Detox drinks

Cleanse your system and feel full of energy with these nourishing, nutritive detox drinks.

Detoxing is all about eating and drinking pure foods – preferably organic – that are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. One of the easiest, healthiest, nutritionally rich and fun ways of making detox drinks is to buy a juicer. These allow you to obtain the full detoxing benefits of fruit, vegetables and herbs before they are leached away through processing or cooking.

Once you've tasted freshly prepared, home-made juices, you'll never be satisfied with those sold in bottles, cartons or cans again. Freshly prepared juices have a creamy texture, a milky hue and fill your mouth with a whole new taste experience. In fact, juicing is not just for detox, it's a natural extension to a healthy, wholefood diet.

Although you remove much of the insoluble fibre from the fruit or vegetables when juicing, you can drink significantly more vitamins and minerals than you could ever hope to eat by tackling all your fruit and vegetables in their natural raw state. The secret is in their concentration - for example, 100ml of carrot juice can give you as many carotenoids (antioxidant orange-yellow pigments) as 1lb of raw carrots.

Juices can be used to make tasty soups, sauces, drinks or cocktails. Lemonade made by mixing a juiced lemon (plus peel) with sparkling mineral water and a touch of honey has to be tasted to be believed. When buying fruit and vegetables to juice:

make sure they're garden or farm-shop fresh where possible - as soon as they're harvested, fruit and vegetables start to deteriorate and their vitamin content drops
go for organic ingredients that have not come into contact with artificial fertilisers or pesticides
choose firm, plump pieces with a good colour - not mouldy, squidgy ones or those starting to dry out
peel citrus fruit with tough skins before juicing - but if you can, process lemons and limes intact for extra flavour
choose seedless grapes and remove stalks to avoid a bitter taste
mash or blend 'difficult' fruit such as bananas and avocados, which may be too much for your juicer to cope with - and then stir them into other fruit-juice bases
experiment and vary quantities to suit your taste - virtually any blend of fruit, vegetables or herbs is possible
try diluting with mineral water for a thirst-quenching drink consider adding milk, for example, with a carrot drink.

Once the basics are covered, you can create any number of concoctions to please your palate. Check out our favourite drinks with fresh ingredients on the next page.