Juicing

Juicing vegetables is a really fantastic thing for people with hepatitis C to do. Including juices in your diet can have some very positive benefits not only for your liver but for your health in general:

• Vegetables juices are packed with nutrients. They have a very high icontent of vitamins and minerals especially the vitamin B group and the antioxidants – beta-carotene, vitamin C and vitamin E, which are vital for people with hepatitis C. as they scavenge ‘free radicals', the rogue molecules that attack cells and tissues and are linked with increased fibrosis.
• They also contain phytonutrients (plant chemicals) that are particularly beneficial for the liver. Cooking vegetables reduces their vitamin and mineral content even when steamed and so juicing is a wonderful way to get high amounts of vitamins and minerals to cells quickly.
• Vegetable juices are also really helpful because they help cleanse the liver, through their detoxifying properties. Detoxification is a major job of the liver, it has to break down and remove toxins constantly from the food we eat and the pollutants we breathe in. So for people with hepatitis C anything that helps the liver do this and therefore function better, is obviously good.
• Juices can also contribute to strengthening organs in the body and for us that of course means the liver but also includes the kidneys.
• They are very easy on digestion, very little digestive work is needed to process juices. They get into the system and are assimilated and absorbed into the blood in about 30 minutes which is why you often feel a slight energy hit when you drink them. Because the vegetables are raw, they contain lots of enzymes which help digestion and help the absorption of nutrients.
• They are alkalising for the body – proteins, fats and carbohydrates produce acid in the body so it is vital to eat lots of fruit and vegetables to maintain the acid alkali balance. Too much acid can produce symptoms some people with hep C experience anyway and so exacerbate symptoms you may already have e.g. fatigue, low energy, inflammation, headaches, muscle aches etc
• Juices taste great!

Combination Juices

The best thing is to combine different fruits and vegetables together as you then get a mixture of different beneficial properties. For example:

• carrot, apple, beetroot, ginger
• cucumber, carrot, beetroot,
• celery, carrot, beetroot

Or any combination you like of any of these ingredients. You can also use small amounts of ingredients like broccoli stalks or wheatgrass, watercress, parsley and ginger – these all have a strong taste and are more concentrated (aside from broccoli), so stick to adding a small amount to start with to any of the above juices. A little bit of ginger makes any juice taste gorgeous.

Tip: It’s good to water juices down slightly as they are strong – this especially applies to beetroot juice.

Try just one glass in the morning first thing and see the difference! One a day is enough in itself.

It’s best not to have more than 3 glasses a day, to avoid digestive upsets and too much beta-carotene. (Juicing breaks down the cell walls releasing the beta-carotene making it more absorbable than usual). Also as juices don’t contain any fibre, its important to also eat whole vegetables and fruit, preferably steamed or stir fried or baked or in salads.

Celery – Is thought to lower blood pressure, aid digestion and help arthritic joints as it seems to prevent calcium deposits. It also acts as a good nerve tonic and contains beta-carotene, folic acid, vitamin B3 and B12. plus it is an adequate source of calcium.

Beetroot – is a fantastic blood purifier, it also helps strengthen the gall bladder and liver and contains a lot of folic acid which is necessary for the proper absorption of all other B vitamins. It is very concentrated so its good to mix it with other juices and water it down a bit. In general use about 20% of beetroot to your other vegetables included in a juice.

Ginger- prevents nausea, is an antispasmodic, improves circulation, good for menstrual cramps, is an anti-inflamatory, and is good for flatulence, wind and indigestion. It contains calcium, magnesium and phosphorus.

Cucumber- thought to clean the kidneys, lower high blood pressure and improve skin problems. It is also cooling for the liver which can help inflammation.

Parsley- is very high in chlorophyll, it helps to clean the blood and acts as a tonic. It also reduces coagulants in the veins and helps clear kidney stones. It is rich in vitamin C, iron calcium and sodium. Do not use too much in juices as it is so strong, just add a few stalks to your main juice.

