Tropical Cucumber Juice

Ingredients

2 Cucumbers
2 Mangoes
1 Red Grapefruit
1 Pear
2 tsp. Concentrated Aloe Juice
1 Lemon (optional)

Directions

Rinse and scrub vegetables, peel and pit mango. Juice ingredients in juicer, add aloe juice. Chill and enjoy!

If your mangoes are not super ripe, you might want to sweeten the juice by adding a second pear.  Be careful, though -- unripe mangoes are more fibrous and can be difficult to digest.  They can even cause diarrhea.  On the other hand, if your mangoes are quite ripe, you can juice and add a lemon to give the drink a bit more zing.

Makes approximately 36-40 oz. of juice.

Nutritional Information

Aloe Vera is known for it's healing properties, which work not only to soothe and heal your skin when you get a sunburn, but also help to cleanse the intestine, heal the digestive system and promote the healthy function of the colon.  Aloe can be a hassle to juice yourself, though.  You only need a small amount for each glass of juice, and the leftover aloe juice will go rancid pretty quickly.  That's why I use aloe concentrate.  You can find aloe vera drops and in other concentrated forms at health food stores, Whole Foods, and online.  (I am currently using Aloe Life Aloe Gold Concentrate Dietary Supplement, which you can buy on Amazon or at Whole Foods.)

Cucumber is a good source of chlorophyll, which helps your body's organs (especially your liver) eliminate toxins by improving cellular and organ detoxification.  Chlorophyll helps the body maintain a proper acid-alkaline balance, and also protects against the formation of calcium stones in the kidneys, helping to break them down and eliminate them.  Although cucumber does not have quite as much chlorophyll as dark, leafy green vegetables, it is a good way to add chlorophyll to your diet if you are sensitive to the more bitter and difficult to digest kale, cabbage, etc.

Cucumbers, with their high water content and as a source of chlorophyll, are also a natural diuretic and detox agent. They will help you eliminate bloating and puffiness and shed water weight.  Cucumbers are also great for treating edema, the accumulation of fluid beneath the skin.  They are one of the most important vegetables that you can consume to detox your kidneys, which are the body's most important sites for eliminating toxins, help to cleanse your gallbladder of toxins and fight candida infections, a common disorder of the gastrointestinal tract that arises when there is an overgrowth of the yeast candida.

Cucumbers are rich in zinc, which helps reduce inflammation and facilitates healing and tissue regeneration.  Zinc contains neutrophils, compounds that boost your immune system, helps fight infections and colds, and is also necessary for the conversion of omega-3 acids into anti-inflammatory substances called prostaglandins.  Zinc can significantly reduce the time it takes to recover from a cold, and there are many additional benefits to consuming this mineral.  Zinc is important for maintaining healthy levels of anxiety and generally happy moods; a zinc deficiency may cause depression, anxiety and lethargy. Zinc is also associated with lower body fat levels and may help you lose weight, has been shown by numerous studies to improve memory, and is thought to help reduce the symptoms and severity of allergies and respiratory conditions.  Zinc is also important for maintaining healthy skin because it is necessary for absorbing linoleic acid, a fatty acid that promotes healthy skin.  Zinc controls the production of oil in the skin and may also help control some of the hormones that create acne. The correct levels of zinc in your body clears skin by taming oil production and controlling the formation of acne lesions. Cucumbers are also known to generally help the skin from becoming overly dry.

Cucumbers are also high in vitamin A and silica, which strengthen connective tissue of muscles, tendons, ligaments, cartilage and bone, and promotes strong, shiny hair, strong nails and healthy-looking skin.  Too little silica can result in reduced skin elasticity and slower healing of wounds, and vitamin A is essential for the maintenance and repair of skin tissue as well.

Finally, cucumbers contain an enzyme called erepsin that is helpful in digesting protein and are instrumental in maintaining a healthy acid-alkaline balance in the body. By increasing the alkalinity of your diet, you improve your bone health by reducing the excretion of calcium.

Nutritional Information Source: The Everything Juicing Book by Carole Jacobs, Patrice Johnson and Nicole Cormier

Note: I will be posting nutritional information on pears, mangoes, grapefruit and lemons in upcoming posts, so stay tuned!