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On The Menu: Love Your Potions

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It’s February. And that means it’s the unofficial month of love.

(It’s also the shortest month of the year and typically the month where people with SAD—Seasonal Affective Disorder, and yes it’s really sad—have had it up to here with short days and chilly nights…all of which is why we choose to focus on the positive stuff-we-luv stuff.)

Last year we took what we thought was a pretty balanced look at the different kinds of love we Human Bees are capable of, through the clever lens of how easily we can love more than one TJS juice. (And we’re proud to say that a year later, a Google search will still render “polyjuicery” at the tippity-top of your search page…so cheers to us for making up a whole new word.)

This February? Keeping it a little lighter. Beecause there’s a lot going on in the world and sometimes your hard-working mind needs a hard-working break.

We’re still all about juice-u-cation…but this year? We’re gifting you a cheat sheet.

As you plan some sweet treats for everyone you Insta tag with #PeopleILove this month, remember they *can* taste ahmazing without being all processed sugar-laden (though there’s no replication for Brach’s conversation hearts…we know). Whether you’re still lovin’ on the winter-warmer sips you can still order off seasonal menus, or you need an edible warrior to push you through your workout, or something to spark yer sheets, or simply something sweet…here’s how to maximize the best of The Juice Standard’s menu of chocolatey, berry-ish and energy-inducing items to their highest, most love-potiony, aphrodesiacally inclined levels.

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Warm Up

Specialty Espresso Drink: Raw Cacao Mocha

  • Why? No lie: Our drinks are better than Sbucks because there’s no white sugar. Once you try it, you won’t deny it.

Specialty Espresso Drink: Bee Invincible

  • Why? Even creamier than Bulletproof® Coffee thanks to the homemade cashew cream, this could be a meal replacement and your a.m. wake-me-up. Pick it up and you won’t put it down.

Hot Cacao: L’Orange Cream Cacao

  • Why? Marcella concocted it. Jamie named it. Mallory photo’d it. Jen wrote about it. Plus, it’s chocolate and citrus. If you like those chocolate oranges at holiday times you’ll like this about a kajillion percent more.

Superfood Upgrade: Cayenne pepper

  • Why? It’s a spicy little number that’ll add eat but not flavor to anything you want, which means you could conceivably up the calorie-burning ante of even a glass of water…though we’d recommend smoothies, juices and even a Bee Happy nutmilk for a Mexican partido en su boca.

Work Out

Nut Milk: Bee Magnificent

  • Why? Why not? You’re magnificent, right? Well so is this vanilla, multi-nut-based milk. It’s got the goods to fill you up with healthy stuff after you burn-baby-burn. Not much not to love.

Nut Milk: Bee Legendary

  • Why? Who doesn’t want to feel like Barnabus Stinson. And for health accolades, read above and remember that Legendary tastes like a cold and creamy chai.

Nut Milk: Bee Happy

  • Why? Adult chocolate milk, Baby! One that’s healthy, thanks to the antioxidants in the raw cacao we use to make this post-workout wonder. (And remember: Buy this and you may also mix it with a lot of grownup things like we showed you in this post. A real multi-milktasker.)

Chewable: Chia seed puddings (any of them)

  • Why? If you love your time, you’ll love that after a workout (or just being out and about as a busy bee) any of our chia seed puddings are a plant-based, protein-packed meal on the go. Tasty enough for littles and satisfying for adults, you can’t go wrong except if you don’t eat them.

Superfood Upgrade: Raw cacao powder or nibs

  • Why? Filled with antioxidants, this natural mood elevator and anti-depressant is also the highest plant-based source of iron (more than kale!). And guess what? It tastes hella better than kale! So add it anything you can for some extra self-love in the health department.

Treat Your Sweet

Smoothie: Libido Lover

  • Why? This could easily bee filed under “Work Out,” too, since it’s so filling… but with a name like this, what’s not to love about its ability to rev up somebody’s engine? Chockfulla cacao, maca (read about it here), mint, and creamy avocado, this mint-chocolate-chippy smoothie increases the endurance and the libido at the same time. And we all know that’s good for increasing the sex. So. There you have it.

Smoothie: Bee Mine

  • Why? Even Forrest would agree this burst o’ berry flavor (strawberries, raspberries and goji berries) mixes with cacao maca, cacao nibs, cashews, Greek yogurt, agave, and banana, for a healthier alternative to a box o’ chocolates. Jenny would approve since it’s an aphrodisiac…though those two didn’t seem to have a hard time conceiving the little boy who could see dead people.)

Cold-Pressed Cocktail: Sex Panther

  • Why? Only at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas can you get this gorge pink drink of Bee Cosmopolitan, vodka and triple sec. Which is good, because when you wanna be one, you can literally go grab one when some hollers gettaroom. 

Hot Cacao: Some Like It Hot

  • Why? A spicy hot cacao needs no explanation. 

Hot Cacao + Superfood Upgrade: CBD(C) and CBD oil

  • Why? First: CBD oil is a near-odorless and tasteless superfood upgrade you’ll wanna consider giving your love if they need to relax, or increase their alertness, or for any of the other reasons we lay out in this article. And a hot cacao with CBD oil in it? That goes a step further to further your loving greatness.

5 From The Hi5e: Recipes We Love

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From time to time we run a feature with five items about one topic we think is tip-top relevant to your health, or your well being, or something solid funny, or info you just shouldn’t live without. Called “Five From The Hi5e,” the hope is to deliver the skinny on stuff you’ll find more than moderately rad. Like this featurette on how some of us TJS bees do our best to insert comfort into our lives during what’ll probably be the last legit month of winter.

Ed. note: This month? More than five. Couldn’t help ourselves. Sorry. Bonus for you.

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Jamie Stephenson (Co-founder/COO)

For Jamie, “soothe” is the word when it comes to winter care for her bod and belly that keeps her comfortable no matter then temps. “For my health, I drink juice daily (even at home); I love TJS’s Lipospheric vitamin C packs; and I love adding collagen to my coffee.”

