Juice! Romaine Cucumber Cleanser

Romaine Cucumber Cleanser

1 head of Romaine Lettuce

1-2 Cucumbers

4-5 stalks of Celery

1 apple

1 lemon

Run all ingredients through a juicer. Strain, serve, enjoy!

When you think of romaine you may automatically assume it doesn’t have much nutrition to offer because it doesn’t have the deep green coloring of other super greens like kale. Do not be deceived, romaine lettuce actually does have some great nutritional benefits! Not only does romaine consist of 17% protein, it is a complete protein and contains all 8 essential amino acids! It also has 21% of your recommended daily allowance of calcium. Add it to a green smoothie with papaya, another calcium rich fruit and you’ll have a smoothie with way more calcium than in a glass of milk. Romaine also has 167% the daily recommended value of vitamin C. My favorite nutritional benefit of romaine that I never knew until now is that it has around 44% the daily allowance of omega-3 fatty acids which are crucial to our balancing our diets that tend to be high in omega-6′s, minimizing stress, and preventing inflammation related diseases.  In addition to all this, throw in super servings of vitamin A & K, and minerals like magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium, selenium, and zinc. Every veggie has its place, and romaine is definitely not a green vegetable to discard as useless. If you’ve relegated your romaine to wimpy salads or ignored it all together, I challenge you to give it another chance. It’s high water content also makes it a nice hydrating addition to juices and smoothies as a base. You’ll find a few more juices I’ve put together in the past with romaine as a main ingredient if you search the blog archives. Happy Juicing! -XoXo Raw Girl