While having a juicer is necessary to make this recipe, you might consider finally buying one! I’ve had my Juiceman Jr.($85) for 8 years and it shows no signs of slowing. We make fresh “green juices” at least a few times a week. I often make a double batch and stir in a teaspoon of vitamin C powder to the half I won’t drink fresh. The vitamin C protects the stored juice (kept in an air-tight glass container, of course) from losing it’s potency. This way I can have fresh, powerful juice for a couple of days and save time.

Here’s my current favorite juice recipe:

5 big leaves of kale

2 stalks celery

1 small or 1/2 of a large cucumber (peeled if you can’t find it unwaxed)

1-2 apples (Honeycrisp are my absolute favorite)

1 lemon, yellow rind cut away, but as much as the white pith still in tact, as this is where the majority of the bioflavonoids hang out

1/2 organic red bell pepper

Just wait – you will love this!

I thought I would just drop you a line to let you know that I gave birth to a baby girl a week ago… a couple of years ago I picked up your book (The Great American Detox Diet) in Scotland and read it all the way home to New Zealand… you helped me with my vegetarian wedding menu ideas and with some ideas for good nutrition during my pregnancy. I thought it would make you smile that it was the talk of the hospital that this strict vegetarian girl was the most healthy they had seen! I had a massive post partum bleed which needed surgery to fix, but because my iron levels were so high I didn’t need a blood tranfusion. It turns out after losing 1.5 litres of blood, my haemoglobin levels were still in the “normal” range which is almost unheard of, they were still higher than lots of pregnant women’s levels that don’t lose 25% of their blood! So go you, thanks for setting me up for a more successful result than it could have been!

- Emily, New Zealand