Ditch The Scale and Fuel Your Body – Despite the winter weather, I see dedicated runners out each day training for the Fifth Third Riverbank Run.  Working and living downtown I can see the route and runners pushing themselves to their limits.  Also training for the Fifth Third Riverbank Run, I know firsthand the challenge of training during a harsh winter for such a hard course.  Slushy, slippery streets, freezing bone-chilling winds, reckless Grand Rapids drivers, are all part of the training process.

This juice is the perfect way to energize before your long (or even short) run.  Beets are shown to help your body better use oxygen, meaning that it takes less effort to keep the same pace.  Natural compounds in beets like nitrate are also demonstrating they can help lower blood pressure.  Peak levels of beet’s performance boosting nutrients happen around 2-3 hours after drinking.  So, wake up with this refreshing juice then tie your shoes to hit the road and train.

Here’s to all the hard-core runners training in rain, snow, sleet or shine!  What ever your  motivation to run is, give it all you’ve got!

Ingredients:
2 small beets (beetroot)
2 oranges
2, 1 in./2.5 cm. slices of ginger root
2 leaves romaine lettuce

Directions:
1.)  Wash beets well, cut off ends, peel.

2.) Peel oranges.

3.) Wash and slice ginger.

4.) Wash lettuce.

5.) Juice lettuce first, tuck ginger slices into oranges then beets last to get the most yield.

Enjoy!

Substitutions:
Beets – red cabbage, tomato
Oranges – grapefruit, pineapple
Ginger – lemon
Romaine – kale, spinach, chard (silverbeet)