As for her self care? Indulging in soft-spun natural fabrics like cashmere keeps her skin happy while sticking to beeswax candles (right?) scented with gardenia or jasmine sets the tone for any room she’s in. And her final tip? “I put coconut oil on the ends of my hair at night and wrap my hair in a bun. Then, I shampoo/condition as usual the next morning.”

If you’ve seen her hair you’ll start doing this, too.

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Mallory Dawn (Creative Director)

Mallory’s artistry isn’t limited to how she beautifies the TJS brand as her other pursuits include creating art for her #girlboss company Ice Cream and Cupcakes…and, making up recipes at home. This busy bee had these concoctions to share. One’s for when you’ve got a sore throat or sickness you just can’t kick. The other is a kickass hair tonic. (What’s up TJS girls and hair?!)

MD’s Garlicky Grateful

1) Mince 2 large cloves of raw garlic and let it aerate on your cutting board for 5-10 minutes (this activates the microbial properties of raw garlic). Then combine it with 4 ounces of TJS’s Bee Grateful.

How so simple? Garlic is powerful natural antibiotic and reported to be roughly one-fiftieth as powerful as penicillin. It’s also a known anti-fungal and anti-viral, so downing it as a preventative will keep the doc away better than a peck of apples…but you have to eat it raw. Garlic has a compound called allicin, AKA the “odiferous” oily liquid that seeps from garlic when you crush it. Cooking garlic kills allicin’s potent healing properties, but eat it raw and you could potentially stave off pretty much anything that could ail you.

Just be aware that breath and bod can emit garlic’s unique daresay “bouquet” long after you’ve swallowed. To be kind to those around you (and trust us…they’ll notice), here are some good n’ funny tips on how to beat g-breath. (Hint? Mustard. Who knew.)

MD’s Fantastique Tonique

“I have a homemade hair tonic I’m totally obsessed with: I mix 3-4 drops each of organic peppermint, rosemary and geranium oil with 6 ounces of spring water, and I put it into a small spritz bottle that I leave in the fridge.

“After showering, I lightly spray it directly into my scalp, massage it in for a few minutes, and using a wet brush, I brush my hair upside down.It’s done wonders for my hair’s volume and stimulating my scalp! Especially after years of extensions and working in the sun and heat!

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Marcella Williams (Co-founder/CEO)

For our multitasking mum of three who beeautifully balances her TJS duties with arguably her most important job, Marcella’s comfort comes from keeping her brood (and herself) healthy. On her list? One old-timey remedy, and one for the modern age: Good ol’ fashioned chicken noodle soup, and TJS’s shot flight.

If you haven’t indulged in a TJS shot flight yet they’re potent, 2- to 3-ounce designed to be a simple and fast addition to your health protocol…whether as a preventative, or as a something you take once you’re already a little under the weather. TJS serves three recipes, which can be enjoyed individually or in succession: the Wellness Shot, Flu Shot and E3LIve® Shot. (You can read more about how good they are for WHealth™ here in this Vegas Seven feature from last year.)

Bennie of the shots? You can indulge in them at any time of day…though some bees like to one-and-dun-’em first thing in the morning.

As for Marcella’s shout-out to chicken noodle soup, if you haven’t tried your hand at making homemade broth for said soup, read below because our last installment has a recipe for that, too. (Nice segue, huh?)

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Jen Chase (Content Director)

Jen’s diet of choice comprises nearly no meat and nominal grains, but like Marcella, her go-to food for when she’s a sickie or wants to throw comfort on someone else in a hurry is homemade chicken broth with bites of teensy-cut pasta…think orzo, stars, alphabet letters, or pastina.

Note: Her all-time fave plant-based broth recipe is this tried-and-true from the New York Times, and it’ll make you forget you ever ate chicken. But when only chicken broth will do, here’s Jen’s no-measure Kitchen-Sink Broth:

1) Remove the meat from 1 store-bought rotisserie chicken (preferably organic and without hormones…you know the drill), and save for other uses. Then, into a stock pot add the chicken carcass (with skin) along with two celery ribs, two carrots, one large onion, and one small handful each of whole peppercorns and whole cloves.

(Optional Awesome Add-Ins? A handful of whatever fresh herbs you have on hand—even fennel fronds; if you happened to have made a pre-cooking cocktail with freshly squeezed lemon, throw in half a retired lemon rind (seeds and all…they’ll strain out); and if you freeze your Parmigiano rinds when your cheese is gone—and here’s why you must!—add a healthy hunk into your broth too. Adds killer taste.)

Then, add to the lot enough cold water to cover (4-6 cupsish) and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer for about an hour (longer if you want stock, less time for broth).

When done, strain the liquids from the solids and add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. At this point you can cool the broth to congeal it and scrape away the fat. When you want a bowl o’, comfort, cook pasta on the side and add it to your soup serving, finishing it off with coarsely grated parm, hot red pepper flakes, salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

Juice For Health: Keep The Flu At Bay the TJS Way

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It’s the time of year again when we here at The Juice Standard start thinking about how to fight the flu with as many preventative ways as possible.

The ever-forever goal is prevention-prevention-prevention…but even the healthiest of us still get sick, damnit. But when sickie strikes, we don’t have to hit up the over-the-counter meds that mass-marketing media deems the holy grail of health.

Around here, we beelieve in treating proactively by eating proactively! So the next time you’re sick, try fighting the flu our fave three ways first!

1) Totally Turmeric Singletons

If you’re not taking it year-round as a preventative, November is definitely when we advise boosting the ol’ intake of turmeric. We tout turmeric as one of the most healing roots in rootdom thanks to its natural curcumin…known for how it can bolster brain activity (it’s a recommended diet addition for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and brain tumor patients). It’s also a known as a solid inflam tamer: Doctors who prescribe it as a natural alternative to ibuprofen (as in this reference from the New York Times) recommend doses of 1000-2000 mg/day.

