Elixir of life or just a trend? Either way, our editor Summer Litchfield is enjoying the juicing buzz while it lasts..
Arrange to meet up with a friend these days and, increasingly, it’s not tea or coffee but a freshly pressed juice that will be suggested. If you’re not whizzing them up at home, you’re probably sipping them in your local cafe or browsing the growing number of brands in the supermarket. Whether going all out and über healthy or simply supplementing your diet with a few extra vitamins, everyone seems to be on a juice kick. So what’s all the fuss about?
“Juices are the ultimate grab-and-go liquid snack,” says Christina Agnew who founded one of the first juice delivery services, Radiance Cleanse. “Low sugar green juices really help when I’ve been up in the night and am absolutely shattered by mid afternoon. As well as providing a huge energy boost they’re also an easy way to top up the nutrients in your diet, both during pregnancy and on-the-go with young children. The temptation is to reach for a quick pick-me-up in the form of sugar or caffeine but a super hydrating green juice will help just as much and keep you going for longer.”
Expert Opinion
Hilary Kingston,
Nutrition Consultant from
thinknutrition.co.uk
“The body is a machine, with all working parts
requiring a ‘service’ once in a while. Supplying the body with fresh nutrients on a daily basis will return it to a healthy balance and boost it further to perform on a premium level. The easiest way to achieve a fresh blast of top quality nutrients for the body ‘machine’ is through juicing, increasing energy, improving cell metabolism, and giving the digestive
system a well-earned rest because
it’s absorbed straight into
the bloodstream.”
As we’ve all become more health conscious, and able to tell our spelt from our spirulina, juices have been on the up. Cafes like the Good Life Eatery in Chelsea, Juice People in Covent Garden and Raw Press Co at Wolf & Badger in Mayfair are urging us to “embrace our brassicas”, while delivery service Bobo’s Juicery comes from a particularly health and allergy conscious place. Jo Symes, the company’s founder – who suffered from a variety of intolerances and found that a more plant-based diet had a dramatically positive effect – teamed up with doctor and nutritionist Dr Susan Oaten to create her range of juices and smoothies.
Similarly, when restaurateur Will Ricker opened the Juice Well in Soho he sought the advice of naturopath Elizabeth Peyton-Jones. “The tide is turning and people are choosing health over rubbish,” says Peyton-Jones. “Juice bars are a fantastic testament to this. As a mother you need to be at the top of your game, you do this by eating and drinking the right things. Mothers are also educators and what they do influences the next generation.”
Agnew agrees with getting your children familiar with juices and juicing at an early stage: “I regularly make fresh, organic juices with my kids. I always start from scratch and involve them in the process, encouraging them to choose which ingredients we will use – which sometimes need editing so it’s drinkable! In the early stages,” she advises, “stick to the sweeter tastes that you would use for first food purees, such as carrot, apple and pear, then gradually introduce them to other vegetables. The trick as they get older, of course, is to sneak in some of the veg they might not always be so keen on.”
In a nutshell – or peel, skin or husk – the juice-ification of London and beyond has only just begun, so choose your favourite tipple.
