Lightawake (Nelson, New Zealand) on 12/25/2012:

I find a total raw food, sugarless diet such as the one he recommends quite hard to follow for any length of time (basically no processed foods, sugars -including fruits or sweet vegetables; centred on salads, fermented foods and dehydrated foods, and some supplements), but that the green juice was something that helped me noticably, and which I could take every day.

most mornings my partner makes me a glassful of green juice made of a base of celery or cucumber, then a combination of dark greens such as kale, spinach, then microgreens, cabbage, broccoli, wheatgrass, coriander, parsley, mint - whatever organic veggies we have. he puts it in a slow masticating juicer, and I drink it within about 15 minutes of it coming out.

-organic is important, as the juicer extracts all the good vitamins and things in the veggies - one glass of green juice is like eating a whole giant bowl of salad;

-drinking it within about 15 mintues is also apparently important as the vitality starts fading after too long - it needs to be made fresh each time;

-making it in a slow masticating juicer, and not a blender or a centrafugal juicer is apparently important in order to keep the enzymes alive - apparently the enzymes are hugely important as we dont produce them ourselves, and our modern diet doesnt give us too many. I actually think that this has been quite key in helping me where other supplements and herbs have not. creating the juice at a low temperature (below 20-something degrees) makes sure that the precious enzymes in the veggies remain alive to do all sorts of good work in our bodies;

-finally, there are many juice recipes out there which would include sweet veggies or even fruit such as beetroot, banana, carrot or apple - but apparently, for the body to heal, any amount of sugar inhibits the body, and so all fruits and sweeter veggies should be avoided in the juice.

when I first started taking this juice, my energy levels were so low that I could only go for a walk for about 10 minutes before I would flop down exhausted. Every day I drank it I noticed that I felt better, and I noticed that after about a month, I was managing to walk for 2-3 hours and I was fine! My partner is healthy, but he swears by it to keep him balanced and healthy too. Obviously, it`s quite 'green' tasting, but we found it tastes a bit better with a squeeze of lemon, or a couple of mint leaves added. The strength and taste also depends on what we put in it, and how much - eg. we adjust how much leafy greens and wheatgrass we put into the juice to make it stronger or weaker.

one warning: green juice is quite strong, and a powerful detoxer - I found that if I had alcohol or fast food the night before, then had green juice the next morning, sometime during the day I would find myself going to the toilet several times!

personally I see green juice as a great all-round balancer, enegiser, and health booster. Not as concentrated as wheatgrass juice, a lot easier on the system, but very medicinal. Feels very much like drinking a potent herbal formula. our fridge is always full of teatowel-lined plastic bags, filled with lots of veggies to last us the week, for green juices and salads.

I take green juice along with some supplements, and trying to maintain a diet as free of processed foods and sugars as I can, and am finding definite noticable progress, and recommend it to anyone dealing with depression, or anything where their body would benefit from some extra health.