If you’re being treated with chemo, please check with your oncologist or dietitian at your chemo clinic.  You want to ensure a juice won’t be too strong for your type of chemo or that it won’t interfere with any other medications.  It’s likely they’ll tell you to only drink 1 glass per day (or 2 smaller glasses), and you can make a bit more during your “break” week.

When my husband was on chemo I juiced to alleviate side effects from the drugs. When he had low energy or was a bit queasy from a recent treatment I included apple, carrot, celery, ginger and a bit of parsley. When he had dry skin I created a juice of broccoli, carrot, kale, parsley and zucchini.

I believe it’s a good idea to change the items in the juice as often as possible to get a wide variety of nutrients. 

The oncology nutritionist gave me some great advice about juicing. The main thing to think about is what would a person reasonably eat in one sitting? For example, it would be pretty easy to juice 3 heads of broccoli and drink them in one sitting, but you would never EAT 3 heads of broccoli. When you’re making juice, think about all the ingredients and whether you would actually be able to eat that amount.  She also told me to combine the juice with a serving of protein and a little bit of fat (nuts, seeds, yogurt, etc.). Protein balances out the carbohydrates in the juice and your body needs fat to help absorb fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K).

The small intestine is good at absorbing bacterial fermentation so you may also want to have some Kefir with each juice to help improve absorption. Kefir is a probiotic yogurt drink with active bacterial cultures and is available in most grocery stores.

Here’s a sample of some of the recipes I use for my husband.

Week 1 – with chemo (8 oz)

• 1 green apple, with skin (organic)
• 1 small lemon (remove skin unless organic)
• 1 stick celery (organic)
• small handful parsley
• small handful watercress
• 1 small stalk broccoli (florets and stem) or 1 large cabbage leaf (red or savoy)
• 1 collard green or kale leaf
• swiss chard (1-2 leaves with stem)
• 1/2 zucchini (organic)
• 1 small carrot
• 1 small piece of ginger
• 1 tsp olive oil (extra virgin)
• 1 sprig mint (omit during nausea or if the flavour is too strong)

Week 2 – with chemo (8 oz)

• 1 green apple, with skin (organic)
• 1 lime (remove skin unless organic)
• 1 stick celery (organic)
• small handful parsley
• small handful watercress
• 1/2 beet with 2-3 beet greens
• 2 leaves kale (organic) or 1 small stalk broccoli (florets and stem)
• 1 collard green leaf or a few Brussels sprouts
• 1 small piece of ginger
• 1 tsp olive oil (extra virgin)
• 2 sprigs mint
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp turmeric
• freshly ground black pepper

Week 3 – break week (12 oz)  *

• 1 green apple, with skin (organic)
• 1 lemon (remove skin unless organic)
• 1 stick celery (organic)
• small handful parsley
• small handful watercress
• small handful spinach (organic) or dandelion
• 1-2 leaves kale (organic)
• 2 leaves collard greens (organic) or cabbage leaves
• 1-2 radishes
• 1 small piece of ginger
• 1 tsp olive oil (extra virgin)
• 2 sprigs mint
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp turmeric *
• freshly ground black pepper

* Check with your oncologist or dietitian – they may tell you to stop using turmeric and to reduce the quantity of your juice a few days before your next treatment.

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