Dr. Henry Sherman, one of the foremost scientists and nutritionists of modern times, said, "When nutritional knowledge is sufficiently widespread, people will consume up to three pounds of green and yellow vegetables and fruit daily." Then he added, "The more, the better."

To many, this would apply to fresh juices also and the voices of authority say, "The more you drink, the quicker will be the results and benefits". Well, who among us doesn't want to shake disease and get well in the fastest possible time?

While most authorities inform us that there is no danger involved and only benefit to be derived from taking large quantities of fresh juice, I still advise moderation. Nevertheless, I am the first to concede that when dealing with live vegetable and fruit juices, it would be difficult to drink too much.

I have known people who went on a carrot juice binge and drank so much of it that their skin and eyes turned yellow. However, they did not seem to suffer any serious reaction to the large quantity of carotene ingested.

Well, I would never advise the drinking of gallons of carrot juice as such. If a large intake of juices is indicated or desirable, I would suggest a mixture of juices such as carrot, celery, apple, parsley, watercress and beet. In this instance I put the apple in for flavor, apart from its therapeutic contribution.

Actually, the addition of other vegetables may not be considered essential because carrots contain many vitamins and minerals. However, I prefer and advise variety — mostly carrots, but other kinds of vegetables for variety, flavor and improved balance of vitamins and minerals.

It is claimed that many diseases suffered by man are due to deficiencies of certain elements in the diet. The consumption of raw vegetable juices can correct such conditions and assist the body in returning to good health in the fastest and safest way possible. Vegetable juice, if properly made and handled, will contain almost all the vitamins, minerals and any other nutritional substances that might be found in the whole vegetables. Therefore, you are able to make up, to some degree, for the years that your body has been denied these vital nutrients and has thus become deficient in them.

The general consensus of opinion appears to be that you can take practically any amount of juice without fear of suffering any ill effects. Some of the theorists claim that when a person goes on a raw vegetable or fruit juice diet, it is usually because he has abused his body for 50, 60 or even more years and, to undo the harm of wrong eating and wrong living for all those years, large quantities of juices are required. Those with wide experience and who have conquered diseases, including supposedly terminal malignancies, state that one gallon of juice per day and even more is not too much. In fact, one authority suggests one gallon per day as a minimum, especially where malignancies are involved.

We must bear in mind that when we go on a juice diet, as some people call it, we mean business .... 'tis not for fun. Usually there is good reason behind it, like failing health. The idea is to get all the available nutrients from the vegetable or fruit into the bloodstream as fast as humanly possible because we need those elements in a hurry. The knowledgable scientists in the field tell us that within 15 minutes after ingesting juices, the nutrients are being assimilated by the body, whereas it would be hours or even days before solid food is properly worked over. Also, we don't want to burden an already sick and weakened body with the job of digesting a large quantity of roughage or cellulose.

Lest you believe that you can achieve the same results by means of canned, bottled, frozen or reconstituted juices, I want to remind you that this is positively not the case, as I pointed out earlier. In this I am referring only to live, fresh juices made on the spot and ingested on the spot. There should be no waiting period whatsoever.

Stay with juices as long as absolutely necessary. I stress though, as improvement becomes apparent, whole vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts should be eaten along with the juices. In such circumstances you have to play it by ear.

How much juice can be taken daily? I have tried to reach a happy medium regarding the quantity of juices to be taken to get the best results and the best I could come up with is: Minimum — 1 pint twice daily; Maximum — 1 to 2 gallons per day. However, this heavy intake of a gallon or two can only be consumed when nothing but juices is taken.

If you are going to have juice at mealtime, it must be made fresh, just before you sit down to consume your meal, and taken before the meal. You see, I advise the use of juices for health and I am taking no risks by permitting oxidation or other natural processes to interfere with the therapeutic value of these live fruit and vegetable juices.

In a few cases with which I was familiar the pattern followed was one pint of juice three times a day at regular mealtimes and one pint taken as a snack twice a day as a substitute for the usual tea or cofee break .... making a total of 5 pints daily.

Adam Brookover

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