Miriam Young, Medical Herbalist
1. Do source Organic and/or Chemical-Free fruit and vegetables. This can be achieved more economically by shopping at your local Farmer’s Market. Organic doesn’t have be certified to be grown without pesticides, there are fantastic organic farmers who cannot afford the expense of certification. The idea of juicing is to detoxify your body of chemicals, and not add to it.
2. Do wash your fruit and vegetables (not oranges and lemons – be sensible) in water with a splash of Apple Cider Vinegar. This helps neutralise bacteria, fungus and other micro-organisms that may be growing on your produce, especially root vegetables such as carrots and parsnips. It there is the odd vegetable etc you cannot purchase organically soak it in the Apple Cider Vinegar and water mix for longer to help draw out the chemical residue.
3. Do drink your juice on an empty stomach first thing in the morning, (after a glass or two of water) this enables the nutritionally super-charged liquid to hit your cells within seconds, delivering it’s message of supreme vitality.
4. Do juice primarily vegetables and add only one or two fruits into the juice, such as apple and lemon. This makes for a less complicated juice. Some fruits have an acid reaction in the body, and other fruits have an alkaline reaction, and may fight in the gut if you mix them together within the one juice. Keep it simple. Orange and pineapple work well. Apple and Pear harmonise as well. Lemon and Lime have a neutral reaction in the blood and blend with either acid or alkaline fruits.
5. Do use raw ginger in your juices, as ginger improves circulation and will enhance the nutritional value of all other fruit and vegetables in your juice.
6. Use a variety of different colours when you are juicing such a red for beetroots, orange for carrots, kale for green, parsnip for white etc. This ensures that you have a whole range of phyto-chemical constituents in your juices by choosing different colour combinations and will lead to a mulit-vitamin and multi-mineral health-giving cocktail!
7. Do use more cucumber and celery in the summer as these vegetables cool the body down and use more ginger in the winter to warm you up.
8. Do err on the side of abundance when you are juicing, better too much than too little. If you saturate your body with gorgeous organic juices you will be detoxing and rebuilding your system at the same time. Amazing! Six juices per day is just fine, especially if you are undertaking a juice fast.
9. Do a Juice Only day or two during the week, to lose weight and/or maintain your body weight. Your body will love you for it!
10. Do add hemp protein powder, bee pollen and an avocado or two to your juices per day if you are on Juice Only. This will ensure you receive all the amino acids (protein) you require to rebuild your system.