Healing Aids... - Juicing - Preparing Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs

As previously mentioned, use organic produce whenever possible or use a good-quality fruit / vegetable rinse available at your local health food store. Additional suggestions for various fruits and vegetables follows:

In general, juice fruits with the skin on to retain beneficial nutrients. Apricots, bananas, citrus fruits, kiwi, melons, mangos, papaya, peaches, and pineapple should have their skin removed beforehand. Soft fruits with low water content should be pureed in your blender prior to adding to juices. This includes avocados, bananas, and papayas. Most fruits may be juiced with the seeds, but remove the pits from apricots and plums. Juice apples whole, but remove the seeds if using more than one apple per drink, as they contain very small amounts of cyanide.

Apples, grapes, and watermelon have a high water content and should be used as a base when preparing juices.

In general, juice vegetables with the skin on as it contains many beneficial nutrients. Waxed cucumbers, however, should be peeled and any remaining non-organic fare should be thoroughly rinsed in a vegetable wash. The more varied the colours in vegetable juices, the more nutritious the juice becomes as different colours contain different or complementary nutrients used by your body. For example, chlorophyll-rich green vegetables complement antioxidant-rich red and orange vegetables.

Broccoli, celery, onions, parsley, rutabaga, turnips, and other strong-flavoured vegetables should be juice in small quantities. ¹/₄ turnip per glass, for example, is more than adequate.

Carrots and cabbage have a high water content and should be used as a base when preparing juices.

When juicing garlic, place in vinegar for one minute beforehand to destroy any surface bacteria or mould and use only one fresh clove per two glasses of juice -- any more will irritate your gastrointestinal tract. If using reishi mushrooms, dip in boiling water to destroy bacteria. Puree mushrooms in the blender before adding to juices.

Rhubarb greens or carrot tops should not be juiced as they are toxic.

Herbs are added to many juicing recipes, either for culinary or medicinal purposes. Use only very small amounts of fresh herbs, as they can be quite potent.

For herbs in capsules, combine ¹/₂ glass distilled water with ¹/₂ glass juice and add capsule contents. Alternatively, add the herb in tincture form, which provides better potency. This approach is ideal when administering herbal medicine to children.