The winter months can leave us feeling depleted and run down, sometimes we just need to add a little extra nutritive value to our food to support immunity and our digestive system with nourishment from minerals and nutrients that aren’t always in our regular diet.

Golden Juice is Nurse Lauren's recipe, she recommends it as an anti-cancer support and an incredible immune booster. Another of Lauren’s recommendations is to drink more water, we are all guilty of not drinking enough which hampers the body’s ability to function and to heal.

Juicing certainly provides a great deal of nutritive value in a manageable form, why not try Lauren’s batch recipe and make a supply that will last a a week and see how it makes you feel.

Nurse Lauren’s Golden Juice

12 large Grapefruits
16 Granny Smith Apples
1lb fresh Ginger root
1lb fresh turmeric root
Juice in a masticating juicer for the best extraction, store in the refrigerator and drink as desired.

*Note on Grapefruit* - Grapefruit has an interesting effect on the way our bodies metabolize things. When the liver detects grapefruit enzymes in the bloodstream, it ceases to metabolize anything else until it finishes metabolizing the grapefruit. Because of this, when you consume other nutrients alongside grapefruit they remain in the bloodstream for a longer period of time. This allows the ginger and turmeric and pectin amongst other things to float around in the body and exert their positive effects more efficiently. ALSO… for this reason it is important to check that there are no medications that you are on that interact with grapefruit! Just ask your doctor, they will be able to tell you very easily as it is a common medication interaction that is discussed.

Nettle Soup

The rainfall this year has made the countryside extremely verdant and nettles are flourishing in woods and fields, ripe for the picking. Nettles have the most astonishing amount of vitamins, minerals and amino acids, far more than our regular domesticated dark leafy greens. Nettles have a palatable mild green flavor and despite being a bit of fiddle to prepare make a delicious nutritious addition to your springtime diet.

Pick nettles away from roadsides, look in woods and near streams, they love fertile soil and are often found on pasture land. Take gloves, scissors and a cloth bag and snip the central sprig s. This way the nettle top will grow back and give a second round of fresh new leaves. The top leaves are the youngest and sweetest for eating, also the most stinging, so be careful!

Collect a bagful of nettles and then blanch them in a large pan of boiling water, this takes the sting out of the leaves. Plunge the blanched leaves into a large bowl of cold water as this preserves their beautiful bright green color. You can snip the leaves off the stem or not bother, it's also edible.

Set your drained nettles aside and make a simple soup base:

1 small onion, fine chopped
1 medium potato, fine chopped
Olive oil
1000ml Vegetable stock
salt , pepper, herbs to taste.

Saute the chopped onion and chopped potato in olive oil, when the onion is translucent add the vegetable broth and on a low boil simmer until the potato is soft and falling apart. Then add the nettles and continue to simmer for 5 minutes.

Cool the soup and then blend, add salt, pepper, herbs of your choice.