Juicing raw vegetables is incredibly healthy and cleansing, as long as you’re not prone to diarrhea. Below I’ve put together a few delicious raw juice recipes that will give you powerful drinks in minutes! If you are underweight and experience bloating or frequent bowel movements, your body probably hasn’t healed enough to tolerate raw juice and you’ll likely get diarrhea. In that case, use these easy-to-digest shake recipes instead.
If you are prone to constipation, raw juice can be a wonderful thing if you also add blueberries, plums, and pitted cherries (use instead of apples or pears), which promote bowel movements. You can also add a heaping teaspoon of ground chia seeds to your juice.
If you don’t have a high-quality juicer that preserves the live enzymes in the juice, you’ll need to purchase one. Recommended juicers include Green Star (Green Power), Champion, Juice Man and the Norwalk Juicer. I personally have a Green Star juicer, but now both Ian and I use the cheap and easy Nutribullet or MagicBullet for juicing (cheaper but does the same job – I’ve tested both!) because it literally takes 10 seconds to clean!
Raw juices provide important plant nutrients, sterols and phytochemicals and it is great if you can get your whole family to drink these juice blends as they are only beneficial.
If you’re squeamish about drinking vegetable juices, add a few extra apples and/or sweet oranges to any mix as this will make it fruitier and tastier. But these recipes are surprisingly delicious – even my kids like them! Start your kids off with a shot glass full of juice and an ice cube in it. As their taste buds get used to it, they ask for more.
These recipes are ideal for people who are just starting to drink raw juice. As you adjust, you can reduce the amount of fruit and increase the amount of vegetables.
Shopping list: Carrots, kale, spinach, apples, oranges, beets, celery, parsley and fennel (all certified organic).
Note: The quantities given in these recipes are for one juicer. If you use MagicBullet or a Vitamix you can do this Cut each recipe in half.
Juice Blend #1 – Liver Tonic
- large handful of coriander
- 1 stick of celery
- 1 beetroot (you can also use the leaves, but for children only the beet bulb)
- 2 carrots
- 2 apples
Juice Blend #2 – Hormone Helper (my favorite!)
- 1 small fennel
- 2 stalks of celery
- 1 orange (peeled and seeded) or 1 small mango
- 2 apples (cored, cut into wedges)
Juice Blend #3 – Organ Support (my other favorite!)
- 3 stalks of celery and leaves
- 1 green apple (cored, cut into wedges)
- 1 tablespoon organic hemp seeds
- If necessary, monkfish fruit or stevia powder to sweeten
This recipe works best with a NutriBullet or Vitamix, turning the hemp seeds into a creamy protein boost. If you use a juicer, mix the hemp seeds with the juice after extracting them.
Juice Blend #4 – Go Green
- A handful of parsley
- 2 kale leaves
- A handful of spinach
- 2 apples (cored, cut into wedges)
Note: Raw consumption of leafy vegetables (such as kale, spinach, chard) leads to reduced mineral absorption (due to oxalic acids). If you consume large amounts raw, they can cause kidney stones. So use this recipe sparingly for a cleanse, but not continuously.
Juicer Guidelines
These guidelines apply only to juicers. If you’re using a Vitamix or NutriBullet, just throw everything in there with enough water to blend:
- Wash all ingredients before juicing. Put the leaves in first, roll or bundle them, then press them through with a wedge of carrot or apple.
- Always save something hard (carrots, apples, beets) for the last pieces to be juiced, as this ensures that everything that comes before has been thoroughly juiced.
These recipes are also aimed at juicing beginners or children and contain a lot of fructose. However, if you are happy with a more vegetarian taste or are struggling with yeast/mushrooms and therefore need to keep sugar to a minimum, you can definitely reduce the proportion of fruits and sweet vegetables (beets, carrots) and increase the proportion of low sugar vegetables.
Jini Patel Thompson is an internationally recognized expert in natural healing for digestive diseases. She healed herself from widespread Crohn’s disease and has been medication and surgery free for over 25 years. Jini has appeared on numerous podcasts, TV and radio shows in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, giving people hope and vision on how to heal their colitis, Crohn’s disease, diverticulitis and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) using all-natural methods. Her books on natural healing of digestive diseases have been sold in over 80 countries worldwide. Jini is married and has three children, nine sheep, 11 horses, a cat and three dogs.
