what else arugula has going for it?
7 Awesome Arugula Juice Benefits
Like many leafy green vegetables, arugula is packed with various minerals and vitamins, including calcium, vitamins A, C and K, magnesium, potassium and iron. But the health benefits of arugula don’t stop there…
Keeps your eyes healthy
Arugula is one of the few leafy greens that contain important carotenes such as lutein, zeaxanthin and beta-carotene, both of which help to reduce the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration. In simple English – it’s darn good for your eyes 🙂
An all-natural aphrodisiac
Admit it – you’ve never suspected leafy greens could be an aphrodisiac. But turns out, these delicate leaves aren’t just good for your body – they’re indirectly good for your significant other’s body, too 😉
Since the first century, Arugula has been used as an arousal aid. Both the ancient Egyptians and the ancient Romans used it as an aphrodisiac and Greek philosophers like Pilny and Dioscorides identified arugula as a food that increased libido. The Romans even went so far as to consecrate arugula to Priapus, a god of fertility.
Turns out the ancients weren’t wrong about arugula – this saucy leafy green’s aphrodisiac qualities come from its phytonutrient content that boost vitality and helps inhibit pesky libido-reducing contaminants in your system.
Protects against cancer
Rockets are a member of the cruciferous family and has many of the same anti-cancer benefits as cabbage and broccoli. It contains a variety of indoles, which are natural phytochemicals that may help to reduce the risk of certain cancers such as prostate and breast cancer.
Maintains strong, healthy bones
Our bodies need certain vitamins and nutrients to maintain healthy bones. Many of those nutrients and vitamins such as vitamin K, C, magnesium and calcium are all found in arugula. Simply consuming three cups of this great vegetable everyday will give your body 100% of the daily requirement of vitamin K. This vitamin has been proven to reduce the risk of bone fractures and promote the formation of collagen, a substance that helps to maintain strong and healthy bones.
Fights inflammation
This dark leafy green contains isothiocyanates and indole-3-carbinol. Both of these are bioactive compounds that have been proven to suppress the production of inflammatory mediators and therefore reduce chronic inflammation.
Chock full of chlorophyll
This green substance has many health benefits, it has anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and healing properties and can help fight acne and other skin infections. It is also a natural chelate, which means that it binds to toxins and heavy metals in the body and helps to remove them. Chlorophyll also has many anti-carcinogenic effects and is an effective odor neutralizer that fights body odor from the inside out!
Helps you age gracefully
As we age, our brain and cognitive functions can decline. Because arugula is high in many of the B vitamins and contains very high amounts of folate – as well as rich in the antioxidants that help fight oxidative damage, it is protective against the aging process of the brain, cognitive decline, and other negative effects of aging.
3 Arugula Juice Recipes
Now that you’re ready to start getting more of the delicious and beneficial arugula in your juices, get ready to toss out the same old lettuce combinations and start whipping up these yummy arugula juice recipes!
Rockin’ Rocket Juice
Need more energy to fuel you through the day? Here’s a perfect juice recipe for challenging days (and workouts):
- 2 carrots
- 1 cucumber
- 1 beet (both the bulb and the greens)
- 1/2 cup arugula
- 1/2 apple
- 1/4 inch ginger
This delicious, antioxidant-rich juice recipe keeps you hydrated, provides an energy boost, and gives you a heap of nutrients all in one go!
Gentle Green Giant Juice
Here’s a simple, refreshing and very nutritious juice recipe:
- 3 cucumbers
- 1 lime, peeled
- 1 green apple
- handful of basil
- handful of arugula
It’s an antioxidant and mineral-rich juice recipe that’s perfect to sip on whenever you’re feeling stressed or unwell – both arugula and basil are chock full of anti-inflammatory benefits and basil has long been known to have mildly sedative, soothing qualities, which makes this a lovely juice to sip on when there’s just too much going on.
Digestive Booster Juice
Feeling a bit cramp-y? Had a little too much to eat over the weekend? Here’s a juice recipe to help you take care of whatever’s going on in there:
- 1/2 cup arugula
- 1/2 fennel bulb
- 2 cucumbers
- 2 green apples
- 1 inch ginger
This is a great stomach-soothing juice recipe, thanks to fennel, which is full of antioxidants like quercitin and rutin which encourage more digestive juices in the stomach, making it easier for your body to break down and absorb as much nutrients as possible from digested food.
Add to that flavorful ginger, which on top of adding a zing to any juice recipe you add it to (ginger is no shy flower – you will know when you’re drinking ginger juice), also comes with a number of unique and powerful benefits. For starters – it’s an ideal digestive aid and incredibly effective for nausea and vomiting caused by motion sickness, seasickness, or even pregnancy.
Tips on Juicing Arugula
- Like most leafy greens – arugula is best (as in, most nutritious) when it’s fresh and RAW! Consuming it in its whole, raw form in green juices and smoothies is an excellent, quick way to get your fill 🙂
- Arugula juice can come on a bit strong – it is a peppery leafy green, after all – so start small and use other juicing ingredients like pineapple and apple to tone down the peppery bite.
- At only seven calories per ounce, Arugula is a guilt-free food, meaning that you can eat as much of it as you want, as often as you want – making it a great choice for anyone on a weight loss or maintenance regimen.
- Much like other leafy green vegetables, arugula is a hydrating food that will help keep adequate fluids in the body – another reason to get plenty of it during the warmer months. Actually, go ahead and add it into your juice and smoothies year-round – this stuff is great for you!