For the sake of cold-pressed juicy convenience, these are the TJS juices and nut milks that deliver turmeric’s famous yellow punch. They’re an easy way to easily, sneakily get it into your system.

  • BEE ON POINT: (a blend of cucumber, celery, carrot, apple, kale, beet, dandelion, radish, lemon, ginger, turmeric and black pepper)
  • BEE TRUE TO YOU: (a sweet-yet-spicy juice with cucumber, lemon, ginger, turmeric, honey, and cayenne)
  • BEE WHEALTHY™: (our signature recipe featuring cucumber, celery, romaine, kale, apple, dandelion, parsley, lemon, ginger, and turmeric)
  • BEE LEGENDARY: (our eggnog-inspired nut milk made with raw cashew, raw Brazil nut, raw walnut, turmeric, ginger, vanilla bean, cardamom, nutmeg, clove, pink Himalayan salt, cracked black pepper, and raw local honey).

Turmeric-blog

2) TJS Juice Shots

Ever had one of shots? How about a shot flight? These super-strong doses of juices, herbs and spices are combined in just the right way to promote fast and full absorption of the good stuff in them. (And since much in nature works synergistically, you can bet Marcella and Jamie put hella effort into mixing and matching TJS’s organic ingredients just so.)

Want to read more about ‘em? Earlier this year Vegas Seven writer Al Mancini wrote a roundup of the good stuff Las Vegas serves to help fight the flu. For a quick glance of what we serve, see below. (Remember: They don’t call us a juice bar for nothing.)

  • WELLNESS SHOT: (a blend of ginger, lemon and cayenne pepper that boosts immunity with vitamin C; increases circulation with the pepper’s heat; and eases stomach discomfort thanks to the ginger’s digestive enzymes)
  • FLU SHOT: (raw apple cider vinegar, oregano oil, turmeric, and black pepper come together in a sip that’s pleasantly acidic and herbal…and thanks to that turmeric and pepper—and assuming you like Indian food—it’s faintly reminiscent of your fave yellow curry)
  • E3Live! SHOT: (with only E3Live® blue-green algae and coconut water, the algae contains some of the most concentrated amounts of protein known to the plant world and is known for increasing energy and balancing mood. The taste? Vegetal and grassy with a hint of the tropics. Think walking through a freshly cut yard while nursing a piña colada. Minus the pineapple. And the sugar. And, pushing a mower.

Shot-Flight

3) Lypo-Spheric Vitamin C Packs

To avoid illness, boost your immune system and even protect against germies during long flights or travel, our LiveOn Labs’ Lypo-Spheric vitamin C packs are a fantastic instant preventative. Each pack’s 1,000mg of vitamin C is quickly absorbed when dissolved in water, making it super simple to add to that crap water you get on the airplane instead of the bottle you had to dump during security.

lypospheric-vitamin-c-pdf1 vitamin-c

Juicing Across The Map

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Vegas is often called the Entertainment Capital of the World, and though it’s got a vibe and vocab all its own (day clubbing, anyone?) something it has in common with other international city destinations is this: Smart locals know when to stick around, and they know when to go. And each summer, go-time is August.

It’s a common custom across large swaths of Europe. Italians leave their homes, jobs and shops to head for the water, and you’ll even find streets amid the City of Lights a little more dim thanks to locals seeking beyond-the-borders respite before school and university bring on the fall.

In Vegas, we leave for another reason.

It’s so damn hot.

hot dog meme

It’s not like that’s news—summertime’s hot, right?—but like childbirth and getting dumped, the human spirit knows how to block pain. But for when we do remember the sear of Nevada’s sun on our skin, cooler climes are in order. So, we go. Maybe you go, too? If you do, and if you love juice like we do, working your healthy lifestyle into even your vacation time is primo. So here’s short list of places we love to hit when we get the hella outta Dodge. And if you have suggestions, start a convo at our Facebook page. We’d love to hear where your juice cravings take you. 

Jamie Stephenson (TJS Co-Founder and CEO)

image1A Jamie fave: Glacier Ginger (Whitefish, Mont.)

Why?

“Glacier uses organic ingredients that are sourced locally, since there is quite a bit of agriculture in the area. Its ginger is nice and spicy, and super delicious in the “Mule Kick Shot”…a combo of fresh ginger and lemon juices, with a sprinkle of cayenne over the top (aka, a TJS Wellness Shot). Also, juice is made on the spot using the centrifugal juicing method, and Glacier also make many flavors of craft ginger brew including lime and cherry. This place is a definite go-to, after a Glacier Park hike or local Whitefish craft beer-night!”

glacier-795x400

Marcella Williams (TJS Co-Founder and COO)

A Marcella fave: Butcher’s Daughter (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Why? 

butchers daughter“Butcher’s Daughter is where the farmhouse meets Venice Beach, and everything that’s right in the food world is caught in between. Like so many people probably will this month I recently had the privilege of escaping the Vegas desert heat for just a couple days. The struggle about traveling, for me, is that not only am I a health-conscious eater, but I am usually am traveling with my three niños who are far pickier than I am…and in a different way.

“We stumbled upon The Butcher’s Daughter after a relaxing afternoon on the beach. With sand still in my toes and salt water in my hair (which made it look fab, by the way!) we walked into this restaurant eyeing a table on the patio that looked out onto Abbot Kinney Boulevard…which just happens to be the street-of-all-streets to wander around on in Venice. The menu was vegan with some vegetarian options…and I loved the fact that this pro-life animal house had no fear of cracking an egg over any dish including my spaghetti squash carbonara.

