You’re ready to start your green juicing adventure but first you want to know: when is the best time to drink green juice? Good question.
That means you understand that as good as green juices are, timing really matters. Both for the juice – as in, how long it retains its vital nutrients – as well as for how your body can best process the nutrients from the juice.
And these factors are especially critical precisely because green juice is so good for you – you really don’t want to miss out on any benefits.
What is Green Juice Good for?
Green juicing is one of the best things that you can do to improve your overall health. But do you want to know what it’s so good for? Let us count the ways.
- It makes health easy. You can juice practically any fruit or vegetable, which is especially great for those veggies that you can’t stand to eat raw. They can easily be juiced with a few of your favorite fruits and veggies to mask their taste.
- High nutrients, low calories. It’s a fantastic way to add extra nutrients, antioxidants and fiber to your diet without adding a lot of extra calories.
- Antioxidants galore. Green juice is very rich in chlorophyll, which in turn is very rich in antioxidants such as vitamins A, C, E that help fight inflammation and neutralize free radicals, the harmful molecules in the body that can damage healthy cells.
- Natural detox. Chlorophyll, which green juice is chock full of is one of the most important, natural chelates – it binds to and helps remove toxins and heavy metals (i.e. mercury) from our bodies.
- Diversity of nutrients. Green juicing is a stupid simple way to start incorporating a wide range of new, healthy fruits and veggies in your diet and nutritionists and health savvy consumers alike utilize juicing to incorporate exotic and nutrient dense produce into their daily diets.
The benefits of green juice are plentiful but the key to maximizing them is knowing when to drink up.
Is There a Best Time to Drink Green Juice?
Timing definitely matters. And when it comes to the best time to drink green juice, there are two factors to consider:
- The best time for the juice. The best time to drink the juice for maximum nutrients and juice quality.
- The best time for you. The best time for you to consume the juice for maximum absorption.
Sound confusing? Let’s break it down.
The Best Time to Drink Green Juice for Maximum Freshness
Ever cut an apple and left it out to eat later? Me too. It turned an unappetizing shade of brown.
That’s what happens to fresh fruits and vegetables, thanks to a little thing called oxidation. And oxidation happens to fresh juice, too. When fruits and vegetables are sliced and diced or crushed to produce juice, you’re essentially breaking open the cell walls of these nutrient-rich foods and exposing to air the various vitamins, enzymes, minerals, and phytonutrients found in the produce.
And the oxidation process begins as soon as fruits and veggies are juiced, gradually degrading the valuable nutrients and enzymes and decreasing its nutritional content.
How quickly fresh juice loses its nutritional value varies, but a lot of it is dependent on the type of juicer machine you’re using.
Typically, centrifugal juicers – ‘though convenient and fast – cause the juice to oxidize faster so if you’re juicing with one of these, plan to drink that juice quickly to get the most benefits. On the other hand, if you have a slow juicer, you can store fresh juice extracted from your juicer for 48 to 72 hours and still have fresh, nutritious juice.
But overall, as a rule, the best time to drink green juice for maximum nutrients and juice quality is as soon as you can.
The Best Time to Drink Green Juice for Your Body
Most people don’t know that if they simply change the timeline of their eating habits, they could become healthier. As kooky as this may sound, it’s incredibly accurate.
Our bodies don’t always absorb all of the nutrients in our food, especially if our digestive systems are bogged down. People who eat fatty and greasy foods in the morning may not be able to fully breakdown and absorb the nutritious food they eat later in the day.
For green juicers, the concept is similar. That’s why, as a rule of thumb, juicing should always take place on an empty stomach. When your stomach is void of food, it is best able to absorb all of the nutrients found in fresh pressed juices.
Drinking green juice on an empty stomach is also the best way to avoid a common juicing side effect – gas. If juicing is giving you gas, it’s likely you’ve been juicing after meals.
Juices are easy peasy for your body to “digest” but most meals aren’t. If you drink juice after you’ve eaten a bunch of food, the juice gets stuck in traffic behind the harder-to-digest stuff and can cause discomfort. So always drink that green juice on an empty stomach.
Green Juice in the Morning: Do or Don’t?
The best time to drink green juice is on an empty stomach. For most people, this means that for the greatest benefit, they must drink their fresh pressed juices in the morning before breakfast.
That’s because your stomach is probably its emptiest in the morning before you eat breakfast, making this period a phenomenal time to drink your daily dose of fresh juice. Here’s exactly why.
Benefits of Green Juice in the Morning
- Energy Boost. Juicing extracts the juice and removes the fibrous part of fruits and veggies, which is what allows that green juice to directly hit your bloodstream in 15 minutes. That’s an instant dose of sustainable energy.
- Give Your Digestive System a Break. Green juices contain plentiful amounts of enzymes that will aid the juice in being digested, which allows your body to take a little break, and helps your body to conserve energy. That means your body gets an energy boost from the green juice without expending any energy to digest it.
- High Bioavailability. When your stomach is empty, it will readily absorb the first thing it comes in contact with. If that happens to be a yummy glass of green juice, your body will be able to benefit the most from the high concentration of nutrients that can be found in that fresh juice.
- Natural Appetite Suppressant. Because green juice is so loaded with nutrients, your body feels satiated. That, in turn, leads to less cravings so you can make better food choices.
You also don’t want to eat immediately after downing your glass of green juice. We really recommend giving your body at least 15 to 20 minutes before eating and at least an hour before you drink your morning cup of coffee, since the acidity from the coffee counteracts the alkalizing effects of the green juice.
Last word of caution about green juicing for breakfast is to start out with the least acidic fruits and vegetables. If you decide to include a large dose of citrus fruits along with your greens first thing in the morning, then your stomach might rebel against you.
So gentle is the best way to go.
What About Drinking Green Juice Before Bed?
Ideally, the first thing you put into your stomach each morning would be a large glass of green juice. Your body will absorb all of the energy and nutrients in the juice with little help from your digestive system.
But what about the evenings? Should you be drinking green juice before bed?
Actually, drinking green juice before bed is a brilliant way to replenish your body with a generous load of vitamins, minerals and active enzymes that will help restore your body overnight.
Just make sure that again, your stomach is relatively empty before drinking that green juice nightcap.
As previously mentioned, empty stomachs will readily absorb anything that is first put into them. In doing so, your body won’t waste any of the precious energy, nutrients and antioxidants in the juice. Plus, it will only utilize a minuscule amount of digestive energy.
So wait at least 2 hours after dinner to sip on that green juice.
