I received this book free in return for a review.

It is another edifying juicing book by Elizabeth Swann, this time on the merits of green juicing.

Green juicing gives you huge doses of essential micronutrients, strengthens your immune system, oxygenates your body with chlorophyll and helps you lose weight.

Drinking green juices is a fast and easy way of getting your required servings of vegetables.

We are given valuable advice about selecting a juicer and are told how best to store our juices if we can’t drink them immediately, which of course is absolutely preferable.

The author is vastly knowledgeable about health matters and in this book introduced me to the concept of ORAC values (ORAC = Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity). These values tell us which foods, supplements and essential oils have the highest level of antioxidants. For example, broccoli has an ORAC value of 890 and blueberries 2,400, while clove essential oil has the very high value of 1,078,700 (and just one drop at a time should be used).

We are provided with much necessary and valuable information for making our green juices, including an alphabetical list telling us how to deal with each particular vegetable, fruit, or whatever.

There is advice about buying in bulk, and green juicing on a budget. We are advised about toxins, and that we should of course preferably juice with organic produce, though we are given a list of those fruits and vegetables with thick skins which are relatively safe to use even though non-organic, e.g. pineapple, mango and kiwi, as well as informed of the “dirty dozen” foods that contain most toxic pesticide remains.

There are chapters about detoxing with green juice, green juicing for weight loss, green juicing to fight stress, green juicing to boost brain power, etc.

However, I am obliged to insert a few negative comments. Unfortunately, the book seems to have been written, or at any rate published, in a great hurry, and innumerable typos, grammatical mistakes, and the like, have found their way into it, including a few sentences which don’t make sense or which give the opposite meaning than the one I’m sure was intended. The book should have been perused and corrected by a capable editor or friend, since these many errors detract from the book’s quality and readability.

Fruit when eaten greatly raises one’s blood sugar, but when juiced and drunk the carbohydrates affect your brain immediately, thus dramatically affecting and elevating the blood sugar. (The dangers of consuming too many carbohydrates is treated in the book “Grain Brain” by David Perlmutter. M.D., who recently talked about his book on the Dr. Oz show.) Though I love the concept of green juicing, I personally would not be able to tolerate a juice that contained two apples, but would add only a few apple slices to the juice.

Also, the super encyclopedia of greens at the back of the book, though potentially exceedingly useful, is written in very small print, too small for my liking/eyes (another editorial matter). In this list, as regards fennel, I would add that fennel and fennel seeds are reputed to be exceptionally good for the bones and thus prevent/cure (?) osteoporosis.

Useful information is provided regarding the addition of cayenne pepper, algae, wheat grass, and apple cider vinegar, for instance, to your green juices together with super foods such as cacao (as super foods expert David Wolfe calls it), maca and acai powder.

Apart from these mostly editorial inaccuracies, I find the book inspiring and knowledgeable. It is written in a simple, clear and optimistic style and provides dozens of health-giving green juice recipes, and therefore I would greatly recommend it if you’re interested in the subject. ( )

First of all, I should note that I received this book free of charge in return for a review. Having said that, this was a fun to read (and delicious to try out).

One can see the DIY ethic in producing this e-book, as it could have benefited from more editing.
1. Typos and a large number of stray commas abound.
2. There are a number of confusing comments like:
a. “Since taste and sugar content are important factors to consider when you first start to green juice, you will perhaps start with one green juice (mixed with no more than 1 part fruit) every day.” In which author mentions one part fruit, but doesn’t give the proportion (1 part fruit to how many parts vegetables or greens?)
b. And in discussing where to get organic produce without paying premium prices, the author writes, “Also, forget shopping at the over-inflated health food stores for the bulk of your green juicing items. You can get carrots, celery, and greens for much cheaper, and organically, if you purchase them in bulk. Just get the items like organic lemons or limes, for example at your health food store- they will often double the price as compared to a big box store.” I’m not sure why we’d want to buy organic fruit at double the price, and it’s difficult to figure out what she wanted to say.

I would say my biggest complaint is that the author makes a couple of references to green smoothies, but never says why one would want a green juice over a green smoothie. Since she also has a green smoothie book out, I think it would be important to delineate the advantages/disadvantages of one over the other.

These issues aside, I really enjoyed the book. It was great for the recommendations about non-organic fruits and vegetables to avoid as well as pointing out non-organic foods that tend to have low pesticide residue. (Though, even here the author seems to confuse sweet and Russet potatoes.)

There were also tons of mouth-watering recipes—I tried at least four before preparing this review, and look forward to working my way through many more. Also, there are in-depth, clear explanations of health benefits of juicing and the types of recipes most appropriate for de-stressing, de-toxing, and losing weight.

This is an enjoyable, easy to follow ‘how-to’ book that really makes one want to just jump in and start juicing! ( )