Your immune system is fuelled by healthy vitamins and minerals that help fight off viruses like the common cold and flu viruses. Getting enough immune boosting foods into your system is crucial to keep you healthy all year round. Juicing is a great way to reach your daily fruit and veggie intake recommendations. Healthy juices give your body a refresh while helping boost its natural defences. Check out our collection of 35 immune boosting juice recipes to drink in the morning!
4 Juicing Tips and Essentials for Beginners
1. Consider Your Fruits & Veggies
Certain fruits and vegetables produce better, nicely-flavoured juice when they run through a juicer. These include soft fruits and vegetables such as pineapples, berries, mangoes, citrus fruits, spinach, mint, parsley and cucumbers, as well as hard fruits and vegetables like apples, pomegranates, celery, carrots and beets. There are some fruits and veggies that you shouldn’t use in a juicer as they’ll create an off-putting juice. These include bananas, avocados, rhubarb and eggplant.
2. Invest in a Juicer
If you’re going to take up juicing, you’ll need a good juicer. If you don’t have one in your kitchen already, opt for a slow juicer, also called a “masticating” juicer. This type of juicer crushes the fruits and vegetables first and then presses them, supplying more juice. It extracts more than 90% juice, preserving maximum nutrients from fruits, herbs and vegetables.
3. Prep Your Produce
It’s important to prep your fruits and veggies before throwing them into the juicer. Make sure to give them a good scrub to remove any dirt or pesticide residue. Peel or remove produce skin and remove the rind from all citrus fruits, as well as large pits and seeds from stone fruits. Finally, make sure to chop your produce small enough so it fits easily into the feed chute of the juicer.
4. Plant an Indoor Herb Garden
Herbs such as mint, basil and thyme are wonderful additions to your morning juice, offering a punch of flavour along with health benefits. An indoor herb garden allows you to grow your favourite herbs right in your kitchen so you always have them on hand to add into your juices.
6 Best Immune Boosting Foods for Juicing
1. Grapefruit
Grapefruit is rich in vitamin C, which has antioxidant properties known to protect your cells from harmful bacteria and viruses. Vitamin C is also thought to increase the production of white blood cells, which are key to fighting infections. Low in calories and high in nutrients, grapefruits are a healthy and delicious addition for your morning juice.
2. Papaya
Papaya is a fruit that’s packed with vitamin C, which is essential for immune health. You’ll find double the daily recommended amount of vitamin C in a single medium-sized papaya. Papayas also have a good dose of potassium, magnesium and folate, and have the digestive enzyme called papain, which has anti-inflammatory effects.
3. Ginger
Adding ginger to your juice will add a delicious spicy touch to your drink. Ginger is rich with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and detoxifying properties and is great for your immune system. Add ginger to your juices during cold and flu season to keep your immunity strong!
4. Oranges
Oranges are another fruit that’s packed with immune system-boosting vitamin C. They contain more than 100% of your recommended daily amount, which makes them a must during cold and flu season. Vitamin C has also shown to help prevent cell damage and lower your levels of the stress hormone cortisol, as well as your blood pressure, making it a key part of a healthy diet.
5. Spinach
Spinach is packed with vitamin C, which contributes to your immune defence, and it’s also rich in antioxidants and beta-carotene, which both increase the infection-fighting ability of your immune system. Spinach can help prevent oxidative stress from free radicals and is an excellent source of vitamins and minerals.
6. Turmeric
Turmeric is one of the healthiest foods on the planet, and makes for a delicious addition to your favourite morning juice. Turmeric has high concentrations of curcumin, which is an immune booster and an antiviral. Curcumin has a positive effect on gut bacteria and since 70% of the body’s immune cells are found in the gut, curcumin helps support the immune system.
35 Immune Boosting Juice Recipes
1. Immune Booster Juice with Grapefruit and Mango | The Wanderlust Kitchen
2. Spinach, Orange and Ginger Juice | Simple Vegan Blog
3. Pineapple Orange Juice | Hungry Healthy Happy
4. Immunity Boost Juice to Fight Cold and Flu | Two Spoons
5. Apple Carrot Orange Juice with Turmeric | Delight-Fuel
6. Super Immunity Boost Juice with Orange, Ginger and Turmeric | All Recipes
7. Healthy Carrot Kale Juice | Best Recipe Box
8. Carrot, Beet, Blood Orange, Ginger, Turmeric Juice | Gourmande
9. Celery Ginger and Lemon Juice | Sandra’s Easy Kitchen
10. Carrot Apple Glow Juice | Taste Love and Nourish
11. Vitamin Rich Super Green Juice | Cupful of Kale
12. Antioxidant Rich Kiwi Juice | One Green Planet
13. Beet, Carrot and Apple Juice | NDTV Food
14. Citrus Explosion Juice | The Black Peppercorn
15. Fresh Apple Cinnamon Juice | One Green Planet
16. Immunity Boosting Green Juice | Venture 1105
17. Ripe Papaya Juice | Savory Thoughts
18. Golden Glow Immune Boost Juice | Our Nourishing Table
19. Spicy Carrot Clementine Juice | One Green Planet
20. Turmeric Beet Juice | Cafe Johnsonia
21. Orange, Carrot and Celery Juice | Tesco Real Food
22. Spinach Orange Green Juice | Live Simply Natural
23. Grapefruit, Carrot and Ginger Juice | Martha Stewart
24. Carrot Pineapple Orange Juice | Two Peas and Their Pod
25. Apple Carrot Grapefruit Juice | Willamette Transplant
26. Citrus Sunrise | Healthy Delicious
27. Spinach Apple Green Juice | Good Nature
28. Immunity Boosting Carrot Ginger Juice | Detoxinista
29. Citrus Immunity Shot | SkinnyTaste
30. Immunity Boosting Green Juice | Juice Cleanse
31. Carrot Celery Juice | Clean Eating Kitchen
32. Immune Boosting Super Juice | Cook with Candy
33. Immunity Boosting Gold Juice | Healing to Happy
34. Immunity Boosting Citrus Juice | The Beet
35. Super C Beet Juice | Further Food
Ready to get your juice on? Try these tips and recipes to make every morning delicious and refreshing!