Juice up your detox diet

Jan 1 2010 by Jade Wright, Liverpool Echo

These days, the truly fashion-conscious no longer accessorise with cardboard barrels of skinny latte, but clutch biodegradable cups brimful of freshly pulped raw fruit and vegetables. This year Santa's sack was stuffed with DIY juicing machines as the trend for "squeeze your own detox" takes off, and drinking yourself to good health has become a culinary phenomenon.

Gill Leyland, juice operator at Philpotts in Exchange Flags thinks the trend is only going to get bigger.

The easiest way to stay healthy
Having a juice or a smoothie is an easy way to get the vitamins we need to stay healthy and to get a portion towards the recommended five fruit or vegetables a day, she explains.

This time of year, people are often feeling unhealthy after Christmas and maybe want to look after themselves a bit better. Plus, people are watching healthy eating programmes on TV, like You Are What You Eat, and they realise that fresh fruit and veg will make them feel healthier than a can of fizzy drink.

You can buy smoothies in bottles everywhere now, but they start to lose their vitamins very quickly, and pasteurisation destroys a lot of the goodness, so I'd always recommend buying them fresh or making your own. The fresher the better really.

These drinks are offering us a healthy and enjoyable way to increase our vitamin intake and make ourselves feel energetic.

"People are getting more adventurous with what they ask for," says Gill, "When we started eight years ago people just wanted the fruit juices and smoothies, but now we get them coming in asking for spinach, cabbage, watercress. Sometimes theyll just ask for everything green in a glass. I mix in a bit of apple juice to sweeten it up. It tastes very nice. Cabbage and pear is lovely. You'd be surprised how different things taste in a juice."

"Sometimes people will say they don't like vegetables, but then I get them to try the juice and they really enjoy it. Carrot is a good example - carrot juice tastes nothing like a cooked carrot. It's very sweet."

Add wheatgrass for an extra detox boost
If you're looking for an extra detox boost, Gill suggests adding a shot of wheatgrass. A 1oz shot of wheatgrass contains the nutrients youd get in 2 kilos of vegetables, she says. Its an acquired taste its basically like grass so I give people a shot of that, and then a nice glass of orange juice to wash it down.

Do like a celebrity and juice it
Celebrities such as Jordan, who lost 28lb on a juicing diet developed by "Juice Master" Jason Vale, members of Take That and Chris Evans have all recently sung its praises. A decade ago, everyone who was anyone was juicing, and now it's enjoying a massive resurgence, particularly for those looking to do a post-Christmas, New year hangover detox.

One Liverpool celebrity fan is Natasha Hamilton, owner of Hamiltons in the Metquarter. "I'm a big fan of smoothies, they're a great way of getting your five a day," she says.

" They taste delicious, they're packed with vitamins and they are an instant way of getting vital daily nutrients - so great for when you're on the go."

"A favourite of mine is strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. It's a great smoothie for detoxing and brilliant for the immune system. If ever I feel I'm coming down with something I always try to have one."

Natasha is also planning to put her own recipe, Citrus Wake-Up (grapefruit, oranges and lemon) and her Hamiltons Special on the menu. "The Hamiltons Special has got all my favourite fruits in it and it tastes gorgeous and its so healthy. It's made up of pineapple, mango and strawberries which are all thought to be great for cleansing, packed with vitamin C and betacarotene."

Read on for two fabulous detoxing and energising juice recipes...