5 Simple Juicing Recipes for Detoxification

Juicing is a healthy way to get the nutrients in fresh fruits and vegetables without having to eat many platefuls of food. It can be a great way to cleanse and detoxify your body, and summer is an excellent time to do this, as there are so many delicious fresh fruits and vegetables available. (I just got a juicer as a wedding present, and will be trying some of these out myself soon! I'll report back on my favorites....)

Be sure to choose only organic ingredients for all of your juices, so you aren't squeezing pesticides or other chemicals into your drink!

There are no hard and fast rules with juicing, so you can get creative and experimental with your juicing and have some fun with it!

Here are some easy and delicious recipes to get you started:

1. Green Morning Pick-Me-Up

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For two servings, put into your juicer:

-1/2 a ripe pear
-1/2 an apple
-1 small bunch of kale (you can also use spinach)
-1 small cucumber

2. Citrus Cooler

The pineapple in this gives it a refreshing, sweet flavor.

-1 orange
-1/2 grapefruit
-1 slice fresh pineapple
Serves 1

3. Green Vegetable Juice

-1 small cucumber
-1 small bunch spinach
-1 stalk celery
-1 small apple or pear
Serves 1

4. Red Vegetable Juice

-1 medium tomato
-3-4 leaves of green cabbage
-1 stalk celery
-1 garlic clove
-1 slice of onion, about 1/4-inch thick
-1 small handful of fresh parsley

After juicing the above, add sea salt or cayenne pepper to taste.  A squeeze of lemon juice can enhance this, too. (It's like a home-made V-8!)

5. Melon Juice

For one serving, put the following into your juicer:

-1 slice ripe cantaloupe
-1 slice ripe honeydew melon
-1 slice watermelon

Add lemon juice to taste if you like.

Any leftover juice can be frozen in ice cube trays, then mixed in your blender to make a refreshing, slushy smoothie. Another option is to freeze leftovers into popsicle molds - great for a cool, healthy pick-me-up on a hot summer day!

Review: The Big Book of Juices

More and more people turn to juicing to improve their overall health. Juicing doesn't have to be boring either - there are so many options for you and your family to try and enjoy. I am sure that you'll soon find many favorites.

Cover via Amazon

I particularly like The Big Book of Juices. It's jam-packed with delicious and healthy fruit and vegetable juices, smoothies and other thirst-quenching drinks. All told, there are over 400 recipes. It'll show you that you can pretty much juice any fruit and vegetable: from celery to broccoli, kale and passionfruit and mango. If you don't have a juicer yet, now is the time to invest in a good one, as most recipes in this book require a juicer. However some of them can be made in a blender. 

The book is divided into different chapters: Juice basics, Making Juices, Making Smoothies, Making Quenchers and Juicing reference. In addition, each recipe is graded on five different areas: Detox, Immunity, Digestion, Skin and Energy. This gives you an idea on how a particular drink helps your overall well-being. The photographs in this book are absolutely gorgeous and very appetizing - they'll make you want to get juicing right away.

Overall, this is a beautiful juicing book full of delicious drinks. I would certainly recommend this to anybody who is new to juicing or people who are already juicing but need inspiration.

Where to buy: www.amazon.com