Vegetable juices for immunity and cleansing

In order to purify our body from the accumulated toxins during winter and to prepare it for the forthcoming sunny days, adding some homemade vegetable juices to our daily diet is needed. Sometimes, small changes in our diet can dramatically improve our overall health. One of the best ways to do so is to begin making some delicious vegetable juices that are rich in vitamins, organic enzymes, minerals and salts. When prepared the right way, they will reinvigorate our organism, strengthen our immunity and cleanse the bodily systems.

For these vegetable juice combinations, one should choose fresh vegetables, preferably organically grown, so that there is no need to peel them to remove the pollutants often present in the skin. Even if that’s not the case, a lot of the pollutants will remain in the pulp during the juice extraction process. After cutting the vegetables, one can simply use an electric juicer to prepare fresh, vitamin rich vegetable juices. Consuming these healthy drinks immediately after extraction, and preferably before meals will maximize the beneficial influence of their ingredients. Under normal conditions, one should drink at least one cup a day.

Cleansing Juice

Stress, contaminated air, and/or unhealthy food are some of the usual factors that cause building up of toxins in our organism. The ideal combination for purifying the cells and tissues of our body is to make a juice combination using carrots, tomatoes and lemon. The vitamins and minerals contained in these vegetables will help us achieve and maintain a beautiful complexion. These foods contain some powerful antioxidants that are able to slow down the cellular aging. The tomatoes – rich in lycopene – along with the lemons – known as abundant source of vitamin C – will stimulate the production of collagen. For two weeks, we can drink a large glass of this juice before lunch and dinner. The positive results will be apparent even after the first several days. Since this is quite a nourishing juice, it may even replace our usual afternoon snack.

Diuretic Juice

The ideal combination is to mix some carrots, beet, celery and cucumber. The carrot and beet extract will stimulate the liver function, the celery will accelerate the passage of food through the intestines, while the cucumber will help expel the excess fluid from the body. Adding fresh herbs – parsley, coriander and chives – will increase the refreshing qualities of this drink. Consuming a couple of glasses of this healthful juice for at least two weeks helps cleanse the body from the accumulated toxins via the eliminated water.

Juices with diuretic properties are great for providing a natural way to eliminate the excess water from the organism. However, they should be consumed only moderately. If one is not careful, too much eliminated water might lead to dehydration and imbalances of the electrolytes in the cells.

Battery Charging Juice

The ideal combination for this purpose is to use beet, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes and peppers. This is a nice combination of vitamin C (antioxidant) and vitamin B group (alleviate the consequences of stress) foods. Cabbage is unavoidable in this cocktail, as it is abundant in vitamin C, calcium and iron. On the other hand, carrots and beetroot contain folates (vitamin B9), known to be able to relieve fatigue. If one is sensitive to the cold, a little bit of ginger, some pepper or cayenne pepper will help. Drinking this juice for two to three weeks enables charging the batteries and reinvigorating the vital systems of the body.

Although they are 100 percent natural, even pure organic juices can cause some side effects. For example, it is known that too much vitamin C can upset the digestive system or even cause diarrhea. It is therefore necessary to seek further advice on the specific health influence of each of the vegetable juice mixes. Likewise, it is a good idea to introduce these juices only gradually into your regular daily food intake.

Martin Shipovnik is a coauthor and webmaster of the web site healthjuices.net, where he writes about the health benefits of homemade freshly prepared juices.