How to Make Anti-Aging Juice at Home (9 essential veggies & fruit)

We’ve always been told to eat more fresh veggies and fruit. And with good reason – they’re packed with essential vitamins and nutrients, as well as some potent antioxidants. But eating enough fresh produce can be a challenge, especially when you’re battling a busy lifestyle. That’s where juicing can save the day.

Juicing is the process of extracting juice from fruits or vegetables. When we “juice”, most of the vitamins, minerals and nutrients remain because they retain their natural raw state—as opposed to cooking them.

It’s an easy, effective solution to ensuring you get enough nutrient-dense servings a day. Even if you struggle with the taste of certain veggies.

Juice for Rejuvenation!

Vegetables and fruit provide a large number of essential vitamins and minerals that you need in your diet. These nutrients can protect you against a whole host of diseases and flush toxins from your organs.

A healthy body equals healthy skin, and healthy skin means a brighter, more radiant complexion.

The antioxidants in fruit and vegetables protect us from skin damage caused by free radicals. These are oxygen by-products which can prematurely age your skin. They’re also made worse by exposure to chemicals and pollution. Antioxidants go into battle for us and counteract this oxidative stress.

So, if flawless skin is what you seek, where do you start? Which veggies are the most dynamic?

For the potent anti-aging juice, and to get that skin glowing, here are 9 powerhouse plants to feed into your juicer.

Carrots

Carrots are full of beta-carotene. This not only gives orange and yellow vegetables their color, it delivers a powerful dose of Vitamin A.¹

And retinol, a form of Vitamin A, is a favorite anti-aging ingredient in many top beauty products—including Beverly Hills MD Resurface + Restore. That’s because vitamin A helps to slow aging by maintaining healthy skin cell production and by protecting against UV damage.

Carrots also contain:

Vitamin C, which helps the body to produce collagen. Collagen is the key to maintaining plump, youthful, elastic skin which prevents wrinkles and that crepey texture which appears as we age.

And, potassium, which is absolutely essential to your skin. Potassium maintains the balance of electrolytes and fluids which keep cells hydrated. It’s also useful in treating scarring. If you suffer from dry skin or acne scars, drinking carrot juice may prove beneficial.

Kale

Kale is a cruciferous vegetable and a superfood. To start with, it’s absolutely packed with nutrients: vitamins A, C, K, E, B1, B2, B3, calcium, beta-carotene, phosphorous, iron, copper, magnesium, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, and the carotenoid lutein.

Lutein is an antioxidant often called the “eye vitamin”. It’s well known for protecting your eyes from UV light. But lutein also filters UV light away from your skin. This can slow down the visible signs of aging and protect against sunburn, irritation and potentially even skin cancer.

Finally, kale contains omega-3 fatty acids which have shown evidence as natural anti-inflammatories and may help those with eczema and other conditions of the skin.²

Beets

The brilliantly-colored purple beet has some equally radiant health properties. For one, beets are rich in antioxidants and full of iron, potassium, niacin, copper and vitamin C, as well as the minerals manganese, magnesium, calcium, zinc, and folic acid.

Beets can also stimulate the flow of bile, which the liver uses to excrete toxins for removal. An overload of toxins in the body has an effect on the skin and this may be reflected in sudden breakouts of acne or a dull, lackluster complexion.

Parsley

Parsley has been traditionally used around the Mediterranean region for years to ward off toothaches, bruises, insect bites, and dry skin. A versatile herb that’s not just good for bad breath, Parsley is rich in vitamins A, C and K.

We’ve already discussed the great benefits of vitamins A and C, but vitamin K has plenty to offer too. It is often used in the treatment of bruises, scars, stretch marks, and burns as well as by rosacea sufferers to help reduce the appearance of redness on the skin.

Parsley has also been traditionally used for detoxing the liver and kidneys.

Ginger

Ginger is a must-have when it comes to juicing as it delivers a powerful zing of flavor that makes any juice palatable.

It’s famed for its ability to soothe digestion and nausea, but it’s also great for fighting infections because of its antibacterial qualities. So ginger can help in keeping the skin (and body) free of bacteria.

Finally, ginger contains essential vitamins and minerals like magnesium, potassium, manganese, and vitamin B6, along with a large dose of wonderful anti-aging antioxidants.

