One of my favorite bottled juices is Evolution Juice because I can literally feel the life force in the juice which makes me feel vibrant and fantastic, and there is a reason for that which I'll get into in a bit.
Their Pineapple Coconut Water is one of my favorite post workout drinks because I can replenish electrolytes with the light fruity goodness of pineapple. Here are seven health benefits of pineapple which includes strengthening of the bones. By the way, because of the electrolytes, coconut water is also excellent for hangover recovery in case you have one too many cocktails.
The Evolution green vegetable juices like Vital Greens and Essential Greens only has 2 - 3g of sugars which is wonderful because most bottled green juices average 28g of sugars per serving. I want to drink vegetables not sugar.
Evolution opened their first store in San Francisco, and Founder Jimmy Rosenberg gave us a preview of what the stores have to offer. There are two other Evolution stores in Washington state in Seattle and Bellevue where they are headquartered.
Of the samples we tried, my favorite juice was the Sweet Burn (the red juice in the photo) which has Coconut Water, Pineapple, Organic Apple, Beet, Cayenne, and Ginger. The kick of cayenne and ginger is a fun pick-me-up.
My favorite food was the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Collard Wrap (in the photo) with Grilled zucchini, Kalamatas, oven-roasted tomatoes, sesame seeds, and fresh herbs. Using collards as the wrap is brilliant because it makes the wrap gluten-free, and collards are one of the most nutrient-packed foods you can eat.
One of the salads they offer is this Farmer's Garden salad with organic kale, baby spinach, julienned carrots, beets, snap peas, grape tomatoes, cucumber, pepitas, sunflower seeds, and flax seeds. In my book, this is a perfect post workout meal.
The overall food menu in the store is nutritionally impressive and very allergy-friendly. I loved seeing kale, quinoa, and collards on several of the menu items. They can make anything vegan, dairy, soy, or gluten-free. Meals include breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks along with building your own bowls and salads. There is also a wonderful array of foods to-go which are nice small portions and make for great meals to take to work, a sporting event, plane rides, and road trips.
So, I mentioned that I can feel the life force in these juices. For some people that may sound woo-woo, but in actuality it isn't. What's going on here is the cold-pressed difference. Evolution juices are cold-pressed using High Pressure Processing which preserves the flavors, nutrients, and enzymes of the fruit and vegetables used in the juice.
Most bottled juices are heat pasteurized which robs the juice of all that goodness cold-pressing keeps. Cold-pressed bottled juices are as closest to raw juices as you'll get if you want convenience versus buying a juicer and making raw juices for yourself at home. Because of the cold-pressing, Evolution juices are a bit pricier than your mainstream juice brands, but to me it's worth it because you get raw juice-like benefits without the work or cleanup of doing your own juicing.
Here is a list of retailers that carry Evolution juices, and if you live or visit San Francisco, Seattle, or Bellevue be sure to stop by an Evolution store and try one of their meals with some vitalizing juice. Hopefully, you will love it as much as we did!
