Our Top Five Foods to Juice this Summer

Cleansing Celery: A member of the parsley family, celery is fantastic for stimulating the kidneys and flushing out toxins. Three celery sticks makes up just one of the five recommended daily portions of fruit and veg – so be generous with it when juicing. It’s full of B-vitamins which are great for energy, and particularly important for women and you may be surprised to learn that it is also full of vitamin C too. It’s high in water content which makes it a good veggie to juice!

Skin-loving Strawberries: Strawberries are believed to enhance liver and gallbladder functions, and use to be the traditional way in which someone was treated for kidney stones and arthritis. Also packed full of vitamin C, the strawberry is considered a major skin-enhancer as this vital vitamin is essential for the manufacture of collagen – the stuff that makes skin youthful and wrinkle-free. Strawberries also contain ellagic acid, a phytochemical proven to help destroy toxins found in pollution and cigarette smoke, so we urge you city slickers to pile your juicer full of them.

Balancing Lemon: Although many think of lemons as acidic, lemons in fact have a very alkalising effect on the body. Used in Roman times to sweeten breath, lemon’s are still highly regarded as one of the most versatile fruits of all. Lemons contain limonene, a chemical that has been shown to slow the rate of cancer growth. Adding them to juices is a great way to get eat them as their bitter flavour is masked and often, bizarrely, adds a sweet element to green based juices.

Cool Cucumber: Full of water, just like the strawberry, the cucumber is known for it’s skin healing properties. But perhaps what you don’t know is that cucumber is great for you once you have had a tummy bug as it is so rehydrating and contains a bunch of vitamins and minerals too. Fresh cucumber juice is known to help alleviate acid reflux and indegestion and is also useful in the treatment of gum disease.

Cheery Cherries: Cherries get less air time than other fruit but there is no reason why. These sweet little summer treats are potent free-radical fighters due to their flavonoid content. Cherries are also thought to be excellent detoxifiers and are a rich source of quercetin a strong anti-inflammatory, which helps relieve painful joints.

Image by Sam Folan.