Drink Your Vegetables

carrot juice

Over-fried, dripping with oil, doused with sauce. Don't you sometimes wish you could have your veggies plain and simple? Solution: Juice it!

Carrot

This skinny root is fat with nutrients, valuable minerals and antioxidants. Filled with the goodness of Vitamins A, B and C plus iron, calcium and potassium, carrots give you a natural high, promoting vitality and bright eyes.

Antioxidants help the immune system to counter the effects of free radicals. Vitamin C is one of the most effective, and helps to build healthy tissue. Those bothered by acne or eczema may find that carrot juice improves their skin.


Plus, the iron content boosts the blood for that healthy glow on your skin. Excellent, too, if you're suffering from anaemia or feeling generally rundown.

Beta-carotene is synonymous with the carrot. Present in yellow- and orange-coloured fruit and vegetables, beta-carotene helps the general condition of the eyes, including improving night vision.

Beta-carotene is also believed to inhibit the growth of tumours, especially in smoking-related cancers affecting the lungs and pancreas.

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In juices, carrots help to shake up intestinal activity and promote regular bowel movement. A glass of carrot juice first thing in the morning jumpstarts the system - run one or two medium-size ones in a blender and drink immediately. Vital nutrients in juices are lost within 20 minutes of blending.

Cucumber

This cool customer has excellent flushing abilities. Ninety per cent water, it helps wash away the bacteria along the intestinal and bladder walls, and ease urinary problems such as cystitis.

This diurectic action also helps to ease water retention. And by helping to get rid of toxins and uric acid via the kidneys, it's great, too, for painful gout.

Cucumber

With its high water content, the cucumber also makes an excellent 'slimming' food, filling you up while giving minimal calories. Yet it's chockful of nutrients that include Vitamins A and C as well as calcium, potassium, manganese and sulphur.

But its ability to cool the system is what gives the cucumber its distinctive personality. A blend of water and cucumber juice can help bring down fever as well as soothe skin conditions that are aggravated by heat, such as prickly heat.

In India, raita, a cucumber and yoghurt salad, is eaten with meals to balance hot, spicy food and cool the stomach. The gazpacho, a mashed cucumber soup, is popular in sunny Spain.

To reap the full benefits of the cucumber, leave the skin on when blending. Cucumber juice on its own may be hard to take -add yoghurt for a great-tasting drink. They make a perfect pair.

Tomato

Tomato

This 'love apple' as it's sometimes called, is one of the tastiest vegetables. There are many varieties, each with its own taste from sweet to sour.

As a drink, the tomato is refreshing and offers natural fibre from its tiny seeds.

Rich in antioxidant vitamins and minerals, the tomato is a vigilant crusader against toxins that guietly invade the body.

It's armed with Vitamins A, C and E as well as folic acid and iron - effective weapons to fight infection and boost energy.

The nutritious tomato is a good meal replacement. It's also quite filling, unlike the cucumber, which has high water content. For an instant pick-me-up, blend a couple of red tomatoes with three teaspoons of lemon juice, a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, a pinch of cayenne pepper and fresh thyme. You'll love its Italian flavour.

Cabbage

cabbage juice

The cabbage has alternatively been called 'doctor of the poor' and 'a gift from heaven' - mighty praise indeed for this humble vegetable. Red cabbage has the highest content of Vitamin C and is a good source of potassium and folic acid.

Potassium helps to regulate the body's water balance and is responsible for controlling nerve impulses and the contraction of muscles.

Years ago, people would eat raw cabbages to cure their nervous disorders. Today, however, they are more often used to help fight viral infections such as colds and flu.

Cabbage is not the most pleasant smelling or tasting vegetable, no thanks (or thanks!) to its sulphur content. Sulphur has antiseptic, antibiotic and disinfectant gualities.

It also contributes to the manufacture of collagen, which helps to form bones, tendons and the skin's connective tissue.

If you can stomach the smell and taste, raw green or red cabbage juice makes a soothing antiseptic gargle for sore throat and mouth ulcers. The downside is that cabbages generate intestinal gas, causing bloating and flatulence.