 

“Classic carbonara calls for cream (heavier the better) egg, cheese, and of course, pancetta or some other form of Babe. If you asked me a month ago if this dish could be pulled off without bacon grease I would’ve laughed…but Butcher’s Daughter nailed it. I could taste the love in these dishes.Butchers Daugheter Spaghetti Squash

“We also had the stone oven pizza with arugula, pears, gorgonzola, and a touch of spice with red peppers. The flavors blended together very well, as most would imagine. We also ordered the smashed avocado crostini because of our love for functional fats. (I actually have a Pinterest board dedicated to avocados…but who doesn’t?)

Butchers Daughter FlatbreadButchers Daughter Pea Dip

“Aside from the fabulous food, Butcher’s Daughter’s juice menu is what really impressed me. It serves very unique concoctions, and with an Asian theme throughout, it uses ingredients like lemongrass, kefir lime leaves and even yuzu in a few juices. Jamie has wanted me to play around with yuzu before but sourcing some of these ‘off the beaten path’ ingredients gets tricky when we only source organic and, live in the desert. I left feeling nourished and inspired. I look forward to my next beach getaway and the wonderful flavors that follow in southern California.

Mallory Dawn (TJS Creative Director)

A Mallory fave? Mother’s (Barcelona, Spain)

Why?

“I was in Barcelona earlier this year. And on a rainy day, when I kept getting lost trying to find a famous magazine shop, I smelled cinnamon and honey…and wandered into Mother’s. Turns out they had just pulled their homemade granola out of the oven (which I purchased along with a veggie bowl and some juices). I sat in the shop, talking to the owner about the importance of educating consumers and the responsibility we each shared, being the first juice shops in our respective cities. Everything about Mothers’ brand and intention reminded me of TJS, and I was so happy to be led astray in my search.
  Depura1
“Later in my trip, during my travels back through Spain, I found Teresa’s Juicery. The outpost is located inside the popular shop, Flax & Kale. It has a wonderful selection of organic juices thanks to founder Teresa Carle’s more than 35 years of recipe-making experience. And it shows: You could literally satisfy any taste craving with her assorted menu. (The juice called “Party Recovery” with its purified water, beet, honey, strawberry, coconut water, and hemp seeds) is basically just an extension of any party!)”
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Jen Chase (TJS Content Director)

A Jen fave? Cocobeet (Boston, Mass.)

 

Why? 

“I grew up outside of Boston, along Massachusetts’ south shore. After a few years of enjoying a West coaster’s life, though I’m back in New England, a lot of my work remains Vegas based, with my most inspiring being writing and editing for and with The Juice Standard. I’m thankful for my dual-coast work, but with my natural (obsessive?) allegiance to Marcella’s and Jamie’s recipes, the culinary thing I miss most about Las Vegas is not having access to what I totally unbiasedly objectively and humbly beelieve is the best collective juice menu, ever. Thankfully, I discovered Cocobeet in downtown Boston, and its product, mission, dedication to organics, and overall mindset is the closest I can get to TJS’s when life is more Beantown than Sin City. 08 Cocobeet Product 2 Cocobeet-Survival-Kit07 Cocobeet Productcocobeet-about-boston-juice-bar

“The juice world is a lot smaller than you’d think, and the first time I hit Cocobeet, I met co-owner, Onur, and explained what I do for TJS. He knew a little about Vegas’ cold-pressed juice scene and the more we talked, the more names we both recognized. Then came my money moment: When I got home and dove into the stash I’d bought, I finally felt a little less winsome for my TJS faves—Bee Resilient, Bee Happy, Bee Chill—because I had new ones to love: Green Monkey, Chocolate Power Mylk and Watermelon Quench. Cocobeet does it right by pressing every day (like TJS); by committing to organics (like TJS); and by being completely transparent about why sometimes certain flavors can’t be pressed if an ingredient can’t be bought organic (that’s how we roll, too). Cocobeet is even morphing into more and more chewables (um, like who?), which makes every trip feel hella like home to me…even when my heart’s juicy home is 2,735 miles away. But who’s counting.”

Enhancing My Reverence for Nature at The SnowMansion

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Sunset at The SnowMansion.

For two weeks, I spent my vacation time at The SnowMansion, north of Taos, New Mexico, for a permaculture design course. Permaculture—derived from the two words “permanent” and “agriculture”—is a philosophy based on the concept of producing an abundance of food in a manner that won’t run out while at the same time, creating little or no waste. It’s derived from the template of nature: she produces in abundance, and rarely produces waste…for the benefit of us all.

Throughout the course I asked myself, “How can The Juice Standard provide abundance in the Las Vegas community while minimizing waste?” It’s so simple: We can maintain THE highest standards in the industry (i.e., “Only ORGANIC food is served here”). We can (and do) operate with the utmost integrity—the people who work with us want to be here, and they want to learn and grow to be stewards of quality in service and in personal growth. And we can, do and will continue to steward the health of our citizens by serving THE highest-quality medicinal food.
The right thing and the hard thing are often the SAME thing. We take our bottles back, sanitize, and re-use them, just like restaurants do. YOU help us to do this, and we thank you for your help.
Below is a snippet of my two-week journey to a land of extremes…Taos, New Mexico.

full-moon

The full moon on the summer solstice… June 21, 2016.

 

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This is an example of a “bee garden.” Bees tend to gravitate to blue and purple flowers. Their eyes have a type of color spectrum that draws them to the color. Through their eyes, they see patterns on those flowers that point to where the nectar is. Then, they stick out their long bee tongues and drink the flowers’ nectar.

 

purple-bees

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Honey bees return with tummies full of nectar that will be dried by the beating of thousands of bee wings. This turns raw flower nectar into raw honey.

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Bees are statically charged thanks to the rapid beating of their wings. When she mounts her flowers, her positively charged body attracts pollen instantly. She collects it into pouches seen here, and hands it off to her sisters as protein-rich “bee bread.”

cheese-makingRaw goats milk, along with a bit of culture and rennet, covered and left for 18-24 hours, then strained through cloth and a colander, yields the most gorgeous raw cheese! Serve cheese with homemade berry or chili sauce. Fresh tomatoes from the garden are served with Brigid’s fresh raw honey, backyard lavender, and her famously simple raw goat cheese. Backyard to patio table: hyper local, uber fresh and nourishing for the body and soul!
Backlit honey bee.

