In terms of liver support fruit that is high in fructose should be avoided. The exception would be lemons and limes which have virtually none of this offending sugar, that has been linked with many metabolic complications. Additionally lemons and limes are amazing at eliminating the bitter taste of the dark green leafy vegetables that provide most of the benefits of juicing.
Shay Kearney, Nutritionist

Reasons to Juice

There are three main reasons why you will want to consider incorporating vegetable juicing into your optimal health program:

1. Juicing helps you to absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables
2. Juicing allows you to consume an optimal amount of vegetables in an efficient manner
3. You can add a wider variety of vegetables in your diet.

Many people initially think that juicing will be a real chore but the majority are pleasantly surprised to find that it is much easier than they thought it would be.

Starting out with Juices

If you are new to juicing the first vegetables you should start out with are

• celery
• fennel
• cucumbers

These three vegetables are the easiest to digest and tolerate. They aren’t as nutrient dense as the dark green vegetables. Once you get used to using celery, fennel or cucumbers, you can start to add other more nutritionally valuable, but sometimes less palatable, vegetables into your juice. You may want to initially limit your serving size to 6oz or less and gradually increase.

Second Stage Juices

When you have acclimatised yourself to juicing, you can start adding these vegetables.

• red leaf lettuce
• green leaf lettuce
• romaine lettuce
• endive
• escarole
• spinach

Third Stage Juices

Cabbage juice is one of the most healing nutrients for gut repair as it is a huge source of vitamin U

After you are used to the second stage selection try these

• cabbage
• chinese cabbage
• bok choi

Fourth Stage Juices

When you are ready move on to adding herbs to your juicing. Herbs also make wonderful combinations and here are two that work exceptionally well:

• parsley
• oregano

The final stage

Use only one or two of these leaves as they are very bitter

• kale
• collard greens
• dandelion greens
• mustard greens

When purchasing collard greens, find a store that sells the leaves still attached to the main stalk. If they are cut off, the vegetable rapidly loses many of its valuable nutrients.

Making your juice taste great.

To make your juice taste more palatable, especially in the beginning you can add these elements

• Lemons or Limes – add 1/4 to half leaving much of the rind on
• Cranberries – approximately 4 oz per pint of juice
• Fresh Ginger – gives a little “kick” and has many health properties

You can make your juices more nutrient rich by including superfoods such as milled Chia seeds and/or flax seeds.

Storing Juice

Juicing is a time consuming process, so you’ll probably be thinking to yourself, “I wonder if I can juice first thing in the morning and then drink it later?.” This is not a good idea. Vegetable juice is highly perishable so it is best to drink it immediately. However, if you are careful, you can store it for up to 24 hours with only moderate nutritional decline.

Put your juice in a glass jar with an airtight lid and fill it to the very top to minimize the amount of oxygen which could “oxidise” and damage the juice. You can use a food vacuum pump to remove the air. Then store it in the fridge and drink it as soon as possible within 24 hours of juicing.

Clean your juicer properly