Watercress

Watercress is an underused little plant — which is a shame as watercress contains (gram-for-gram) more vitamin C than an orange, more calcium than milk, more iron than spinach and more folate than bananas!³ Talk about a superfood!

It’s high in sulfur which is needed by the body to produce collagen, and collagen, as we know, keeps the skin elastic and wrinkle-free. Sulfur is also useful in the treatment of psoriasis, acne, and eczema, and helps to get rid of dead skin cells.

Lastly, watercress is an anti-inflammatory and is considered a liver tonic that helps the the body to cleanse itself of toxins.

Lemons

As a member of the citrus family the lemon is high in Vitamin C which helps to neutralize more of those free radicals linked to aging. In fact, a study published in the American Journal for Clinical Nutrition concluded that people who consume more vitamin C have less risk of wrinkled and dry skin.

Lemons are ideal for restoring the body’s pH balance. Optimal pH balance is essential because when your body becomes too acidic it can lead to many potential problems. For example, this can irritate the skin or allow “bad” bacteria to grow.

Lemons may also stimulate the liver and the bowels. This keeps toxins moving out of the body (and away from the skin).

Garlic

It might sound weird to juice your garlic! However, like ginger, garlic is one of the most powerhouse vegetables you’ll ever come across. Garlic has antibacterial, antiviral, antioxidant and anti-fungal properties – great news for those who suffer from bacteria-driven conditions like acne.

One little clove of garlic contains such nutrients as manganese, vitamin B6, vitamin C, selenium, fiber, copper, calcium, phosphorous, vitamin B1, iron, and potassium.

But, if you still can’t get your head around juicing garlic then how about trying a more savory-style of juice. Try juicing together:

5-6 cups of Baby spinach
1 lemon, unpeeled
2 Green apples
1/3 English cucumber
7 leaves Romaine or Butter lettuce
A small chunk of ginger
2-3 garlic cloves

Avocado

Though avocados can’t technically be put through your juicer, they shouldn’t be left out of your beauty tonics. The secret is to juice your other vegetables first, transfer that juice mix to a blender and then blend with avocado until smooth.

Avocados are known as the world’s fattiest fruit (yup, it’s actually a fruit). But it’s the healthiest as it has basically no sugar compared to other fruits. Those rich fats consist mostly of oleic acid – a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid which helps to keep the skin hydrated and supple, as well as reduce redness and irritation.

Avocados are also rich in anti-aging antioxidants, like beta-carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin E.

Anti-Aging… Alcohol?

Stick with us here — we’re not really recommending adding a shot of alcohol to your juicer. In fact, alcohol, in general, isn’t the best for your skin. Alcohol tends to be pretty dehydrating, which can make for a dull complexion. It can also lead to skin redness and broken blood vessels.⁴

But — there is one exception we’d like to mention here. And technically, it is a type of juice… fermented grape juice to be exact. Yep — we’re talking about red wine.

You’re probably already aware that a glass of red wine every now and then may be good for heart health.⁵ But red wine may provide some benefits to your skin. You see, red wine is packed with polyphenol antioxidants.⁶ These antioxidants can do a world of good as they have the unique capability of fighting off free radicals which can damage the skin and lead to the visible signs of aging.^7,⁸ And scientific evidence backs this up. In fact, it’s been specifically proven that certain types of red wine polyphenols — like resveratrol — can actually work to protect the skin from aging-related disorders.⁹

So, yes, in a sense there is an anti-aging alcohol that can help you drink your way to younger-looking skin.

How To Make Beauty Juice

Now that you know what veggies you’ll need for a luminous complexion, all you need to decide is which juicer to buy!

Stop handing over $10 a pop for that tiny bottle at your local juice bar. For a fraction of the price you can do it at home, plus, you’ll never have to throw out wilted or browning veggies or fruits in your fridge again. Here’s to a new, healthier complexion via DIY juicing!

Article updated: March 27, 2018

Read More:

3 Anti-Aging Veggies That Help You Look (and Feel) Incredible

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Sources
1.http://www.umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/betacarotene
2.https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/omega-3-fats/
3.http://www.hortweek.com/watercress-industry-defends-its-traditions/fresh-produce/article/945143
4.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20620755
5.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3023893/
6.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2903024/
7.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20399614
8.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3299230/
9.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20886076/