Backlit honey bee.

lavendar-chamomile

Harvested lavender can be consumed fresh or dried. Lavender for tea, cheese and aesthetic beauty. Chamomile picked and dried for afternoon tea.

 

Check out Paul Stamens TED Talk, “Nine Ways Mushrooms will Save the World.” Did you know that mushrooms have taken over Chernobyl? The Albert Einstein School of Medicine finds that mushrooms, “have the capacity to use radioactivity as an energy source for making food and spurring their growth.” (Nuclear waste-metabolizing FUNGUS. Is that not insane!? Nature….)

mushrooms-growing
Scot and Rachel drill 20-25 holes into these freshly cut Aspen logs. Fresh lumber that hasn’t been treated is key as the wood itself is the food source for the mushrooms.
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We opted for the edible Blue Oyster variety.

mushroom-

This is an example of what these Aspen logs will look like: japantwo.com

sodCob is an extraordinary building material made of four simple ingredients: clay soil, sand, straw, and water. It is foot-mixed and feels a lot like cold dog poo between the toes. Since it’s NOT cold dog poo, however, it feels WONDERFUL! This elicits a reversal in aging while simultaneously softening the feet. (BONUS!) Cob structures act as thermal mass, heating you in the winter and cooling you in the summer.
I made new friends! Pictured left to right: Nile, Miles, Emery, Paloma, Rachel, Kelly, Judy, Kim, Alex, Chris, Cecil, Scot, Teresa, Rebecca, Stephanie and Jamie.

I made new friends! Pictured left to right: Nile, Miles, Emery, Paloma, Rachel, Kelly, Judy, Kim, Alex, Chris, Cecil, Scot, Teresa, Rebecca, Stephanie and Jamie.

In The Juice ‘Cleanse’ Debate, The Word ‘Fast’ Rules

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You say potato; we say potahto. We used to say “juice cleanse.” Now we say “juice fast.”

(Wha?)

Yes: The Juice Standard is experiencing a paradigm shift. In the last few months we’ve paused to re-eval our core beliefs about cleanses, fasts and how we describe the tools we use to tweak our health. Now that we’ve successfully mulled it over for ourselves, we’re ready for the big reveal to you.

And Here’s The Big Reveal

We’ve made a very important decision: We’re moving away from talk of “cleanses” and toward talk of “fasting,” a change that may seem small but one that’s of high import.

Here’s why.

A “fast” is typically when anyone gives their body a complete break from chewing food or drastically reduces their caloric intake. Why would anyone want to do this? All the energy that goes into digesting food  diverts to other parts of our body’s daily existence.

The benefits of fasting are the same as cleansing:

  • You still feel slim in the belly.
  • Your energy increases and cognition feels a little sharper.
  • You sleep better.
  • It’s easier to get up in the morn.
  • Your body can better heal wounds (or other issues) since more energy is going to where it needs it.
  • Toxins are removed from your system.

fasting-benefitsBut in addition to all those goodies, in the last few years, well researched books like the UK phenomenon The Fast Diet have touted the medical benefits of allowing the body to rest for 12 to 16 hours between our nighttime meal and what we eat the following day. And those bennies include reversed signs of aging, alleviating arthritis and asthma, and helping the brain turn over new cells quicker, which increases our thinking capacity and makes room for new cells.

What we formerly referred to as the TJS’s “Standard Cleanse” clocks in at just about 1200 calories. Any deep reduction in calories—especially when the only source of calories or nutrients is liquid and not solid—will feel like a fast. And anything that feels like a fast is going to feel healing.

So, Why Not Keep Calling a Cleanse a Cleanse?

For starters, there’s one poo-poo’er in every group of juicers that loves pointing out that we have kidneys and livers to cleanse our bods. And truthfully, they’re right. Our liver and kidneys filter blood that carries nutrients throughout our body, and then those organs help filter, flush and cleanse them fully from our bods via our urine and poo. But we also know that juicing helps facilitate this process more effectively and efficiently…so juicing certainly helps those organs do their organy thing.

Is It More Accurate To Call Flushing the System with Juice a “Fast?”

In a word, yes.

At roughly 1200 cold-pressed calories per day, our newly referred to “juice fasts” provide the same balanced nutrition, hydration and satisfaction that rests digestion, and prime the gut to energize the body—and your busy life!—just like our previously referred to “juice cleanses.”

This is our story and we’re sticking to it:

The STANDARD FAST is a beeautiful entry-level fast. Your juice consumption is spread across six, 16-ounce bottles of original-recipe flavors developed to deliver maximum satisfaction (read: satiety) and crave-ability (read: taste).

standard-fast

The GREEN STANDARD is for the seasoned juicer who prefers navigating an all green-juice fast. Feelings of soaring energy and super-hero stardom can neither be confirmed nor denied.

green-standard

The “B.Y.O.F.” (Build Your Own Fast) is an exercise in craftsmanship and deliciousness. TJS staff will personally pair our menu with your palate and health goals.

Can you still call a TJS cleanse a cleanse? Course you can. But with all of fasting’s benefits and the research available that touts them, file this paradigm shift Sesame Street style…under the letter “K” for Knowledge Is Power.

Microbes, Gut Health, Juice, Poo and You

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Feeling imbalanced? Know something’s wrong in your bod, gut or head but can’t figure out what? When our internal selves seem externally off, first thing we at The Juice Standard look at is our diet. And since what goes in must go out, we spend an awful lot of time evaluating our proverbial “output”…literally talking shit every day. 

