In the final of a four part series on living food, Nutritionist, Belinda Rennie looks at how you can incorporate enzyme-rich raw vegetable and fruit juices into your day.

After three months of eating more raw food you are living more vibrantly: digesting and eliminating better, improving your immunity and replenishing your supply of enzymes for all bodily functions including healing and repair. All this can be reflected in your face, with brighter eyes and glowing skin. Interestingly, your tongue also reflects the inner state of your body. Less tongue coating is a positive sign that eating more raw enzyme rich food helps your body cleanse itself of toxins.

Raw dinner

Now that you have breakfast and lunch organised with some raw meal suggestions provided in the last few Connector articles, what about dinner and snacks? For many people, moving beyond a fifty per cent raw food diet can be challenging especially for families with children. The best way to manage this is to combine some raw food and cooked food together in the one meal or take a digestive enzyme supplement with meals.

You can add raw vegetables to a soup such as a handful of sprouts or have a salad with some grilled fish. A stir fry with the vegetables cooked “al dente’ preserves more of the nutrients and enzymes. In the book Conscious Eating, Gabriel Cousins shows you how to make your own soups by blending raw vegetables. Soups are an ideal evening meal when digestive strength is at its lowest.

Jump into juices

Raw juices are a great way to concentrate all the elements of live food – enzymes, vitamins and minerals – into a more readily assimilated form. Less digestive energy is required and the energy saved goes towards healing and repair of the body.

Raw juices have been used by many nutritionally oriented physicians in their therapeutic approach to cancer and other immune-related disorders. Dr Max Gerson’s program which has been very successful over the last 50 years advocates the use of ten 8 oz glasses of juice per day! Though there are many types of juicing machines available on the market the most important point is to drink fresh juices (immediately after juicing to retain the highest level of enzymes and nutrients) on a daily basis. Non-organic produce should be scrubbed and rinsed in 1 tsp of veggie wash (or washing up liquid) to 1 litre of water to remove the external chemical residues.

Oh, no you groan….yet another kitchen gadget to clean. Two ways around this are to teach your home help how to juice or make it a fun activity with children, keeping the safety element in mind. Once you start juicing and the whole family feel the benefits, it will be a regular part of your day. The best time to have a fresh raw juice is mid-morning or afternoon. Order a fresh juice instead of a cappuccino or team it with some fruit and yoghurt to make a great afternoon pick-me-up.

Here are some of the main benefits of different vegetable juices sourced from Raw Energy by Leslie Kenton: 

back to top

Beetroot:        Helps build red blood cells, beneficial for menstrual disturbances

                    Cleanses liver, kidney and gall bladder.

Carrot:          One of the best all round juices for skin, eyes, digestion, building immunity and calming the nervous system.

Cabbage:       Helps treats stomach ulcers and constipation, soothes mucous membranes. 

Celery:          Useful for arthritis and high blood pressure as it helps regulate fluid balance.  

Cucumber:     Has a cleansing affect on the bowel and useful for high blood pressure as it is a natural     diuretic. 

Spinach:        Helps to heal the lining of the digestive tract and treat constipation. 

The above juices can be mixed with vegetables, fruits and herbs such as ginger or parsley. Try the following juice combinations. They make approximately 250ml:

Carrot and ginger zinger

A good digestive healer

Carrot, 4 unpeeled

Celery, 1 stick with leaves

Apple, 1 unpeeled, cored and quartered

Ginger, peeled small knob about thumb size (1oz) 

Pumping iron

Great for anemia and blood disorders

Apples, 2 unpeeled, quartered and cored

Beetroot, 1 small unpeeled with leaves

Cucumber, 1 medium

Spinach, 1 handful of leaves

Parsley, 1 handful of parsley 

Back to school (From Super Juice by Michael van Straten, an excellent book on juicing)

Boost your child’s immunity before returning to school by putting all the ingredients into a blender and offering three glasses of the juice in the week before school. It also works for parents!

Mandarins, 3 seedless

Pineapples, ½ small sliced without skin

Blackcurrants , 4 oz frozen or fresh

Banana, 1 peeled

Yoghurt, I small pot of live yoghurt

Active Manuka honey, 1 tablespoon (available from Carrefour City Centre)

Echinacea, 10 drops of herbal extract (available from Nutrition Zone, Town Centre) 

Catherine’s Summer Surprise

When mangoes and dates are in season and you feel like an energy reviver, blend all the ingredients and top with cinnamon and pecan nuts.

Kiwi, 1 peeled

Banana, 1 peeled

Mango, ½ peeled

Yoghurt, 1 small pot of bio yoghurt

Dates, 5-6 pitted

It takes less than 15 minutes to make a delicious juice and as you drink it you can actually feel it doing you good. Make your next purchase a good quality juice machine and a book on juicing.

All books mentioned above are available at Magrudy’s Bookshop.

back to top