Drink Your Vegetables

I’m pretty good about getting my recommended (or more) servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Usually it’s about 50/50 between fruits and vegetables. I mean, I'm no Cookie monster, but I still need to actively TRY to consume more raw veggies daily. Because of the sugar content of fruit, I’m trying to tip the scales in favor of veggies, but they don’t make as good of snacking raw, IMO. They need a little topping, say, peanut butter, light ranch, or hummus. Unless they’re carrots. I love me some plain, raw carrots. Keeping this in mind, I’ve been looking around for a good veggie juice to add to my daily repertoire. Now, most would think “hey, just drink some V8 and get on with your life.” Alas, folks, I hate V8. I don’t like tomato juices. I like tomatoes, but I cannot stomach tomato or tomato-veggie juice. I know I am in need of a vegetable juice without tomatoes. Also one that’s reasonable in price and doesn’t require me to purchase a juice tiger (now known as the "power juicer") to concoct.

Anyway, this in mind, I was at Wegmans on Friday killing time before a lady doctor exam. Wegmans is my favorite grocery store and puts me in a happy place with its plethora of crazy ethnic foods, artisan breads, and hippie selections. I needed to be in a nice, happy place before a colposcopy exam. Ladies that have had one, well, yeah, you know. So, while at Wegmans I thought I’d check for some veggie juice. I first hit up the normal juice aisle to check and see if there was a V8 without tomatoes. There is one. It’s mixed with fruits. I’ve tried it before and found it too sweet for my tastes. Scratch that. I headed over to the organic-hippie food section and hit up the juice and tea aisle. Sure enough, there were several tomato-free veggie juice choices. The first I picked up was made by R.W. Knudsen Farms – Very Veggie Juice, Untomato flavor. I like that…Untomato. For those of us who don’t like that red nightshade in our drinks. I checked the ingredient list and it wasn’t very extensive. Only 5 or 6 veggies and fruits, which didn’t completely impress me. I glanced above and noticed a funky label sporting some Japanese characters. I recognized the brand name, Ito En, from Wegmans (massive) displays of their bottled tea. I’ve tried their tea and know it’s pretty fantastic for a bottled tea, so I picked up the Veggie drink and read the label. Ito En Veggie Shot contains an impressive blend of 20 vegetables (excluding tomato) with several natural fruit juices blended in for palatability. Nice. It included some normal fruits and veggies: sweet potato, carrots, red bell peppers, spinach, pumpkin, apples, grapes, lemon, lettuce, green beans, kale, asparagus and also had some oddballs like Japanese honewort and komatsuna. Calories per serving (8 oz): 80. Not bad. Not as good as tomato V8, but obviously that’s not an option. I decided to buy the product. At 3.99 per bottle and four servings per bottle, it’s about $1 per serving.

Now what you really want to know – how does it taste? Great. It’s a perfect blend of sweet and smooth with a slight spice. You can drink it plain, chilled or over ice. You can also make an awesome concoction like this one in your blender:

8 ounces Ito En Veggie Shot
1/3 cup frozen mixed berries
1 scoop Amazing Greens (greens supplement)

The smoothie is fantastic. I tried it this morning after my cardio workout. Wow. So tasty and energizing, I feel like I’m walking on sunshine. I have also achieved a nice serving of fruits and vegetables and a boost of vitamins and minerals. Mmm hmm, veggie juice problem solved. Next time I make it, I may be daring and add a handful of spinach. Watch out! My arms may bulge out like Popeye.