Have any friends obsessed with their daily deposits? Are you? Don’t be shy, Bees. Everybody does it. Here’s why knowing your poo is like a secret little key to knowing your health. 

microbiome-picWhy do you think “you are what you eat” gets repeated so often? Beecause it’s true. And it’s never more visible—prove-able!—than after we poo. Why? At its most basic level, our poo is what’s left from the food we eat once our bodies pull all the vitamins and nutrients from it that we need. But if you’ve lived life thinking all poo is equal, you’re wrong. Capable of varying from day to day, meal to meal, the color, shape and odor of our poo is like our own little Magic 8 Ball about our diet…all that’s good about it, and especially what we might be lacking.

We love this cheat-sheet infographic from HealthWorks.my that shares how much you can glean from a glance at what your behind leaves behind.

But knowing how to read your poo is only the second half of the battle since you can’t read output without understanding input. And that’s where juicing, gut health and something called your microbiome comes in.

What Inrmicro2537-f3s A Microbiome?

Microbes are microscopic organisms that live everywhere on earth, and when they organize to live in a singular environment, they form something called a microbiome. Closest to home for we humans, our guts are filled with up to 100 trillion little organisms that create our own personal microbiome…and it’s our microbiome that makes us, us.

 

Why Does Your Microbiome Matter?

When you feed yourself, you’re actually feeding your gut’s microbiome. And since our miraculous gut is a veritable manufacturing mecca for everything the body needs, what goes into your gut gets turned into miraculous, health-promoting things: immunity-fighting blood cells; glowy skin; and maybe most important for our work-life balance, serotonin. Our gut regulates 90 percent of the body’s serotonin production—our happy feeling, peace-keeping neurotransmitter—and is indeed responsible for the strength of our overall immunity.

That’s why if you control what you eat, you not only control how you fight infection but you can control how you feel, enjoying things like…

• Improved cognition
• Increased energy
• Awakened tastebuds
• Enhanced health
• Heightened immunity

What Should Your Microbiome Eat?
Give your gut too much sugar, meat and processed carbs and you’ll create bad bacteria…you know: bad feels, bad immunity. But nourish your gut with fresh produce, good fats and high-quality carbs, and the gut’s glorious flora and fauna delivers the health riches your body deserves.

Now we may be biased, but nothing feeds the gut its necessary flora and fauna like organic produce…especially the kind The Juice Standard cold presses into our juices and nut milks. And there’s no faster way to feed your gut the beeautiful nutrients it needs to serve your body, mind and spirit than by drinking cold-pressed juice beecause within 15 minutes, the gut can absorb the nutrients in every Singleton.

When it comes to caring for your gut, Bees, it comes down to this: No poo? No health. Know poo? Know health.

And now you know.

microbiome_graphic

Is TJS Kitchen Manager Shad MacDonald Our ‘King Bee?’

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ShadBeeauty. It’s logically the first thing we seeing beeings notice about a person, but it’s decidedly not skin deep and hardly a way to judge someone. Yet a lesser soul giving TJS’s Shadrach MacDonald a sideways glance might dismiss his intricate facial tattoos (the kind worn by New Zealand’s wholehearted Māori people) as some weirdo thing that makes MacDonald something he’s not. Uneducated? Scary, maybe? A punk? Fill in the blank.

If they did judge, that lesser soul would be the loser…and not in the snarky sense, but in the truest. They’d lose out on getting to know the passion, ingenuity and heart behind MacDonald’s ink; ink he tenderly chose to face the world with to honor the people he’d met as a boy and marveled at. And it’s MacDonald’s heart that The Juice Standard (TJS) co-founder and CEO Jamie Stephenson was drawn to when they met.

“His clear eyes,” says Stephenson. “When I hired him, that’s what I saw. He’s our artist. And when I think of him, and how he works with us, I think of the word ‘synergistic.’ I’ve been working with some of the team for year, and to have the ability to have a group of people working in a 660-square-foot-kitchen—smiling and laughing—he’s just a synergistic, creative force. He’s wonderful.”

alarm

Since MacDonald manages TJS’s daily 5 a.m. juice and nut milk pressing, does that synergy go straight into your Singletons? If you beelieve that energy transmutes from one place to another—if his vibes are in our juice—we’re a lucky hive to have MacDonald among our King Bees.

Since We Opened With The Tattoos…

“I got them when I was barely 18,” says MacDonald of his tā moko tattoos. Calling the Māori some of the nicest people you’ll meet (“if you’re walking, and their door is open, they will invite you to sit at their table to eat with them”) MacDonald was a rare youth propelled toward body art to emulate, not retaliate.

With swirls, dots and lines even more pronounced than his eyes, MacDonald “practiced” being in public with facial stencils to gauge how people would react. “They’re what everyone calls a ‘job killer’,” he says lightly.

Undeterred, at Chicago’s Harold Washington College, if professorial inclination was to prejudge, it was squelched by MacDonald’s academic creds: dean’s list; Phi Theta Kappa; a major in addiction studies, and a minor in psychology.

phi theta kappa

“I’ll be the first to tell you that people judge you every day,” he says of his tattoos. But they’re not a regret. Not even close.

Talents That Surprise Behind Those Eyes

Renaissance man

Hello…from one Renaissance man to another.

“Lots of people are surprised I’ve golfed since I was 4 and that [members] of my family are junior-pro or pro-[amateur],” shares MacDonald, who the day of this interview was enjoying quiet time at the home he shares with longtime friend and love, Rowan.

“I was a contractor for a while…a plumber, a carpenter. I’m a certified forklift operator. We owned our own bike-rebuilding company, and we turned it into [rebuilding] motorcycles and cars. It’s just one of those things where I feel guys should be able to do this stuff.”

All that Renaissance man stuff has in fact come in handy at TJS, where co-founders Stephenson and COO Marcella Williams marvel at his tackling everything from screwy plumbing to resealing floors. “Working on stuff—breaking stuff and rebuilding stuff—is pretty much what I’d rather be doing than watching TV or playing video games.”

