Juices are a quick and easy way of boosting your intake of essential nutrients such as vitamins and minerals, whilst hydrating yourself. Making your own juice provides you with far more nutrients than drinking shop bought juices, as these packaged products will have been pasteurised to extend shelf life, a process which will destroy some vitamins.

You will need a juicer – but these don’t have to be expensive – they cost from £25 upwards. Some will require you to cut out cores, pips etc, and others will remove these for you.

Great choices for juicing are: carrots, apples, berries, grapefruit, oranges, kiwi fruit, limes, melons, peaches, pears, plums, root ginger, tomatoes, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, celery, cucumber, watercress, baby spinach, peppers, lettuce, mint and basil. The only limit is your imagination!

And drink your juice immediately – exposure to oxygen will cause the health giving properties of the nutrients to diminish rapidly.

Here are a few of my favourite recipes:

Apple Carrot and Ginger

1 large apple                                                                                                                                                     1 carrot                                                                                                                                                         1cm root ginger, peeled (add according to taste preference)

This combination is great for the skin. The apple contains good levels of vitamin C, which the body uses to make collagen, and the beta carotene in the carrot is a potent antioxidant which mops up skin damaging oxidants which cause wrinkles. Ginger is a powerful anti-inflammatory which may help with skin irritations and is also a good source of manganese and copper which are antioxidants

Grapefruit and berries

1 pink grapefruit                                                                                                                                       Handful of mixed berries

The berries add sweetness to the grapefruit, but more importantly are packed with bioflavonoids which boost the immune system, helping to fight off infection. Grapefruit contains limonoids which support the liver in detoxification and it is high in vitamin C, which helps fight infections and is great for skin health

Liver supporting juice

Half a head of broccoli                                                                                                                                   Half a head of cauliflower                                                                                                                                  2 carrots

This combination is full of liver supporting nutrients and is a great way of boosting the liver’s capacity to detoxify. Broccoli has hormone balancing properties too, so eat plenty of it if you suffer with hormonal mood swings.

The only limit is your imagination, so start juicing and enjoy the endless flavours and health benefits!