Living Healthier: Tameeka Time's Top 5 Juice Mixes

It's been about 2 full months since I've made the change and stopped drinking any processed chemical  "juice" that's sold in supermarkets (and everywhere else). I'm still making my own juice from fruits and veggies. It's definitely changed my view of life (yes that's pretty dramatic to say) but this past weekend I had people over and I had to run out to get some breakfast/brunch items and one request was to pick up a bottle of orange juice.

I saw it on the shopping list while I was leaving my apartment but didn't pay attention until I set foot into the grocery store. There was a wall of different kinds of orange "drinks". I will never call what Tropicana, Minute Maid, Simply Orange, and Florida's Natural products "juice". These brands include high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, artificial flavors/colors, sodium citrate, modified cornstarch, cellulose gum, sodium hexametaphosphate, and sodium benzoate in their "juices". I'm sure I'm missing some chemicals but these are the few that are on the bottle labels.
*The links above take you to sites describing the side effects of each of these chemicals. 

According to Dictionary.com juice is:

I did not notice any corn syrup or artificial colors in the definition above.

In the grocery store, I stood at this wall of orange drinks and my stomach turned. I tried my best to pick a "natural" drink or something more reliable and in the back of my mind I  kept thinking "I should just buy a few bags of oranges and make juice". But there was no time and I had already kept everyone waiting so I picked minute maid (I think). I can't even remember. I just wanted to get this whole ordeal over with.

I'm not being a drama queen, I just see things differently now that I'm more concerned about my health and what I consume and even if it's something as small as drinking juice. A small change goes a long way. I'm now obsessed with reading juicing blogs and finding out all of the health benefits juicing has to offer.

I put together my top (5) juice mixtures so far (as of August 13, 2012). I'm sure I'll create many more favorite juice lists as the years go by. While creating these drinks I did not pay attention to how many fruits or vegetables were put into the drinks (my bad). I will next time but for the time being here are the mixes I enjoy.

#5 "Green-a-Loupe"  (like cantaloupe)
Pear / Orange / Lemon / Lime / Green grapes / Cantaloupe 

#4 "Pink Drink" 
Orange / Pineapple / Green Apple / Watermelon 

#3 "Veggie Combo" 
Green apple / Beet / Pear / Lemon / Cucumber / Carrot / Ginger / Ginseng / Wheat grass 
Note: Use very little ginger in this mix

#2 "OJC" 
Orange / Carrot

#1 "Citrus Fun" 
Grapefruit / Lemon / Green apple / Lime 

There's my list. As you can see I'm a huge fan of grapefruit. I love it and never realized mixing apples with it would be so yummy.

All 5 juices are to die for and are packed with nutrients. As I mentioned in my note on the Veggie Combo juice, only use a small amount of ginger for this juice. Ginger is very intense and you don't want to ruin what you've just made.

Also, use the wheat grass in moderation. I've been told that drinking 1 or 2 ounces of wheat grass juice a day should be your limit.

Out of the top 5 juices which would you want to try? Leave a comment below.