Ask Not What TJS Can Do For You…

Along with Williams and Stephenson, MacDonald’s the guy you want in the TJS kitchen. He’s a master recipe developer who loves learning from the ladies the health bennies of different fruits and vegetables, and then tinkering with ingredients to create the new bites and sips you Bees have come to love. And from homemade kimchi and coming-soon hummus and tahini sauces to alchemizing the company’s juice pulp—ALL that pulp!—into WHealthy™ pastries and muffins, MacDonald’s previous kitchen manager/sous chef experience garnered in Chicago and California restaurants is put to delicious use, daily.

Kimchi

As you read this newsletter, Shad’s kimchi ferments away in a secret, undisclosed location, preparing itself to be eaten for your dining pleasure.

What Free Time?

MacDonald and Rowan prefer nights at home tinkering in the kitchen (he cooks her breakfast and lunch every day, and by night they cook together…natch) and hikes suggested by fellow avid hikers Williams and Stephenson. Whether he’s working on menus and juice recipes or playing Mr. Fixit around the store, for MacDonald, “It’s nice to have an entire group of people working [together]. It’s nice to have all of their knowledge….I am truly blessed to be a part of the TJS family.”

Who Are The Bees In Our Hive? Meet Annsley Naturals Southwest

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In the last 5 years there’s been a huge uptick in people caring about where their food comes from. The more we learn, the more we realize that the fewer miles ingredients travel between where they were harvested and where they’re cooked, the more nutritious they are.

Coupled with a renewed effort to return to how food was harvested in the olden-golden days (read: wAnnsleyHoneyNEWithout pesticides), people are also seeking out ingredients grown as organically as possible. So we’re rolling out a new feature format called “Who Are The Bees In Our Hive?” with tidbits and tales about the farmers and purveyors who help us do the good work that we do, like maintaining our No. 1 standard: Stay committed to sourcing organic. Period.

This month, we bring you an interview with our honey supplier, local honey distributor Annsley Naturals Southwest, and some insights shared by its affable, passionate and Renaissance woman-of-an-owner Dee Drenta.

Us (The Humble Bee): Many a honey convo turns to whether honey is organic or not…yet the U.S.D.A. doesn’t really have a protocol for designating honey as such (since those little bees can’t exactly be strapped with GPS’ to track there whereabouts). So putting aside the raw/organic issue, let’s turn to why it’s important to buy honey locally. 

Them (Dee Drenta): In the case of honey, the term “local” means it comes from the same region in which one resides so as to reap the health benefits of the pollination process of the indigenous plants in that region.

In our case, we live in the Mojave Desert and Annsley Naturals Southwest honey, from our desert, offers a flavorful bouquet, texture and color as a result of the pollination of numerous wildflowers…[which] is also why many use it for airborne allergies.

I proudly support our local beekeepers by purchasing regular amounts of bulk honey and constantly boast about their ecological and sustainable practices. In regard to other consumer items, “local” may mean it comes from one’s own town or city, state, region of the country, or country itself. As a small business, I quickly learned the importance of others supporting my local products. I realized it was my responsibility first to provide consistency in my service and product line to prove to them they could rely on me. As a result, sales increased consistently since I became the company owner in 2008 for which I am most grateful, and I have been able to employ both of my grown sons, teaching them while also learning about entrepreneurship, customer service, and the importance of understanding one’s own products as well as packaging and marketing. This education is priceless!

So…buying local creates and maintains jobs!. My family’s individual and collective incomes allow us to circulate our money within our own community, further supporting other jobs, and so on. And, buying local as in the case of Annsley Naturals Southwest local Desert Honey, supports positive ecological philosophies, health and wellness, and financially benefits many local ancillary businesses, further circulating the prosperity and abundance.

Menu-Slider US: Besides allergies, what else can local honey help alleviate?

THEM:  There are a myriad of health benefits from using [local] honey….These benefits also include the facts that honey contains vitamins (all of the B-complex, A, C, D, E and K); minerals and trace elements (magnesium, sulfur, phosphorus, iron, calcium, potassium, iodine, sodium, copper and manganese); and proteins, amino acids, carbs, and organic acids. The live enzyme content of honey is one of the highest of all foods.

US: Since we are The Juice Standard, what’s been a guiding gold “standard” for Annsley?

THEM:  I always make it a point to promote family-owned health food stores. Being a small, family-owned business, [and] with Annsley Naturals Southwest specializing in local honey, I understand and appreciate what the independently owned stores regularly provide their customers. They recognize the importance of outstanding customer service and repeat business by building a rapport with their customers based on trust, education and consistency. They take the time to learn about each and every product they carry so that their customers reap the benefits of that knowledge. (Let’s face it, they wouldn’t bring in products that won’t hold their own by selling well!)

I am also very pleased to share how supportive of local vendors some of the more corporate stores are: Whole Foods, Sprouts, Glazier’s and Smith’s. Most often, our products are not only in the honey section, but are also cross-marketed in actual LOCAL sections in these stores. I believe this is a most positive and supportive gesture on their part to strengthen our community in many ways.

sugar-scrubUS: Last one. What’s one way honey has personally improved your life?

Here’s a little secret: I keep a jar of my honey in the refrigerator to purposely crystallize it so I can use it as the most divine sugar scrub on my face and body!

#Promo: ‘Gram Your Juice, Win A Cleanse

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Who doesn’t love getting the stuff they love for free? This month, The Juice Standard is making it easy-peasy to achieve your own sense of glowing WHealth™ (while keeping a little extra dough in your pockets) with a promo you media socialites will love.

Bees! So…know how there’s no holiday in August? Well we’ve made one up that lets us celebrate this notoriously steamy summer month, all month long, and you’re gonna help us celebrate.

It’s called the TJS Instagram #WhyICleanse Promo and through Sept. 1, we’re giving away two 3-day cleanses and three 1-day cleanses…but you gots to work for it, Bees!

WHY-I-CLEANSE-1

Here’s what to do:

1) Follow @TheJuiceStandard on Instagram.

