Shed Extra Pounds With These Fresh Juice Combos

For many--if not most--of us, it's a constant battle between our cravings for fattening food and wanting to lose weight. Drinking freshly squeezed organic juice is a great way to feed your body condensed nutrients that are easy to digest. Fresh juice gives your body a break from the digestion process and fills you up, making it easier to lose weight. And as a bonus, because fresh juice has not been heated (heat destroys many beneficial micronutrients), your immune system has more energy to heal whatever might be ailing you. You can be very creative in making fresh juice. Look for interesting varieties of fruits as they come to market (Satsuma tangerines, kumquats, Key limes, blood oranges), vegetables (try jicama, ginger, fennel, lacinato kale) and herbs (like spearmint and lemongrass) and mix them (fruits with fruits, vegetables with vegetables, herbs with either) in new combinations.

Making fresh juice can be fun. Throw a juicing party where your friends bring fresh organic produce. Serve the juice in beautiful glassware on colorful placemats. Some juicers are better than others (for information on juicers, visit www.RawFoodsNewsMagazine.com and type "juicers" in the search box), but any juicer is better than none. I've listed some juice combos below.

Organically grown produce is best, because it's free from the chemicals most farmers spray on non-organic produce to ward off insects and animals and put into the ground as fertilizer. These recipes serve one or two people, depending on the size of the glasses. Multiply the amounts to make more.

Ginger Ale Juice

• five stalks of celery
• one-quarter inch piece of fresh ginger
• one ping-pong-ball-sized red beet
• The greens from 2 beets
• two long, skinny lacinato kale leaves
• one medium-sized pear, minus the seeds (reserve thin slices for garnish)
• Optional: fizzy mineral water

1. Juice the produce
2. Pour into glasses
3. Garnish each glass with a thin slice of pear.

This is mild-tasting and resembles fizzless ginger ale. (If you want a fizzy drink, mix the juice with carbonated mineral water.)

Citrus Refresher

(Reserve one thin slice of each fruit for each glass)

• two navel oranges
• two tangerines
• one key lime

1. Juice these using a citrus juicer.
2. Mix all together and serve.
3. Garnish glasses with a thin slice of each fruit.

Kick-up-your-heels option: Serve each person shot glasses filled with the individual fruit juices, along with an empty cocktail glass and a stirrer. The guests can pour the shot glasses into the empty glass and stir.

Oxymoron

• one cup of cut up fresh pineapple
• one grapefruit
• one sprig of parsley for each glass

1. Cut up equal amounts of the above fruits.
2. Run the pineapple through a juicer
3. Juice the grapefruit with a citrus juicer.
4. Mix both juices together and pour into elegant glasses.
5. Garnish with parsley sprig.

Kick-up-your-heels-option: Garnish with sprig of cinnamon-basil instead of the parsley.

Judy Pokras is the editor and founder of the online magazine Raw Foods News Magazine. She has written for many publications, including The New York Times.