5 Ways to Get Your Juice On

Once exclusively the domain of health-conscious hippies and raw foodists, juicing has burst onto the mainstream diet scene, fueled by media hype, masterful marketing, and celebrity endorsements—Gwyneth Paltrow and vegan actress Alicia Silverstone are known fans, and Salma Hayek even co-founded her own juice-cleanse company. With spring in full bloom, there’s no better time to embrace the abundant arrival of seasonal produce with a refreshing, body-boosting beverage. Check out these five tricks for getting your juice fix.

Venture Out
Juice bars aren’t just for college towns anymore: New liquid locales have been flooding city streets. Manhattan has experienced a surge of juice bars, with hot spots such as Organic Avenue and The Juice Press, along with One Lucky Duck, founded by the owner of vegan haute-dining institution Pure Food and Wine. Across the country in Los Angeles, juice bars such as Pressed Juicery and Moon Juice are quenching the thirst of the Hollywood set one green drink at a time. Even national companies are clamoring to catch a piece of the latest foodie fad: colossal coffee-chain Starbucks opened two Evolution Fresh juice bars in Seattle, and another in Bellevue, Washington.

Stay In
With the recent advent of food-delivery services peddling everything from tequila to tacos, it was only a matter of time before juice companies hopped on board. Urban dwellers across the country can now get fresh-pressed goodness delivered right to their doorstep, making nourishing drinks a few effortless clicks away. San Franciscans can turn to companies such as Thistle and Living Greens for home-delivered drinks. Juice lovers in Austin can order from The Juice Spot, while Windy City residents can get their juices flowing courtesy of Chicago’s Juice Rx, and thirsty Denver locals can drink up with Raw Roots Juice Bar. Don’t live in a major city? National juice-delivery services such as Urban Remedy and BluePrintCleanse can ship their precious perishables anywhere in the country.

Consult the Experts
Juicing has been sneaking into cookbooks for some time, but it’s beginning to take center stage as more books touting the wonders of plant-based drinks hit the shelves. Best-selling author Kris Carr, the brains behind vegan wellness site Crazy Sexy Life, encourages readers to harness the medicinal powers of a juicing regime in her e-book Crazy Sexy Juices and Succulent Smoothies, a comprehensive juicing primer complete with 60 recipes. Popular vegan blog, the Minimalist Baker, offers a 15-recipe detox guide when you subscribe.

Juice It Yourself
Forget recipes and recommendations. Channel the spirit of infomercial juicing champ Jack LaLanne and create some concoctions of your own. There’s an expanding array of home juicers on the market that can fulfill a range of functions. Centrifugal juicers, which extract juice using a rotating shredder, are generally the most popular and affordable, but tend to be less effective for juicing leafy greens. Masticating juicers, which produce juice by squeezing produce through powerful gears, are pricier but more efficient, and preserve more nutrients because they don’t generate enzyme-destroying heat or friction. Plus, home juicing can be thrifty way to give your body some liquid love—buying fresh produce on the cheap allows you to avoid the sometimes outrageous prices of prepared products.

Whether you’re looking to cleanse your body of toxins or just cleanse your palate between meals, incorporating more fresh juice into your dietary routine is an easy way to boost your intake of vitamins and nutrients. The rapid advancement of this trend means there’s now a host of resources to fit any lifestyle, so take your pick and take a sip!