Winter Juicing For Get Up And Go

By Rebecca Mullins

Winter is the season of stillness and clarity, and living in the colder Northern Ontario climate, our bodies tend to slow down as the days become shorter and frostier.  To prevent winter weariness and keep a healthy glow in your cheeks, there is a simple solution: keep your juicer on the countertop the whole season through – and use it now more than ever!  (And – if you don’t have a juicer yet, this is the perfect time to add one to your Christmas wish list!)

Many people find it difficult to meet the recommended daily intake of five to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables, especially in the wintertime.  One of the easiest, most effective and delicious ways to boost your immune system, improve your digestion and elimination, and generally maintain your health is by consuming the vital nutrients (including enzymes, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants) found in freshly made juices.

It’s so easy to adapt juice recipes to the winter season.  Apples, pears and cranberries have just been collected during the autumn harvest. Sustaining root vegetables like carrots and beets are also in abundance.  Hearty long-lasting greens such as cabbage and kale are nutrient-packed and wonderful for juicing. Combine fruits and vegetables – the blends are endless and only limited by your personal taste.

You can also add fresh or dried herbs to enhance the healing and cleansing properties of your favourite juices.  Be creative and add some wintery-warming ginger, cinnamon, cardamom and/or nutmeg to any juice combination.  You can also add immune-boosting supplements such as spirulina, hemp protein powder, ginseng honey, bee pollen or apple cider vinegar.

The following are a few recipes for you to try: Get Up and Go (Serves one – 12 oz) This juice combination provides lots of energy and warmth to face a cold winter day!

• 2 apples
• 1 carrot
• 1 beet
• 1 radish
• handful of baby spinach
• a few sprigs of parsley
• 1 one-inch piece of ginger

Directions:  Run all ingredients through your juicer. Note: Carrots and beets do wonders for the immune system by increasing the production and performance of white blood cells, which builds resistance to various kinds of infections.

Winter Fresh (Serves one – 12 oz) Drinking a glass of this juice is like drinking the sunshine and fresh air – it will flush your cheeks and feed the cells of your body – and you will feel energized and cleansed.

• 2 apples
• 2 stalks of celery
• a handful of baby spinach
• a few sprigs of parsley
• juice of half a lemon

Directions:  Juice half a lemon.  Run the rest of the ingredients through your juicer, then add lemon juice.

Warming Winter Juice: (Serves one – 12 oz) This robust juice has a warming kick from the cayenne pepper and ginger. Using seasonal fruits and vegetables this is sweet, nurturing and cleansing as well.

• 2 apples
• 1 pear
• sticks of celery
• a handful of kale
• 1 one-inch piece of ginger
• a pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions:  Run all ingredients (except cayenne pepper) through your juicer – sprinkle with cayenne. Note: Pears are particularly protective and restorative for the lungs. Conveniently, nature provides us with an abundance of pears in autumn. Pears are naturally moistening and cooling, perfect for nourishing and protecting the mucosa of respiratory tissue against the ravages of dryness, artificial heat, and toxins.

Warm Apple Cobbler (Serves one – 12 oz) This warm, nurturing drink is perfect in a thermos, packed along with mittens, scarves and the toboggan.  Ginger and cinnamon improve circulation and generate heat in your body to help to keep you warm all day long.

• 2 apples
• 1 one-inch piece fresh ginger
• 1 banana
• 3 dates, soaked and pitted
• 1 cinnamon
• ½ cup water (if needed)

Directions: Juice the apple and ginger, then blend the juice with the remaining ingredients together in a small saucepan.  Gently heat until hot but not boiling.  Remove from the heat and serve.

Note: Ginger warms right through all layers of the body – the skin, muscles and right into the core. Enjoy, stay warm and happy juicing! Rebecca Mullins is a North Bay-based registered holistic nutritionist.