Fruit and Vegetable Juices for Hot Summer Days - Lemony Celery Quencher

This is the ideal drink for re-hydrating the body after a long day’s work or a burst of exercise when sweating from heat has depleted sodium from the body. The important thing about sodium is that so much of the salt we consume is composed of inorganic, insoluble elements. The sodium which is most beneficial and least harmful to the body must be completely soluble in water. Rock salt is not treated with heat like commercial table salt and is soluble. Deficiency in sodium leads to lung problems, as sodium aids with the elimination of carbon dioxide from the system.

Celery contains an exceptionally high amount of organic sodium, which makes celery juice a fantastic drink for a hot day.

Cucumber juice is high in potassium, which helps to regulate the blood pressure, and is known to aid in the growth of nails and hair, as well as treating conditions of the teeth and gums.

Lemon juice is cleansing, helpful in eliminating toxins and neutralizing harmful bacteria.

I drink this juice when it is unbearably hot, and I can’t face eating, as it is nutritious and hydrating, and very tasty and refreshing.

This delicious fresh and tangy juice is perfect for summer days when we've all been running round in the garden working up a thirst! Like all juices, it has no added water, just the water contained within the fruit that the masticating juicer forces out of the plant. This liquid is full of nutrients and fructose, which is fruit sugars. Because it can be quite concentrated, I often serve it alongside a glass of iced water, to ensure that I'm taking in enough actual liquid.

When offering juices to younger children I dilute them with some water too, especially as children can find the taste and texture of some of the vegetable juices a bit too strong for their palates.

For older people or anyone who might suffer gout, fructose, fruit sugars is best avoided as it can bring on an attack, just a little heads up from personal experience!

I love the combination of lemon and ginger in this drink, and I find cucumber and ginger an interesting duo too...something about the zingy heat of the root spice and the coolness of cucumber together, really sets the flavours off.

There's another reason for adding the ginger, and that is the multitude of health benefits it offers. Ginger has been used for many years across a number of cultures to ease stomach troubles like nausea and indigestion. It is closely related to turmeric, cardamom and galangal. I do love to use turmeric in my cooking and teas, and the health benefits of turmeric are well documented, but it stains everything, including my lips and teeth, bright yellow! So it's one to be used with caution. Anyway, back to the ginger. Did you know that a literature review from 2019 concluded that ginger can help to reduce body weight, significantly the waist-hip ratio, BMI and blood insulin levels. High blood insulin levels are associated with obesity.

Ginger can help with osteoarthritis, according to another literature review, with reductions in pain and disability.

A study of people suffering type 2 diabetes found that their fasting blood sugar was lowered by 12% after taking just 2g of ginger powder.

A small study in 2009 found that ginger can help to reduce menstrual pain.

Ginger gives a pleasant spicy zing to many juices, and what a wonderful addition when you consider the many health benefits it offers alongside the taste improvement.

Norman Walker, Fresh vegetable and fruit juices, value charts