2) Instagram your TJS Singletons, Singleton 6-Packs or full-on cleanses in the most beeautiful way possible (we’re suckers for pretty pics), use the hashtag #WhyICleanse and tag @TheJuiceStandard in the pic. Better yet: If you want to show us before-and-after photos, we’ll feature those on the TJS Facebook page throughout the month.

3) In your post’s comments, share your reasons for cleansing and juicing—maybe even why you turn to TJS for your juice or cleansing needs. Whatever you say, give us your most thoughtful feedback about how you use juice to enhance your health, or how you’ve seen your health improve.

That’s it! Winners will be announced via Instagram and Facebook by the end of the day Sept. 1 and will be based on the beauty and creativity of photo coupled with the thoughtfulness of the description.

Get out there and buy your Singletons and cleanses! And make sure you tell us all about it. Who knows…do a good enough job and maybe your next one will be on us.

A Book And A Pack: A Patriotic Giveaway

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You know how when you read something you love, sometimes you want others to love it, too? The Juice Standard is giving back to the community this July 4 by giving out a specialty freebie that will help you bees think…while you drink. Read on.

If you follow our Facebook or Instagram posts around holidays with something to do with freedom, you might’ve sensed that The Juice Standard (TJS) would bleed red, white and blue if we cut her open. Probably blue-green algae, actually, since we’re a juicery and all. We just love this country and what it stands for.

So far this year we’ve reflected our patriotism in our “funanthropy” when we handed out juice at our local fire and police station on Memorial Day, and in May, when we collected your generously donated dollars from glass Singleton returns for the Wounded Warrior Project. And with July 4 being the momma of U.S. freedom-ringing holidays, TJS co-founder Jamie Stephenson wanted to (literally) spread the word of one of her favorite authors, Eric Greitens. Particularly, his book Resilience.
Resilience Book Cover

Resilience is Greitens story of being a Navy SEAL and using his experience to help teach others that hardship isn’t something one “bounces back” from, but is something that everyone can learn to move through and navigate. Not unlike many Buddhist teachings that advocate leaning into our pain as much as we embrace our happy, in the wise words on Greitens’ website, “…there is a path through pain to wisdom, through suffering to strength, and through fear to courage, if we have the virtue of resilience.”

You know how when you read something you love, sometimes you want others to love it, too? Jamie’s wholehearted passion for Greitens’ work means that from July 1-5 (but not the 4th because TJS is closed that day), the first 100 bees who purchase a Singleton Six-Pack—your choice of any six juices or nut milks—will receive a free copy of Resilience that has been personally signed by Greitens, courtesy of The Juice Standard.
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The book retails for $17-$26, but if you’re already a Greitens groupie, his John Hancock on the inside cover is beyond worth. We encourage you to read it yourself but also hope you’ll consider picking up a six-pack and paying the book forward to someone in your world who you think will appreciate it.

Our road to WHealth and glowing self should edge a little beeyond our individual selves, don’t you think? We hope you’ll take advantage of this treat. And remember: #ItTakesAHive.

Juice Yourself Healthy…With Ginger

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You’ve probably long known ginger is a powerhouse in the healthy lifestyle department, but do you know why? Decades of research backs this root’s benefits. Here’s why TJS loves it (and why you should, too).

Our Wellness and Flu Shots are just two ways to spice up your life (and health) the TJS way...with ginger!

Our Wellness and Flu Shots are just two ways to spice up your life (and health) the TJS way…with ginger!

TJS’ CEO and Co-Founder Jamie Stephenson is our resident juice-u-cator when it comes to keeping us honest about the bennies in our products’ ingredients. But since even she (and the rest of us!) have to look stuff up every now and then, a recent surf of the Internets pulled up a not-so-recent yet still-so-relevant study about one heck of a powerful little root. And as usual, one bite from the ol’ Information Apple led us down a path to more research and taught us even more about one of The Juice Standard’s most relied upon ingredients: Ginger.

BACKSTORY ON A RIGHTEOUS ROOT

The article that really opened our eyes—Ginger Inhibits Cell Growth and Modulates Angiogenic Factors In Ovarian Cancer Cells—lives at PubMed.gov, a site maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C. Though written in 2007, the abstract calls out ovarian cancer as “the most lethal gynecologic malignancy” and the fifth highest cause of death by cancer in women.

Scary.

But once you get over the article’s fright factor, it’s enlightening to learn how ginger may potentially prevent the development of a certain pathway in an ovarian cancer cell thanks to its anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-carcinogenic properties.

Not-so-scary.

That spicy research is far from isolated as ginger has been the focus of medical studies for decades. In the abstract of a 2005 study, Ginger—An Herbal Medicinal Product With Broad Anti-Inflammatory Actions, it’s noted that since the 70s, ginger has been identified as an “herbal medicinal product that shares pharmacological properties with non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs” and that it “modulates biochemical pathways activated in chronic inflammation.” All that from something you can pick up from your local grocery store.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU

The mentions above substantiate what The Juice Standard has long beelieved:

The road to WHealth and glowing self is paved with the tops of juice bottles…not bottles of meds.

Course we beelieve there’s a place for Western medicine. A huge place. But isn’t it a good feeling to know there’s a food-based tool like ginger that when added to our let’s-keep-ourselves-healthy arsenal, we can stave off disease-causing inflammation? Isn’t it a good feeling to know that YOU, our Beeautiful Juicers, may choose to control some of your own health destiny?

Yepper. We think so, too.

HELP US HELP YOU TAKE ACTION

If you want to inject more ginger in your diet, here are the TJS products that will help put you in the driver’s seat of your own health by keeping your internal inflammation down, and your gorgeous health up-up-up:

  • Bee WHealthy™
  • Bee On Point
  • Bee True To You
  • Bee Royal (this baby has EXTRA ginger!)
  • Bee Grateful
  • Bee Legendary (nut milk)
  • Flu Shot
  • Wellness Shot