Broccoli - helps detoxify the liver, it is rich in glutathione which is an antioxidant (antioxidants change toxic free radicals into a less toxic chemical – and free radicals damage liver cells), its an anti-inflammatory, is high in folic acid which helps in red blood cell formation, is high in sulphar - which enhances detoxification, is an anti cancer agent and protects against heart disease. It also contains vitamin C, vitamin B, potassium, magnesium and zinc.

Apples – act as a blood purifier and so are great for the liver as they help remove toxins.. They also contain malic acid which is thought to help soften gallstones. Relieve constipation, reactivate beneficial gut bacteria, help reduce total cholesterol. They contain calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin C, beta-carotene and pectin.

Carrots – are a wonderful detoxifier and a fantastic food for liver health. They can also help the digestive system. They contain calcium, magnesium, beta-carotene which is a great antioxidant and phosphorus and folic acid and B12. They are also thought to help kidney function.

Watercress – is good for purifying the blood and reducing phlegm. It acts as a diuretic and can help break up kidney stones. It contains calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, vitamin C and beta-carotene.

Wheatgrass - Wheatgrass has an extremely high concentration of nutrients and is fast and easy to grow. Extracting the juice is the best way to get the nutrients. It is a fantastic cleaner of the blood and helps blood circulation. It is high in the antioxidant vitamins A, C and E. it is also high in vitamin B, including B12. It also contains calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron. It is a living food which means it contains around 30 enzymes and is approximately 70% crude chlorophyll (making it great for your digestive system). You can buy the seeds in health food shops and grow your own trays of wheatgrass, which take about 5-10 days to grow. This makes a much cheaper than buying trays of already grown wheatgrass.

There are many different types of juicers on the market with prices ranging from around £20 to £300. The more expensive ones also juice leafy vegetables and wheatgrass, which you can’t put in an average juicer. (For wheat grass you can buy a separate mangle-type manual juicer as it is literally like grass! See Manuel Juicers below).Spinning at lower speeds means oxidation of juices is avoided and these are the more expensive ones.

An in-expensive juicer can be a good way of beginning if you haven’t done juicing before as they are cheap and you don’t necessarily want to spend a lot of money only to find you don’t use the juicer much. You can buy them at Argos for example.

There are 5 types of juicers available on the market:

The Centrifugal Juicer

Is the basic juicer costing £20 - £50 and available in high street shops and electrical stores. Centrifugal describes the way in which the juice is separated from the pulp. In this case it is by the fruit or vegetable being spun round at a high speed and effectively "grated" against a spinning disk with "teeth" on it. This enables the juice to be extracted, filtered through, with the remaining pulp collected in a separate unit. It’s not really possible to juice leafy vegetables or wheat grass in this type of juicer. Can be little fiddly to clean, but easy to buy and cheap and so making it a good one to experiment with.

Manual Juicers

These are like the old fashioned meat mincers that you clamp onto the table and so require a lot of work turning the handle! They are a cheap and eco-friendly option if you want to use wheat grass. You can juice, hard vegetables and hard fruit and leafy vegetables. Cost is around £30 with more sophisticated machines for around £100

The Masticating Juice

These are called masticating juicers because like teeth they tear the plants cell walls apart and free the juice from the fibre of the vegetable (masticate it!) It doesn’t cope well with leafy vegetables but is easier to clean that centrifugal juicers and yields a bit more juice. Price range from around £245 and upwards.

Twin Gear Juicers.

These juicers can cope well with all vegetables including green leafy ones and wheatgrass. They crush the vegetables between two rotating gears at low speed which has the advantage of giving more juice and minimum damage to nutrients. Price range from £300-£400.

The Crush and Squeeze or Single Auger Juicer

This is the newest kind of juicer. Quick to clean and juices everything including all leafy vegetables. Has a 10 year warranty. They are a bit cheaper that Twin gear juicers.

www.ukjuicers.com
This website is a good place to start and their L'Equip 110.5 Juicer @ £87.50 is a good buy. It’s an easy one to use and clean!

The Hepatitis C Trust 2008