Juicing Book

Vegetable juice is low in protein and fat. Your body works better when some protein and fat is in each meal.

I personally like to add ground hemp seed to my juice. Yes, I said hemp seed.

Hemp seed is said to be the perfect seed for the human body as it has what many believe to be the perfect ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 essential fatty acids.

Hemp seed therefore is a great source of healthy fat and protein. Most health food stores carry ground hemp seed. Due to its high vitamin E content, the ground seed is unlikely to spoil but it should still be kept in the fridge. It's also possible to buy some hemp seed which you grind yourself and then add to your juice.

Other beneficial seeds include pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Some people can use flax seed but flax seed swells once it is moist and doesn't have a good taste.

Whenever possible, I like to suggest hemp seed.

If you decide to use hemp seed then it must be finely ground. If it is not ground then the seeds, being so small, will not get fully digested and most of the seeds will just pass straight through your system without even being digested. This in turn means you don't get any of the nutritional benefits. By grinding the seeds, you literally open the seed up allowing your body to more easily extract the nutrients from the seed.

No matter what you use, it is important to get some fat and protein with your juice to make it more balanced. If you have nothing else, have a little cheese with your juice.

It's also possible to add some protein powder to your juice, but of course, many protein powders are of low quality. Some people, as an alternative choose whey powder. When choosing whey powder, I prefer goat's milk whey powder instead of cow's milk whey powder due to the fact that goat's milk is more similar to human milk. One of the best, if not the best, goat's milk whey powder supplements is the one that Dr. Bernard Jensen provides known as Capra Mineral Whey.

If something like hemp protein is not available and/or you want to try something else, then coconut butter (oil) which is available from your local health food store is another option.

Chlorella is a great supplement to add to your juice. The main benefit of chlorella, in addition to all of its wonderful nutrition, is that it has the ability to bind with heavy metals such as mercury. This is especially important if you've ever had mercury fillings, smoked, been around pollution, etc.

Spirulina is also another good choice but unlike chlorella, spirulina does not bind with heavy metals and so it doesn't have the same benefit. But the nutrition in spirulina is amazing. Spirulina and chlorella may not appeal to your taste buds initially but I must admit, my taste buds kind of enjoy the weird taste.

Oils can also be added to your juice. Fish and vegetables oils can be used. Just remember that oils, especially from the sea, can contain high amounts of vitamin D which is also known as the sunshine vitamin. If you live in a region that gets lots of sun plus take an oil that has lots of vitamin D, then your body can actually have too much vitamin D.

Nut and seed butters can also be added or eaten on the side when juicing. Nuts and seeds contain a good source of fat and protein. Sesame seeds contain a lot of calcium too and when eaten as tahini, you provide your body with lots of calcium. In fact, a small amount of tahini provides more calcium than a glass of milk! This is a little known fact due to the marketing of the dairy producers. We must give those dairy producers credit for having an exceptional marketing plan and making us all believe that milk is the best source of calcium. The fact is however, that both sesame seeds and kelp are a better source of calcium than milk especially when you consider that both sesame seeds and kelp are more easily digested and assimilated by the body and don't have the negatives that milk has. Remember, baby cows grow approximately twice as fast a human children and so this is one potential reason why children, who drink a lot of milk, grow quite tall. Of course, it's not a natural growth and this is why many children then also suffer from skeletal problems. Either way, sesame seeds especially in the form of tahini (ground sesame seeds which is like a peanut butter) and kelp are your best source for calcium. Both kelp and tahini are available at health food stores.

• Tip: A spoonful of tahini provides a ton of calcium. There's nothing better than a tahini salad dressing. If you want to make a healthy salad, add here's a tahini salad dressing recipe that serves 4:
  • 4 tablespoons tahini
  • 4 tablespoons cold processed virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • soya sauce to taste - remember, soya sauce can be salty
  • salt and pepper - I like to use sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley or your favourite herb
  • 1 minced garlic clove - you can add more garlic if you want, it's a personal choice
  • paprika if you want - add to taste
• Tahini is, by nature a Middle Eastern dish as well as a Greek dish. You can alter the ingredients as you want to find the consistency you like.

You can get creative with what you add or supplement your juice with.

Simple things like the above suggestions can dramatically improve the benefits you get from drinking your juice because you help create a whole food juice that is loaded with quality and beneficial nutrition.

Have you been wanting to do hatha yoga (stretching) but have found it either too difficult or you are not that flexible? If yes, and even if no, watch Jesse do some pure hatha yoga routines.

Unlike flow yoga, each pose in pure or traditional hatha yoga is held for a few minutes. While holding the pose, you focus the mind on the stretch. When you focus the mind, that's when you find silence.

Jesse is not flexible — never has been and probably never will be flexible like others. But it doesn't matter. In pure hatha yoga, how flexible you are makes no difference. It's all about loving the pose and focussing the mind on the stretch.

If you want to learn pure hatha yoga, now you can by following Jesse on a series of hatha yoga routines.

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