Get your Juices flowing...

So much to say but where to begin... My name is Jatin Ondhia and I own the freshly opened Natural Tonic Bar in St James’s Park. From fruit smoothies to super vegetable juices, hot herb and spice infusions to black teas, Natural Tonic Bar has every health ingredient you could possibly desire in many great tasting concoctions.

After many years in the city, I felt my body was suffering and set about to find ways of enhancing my health, while living the fast-paced lifestyle I enjoyed. In the process I discovered lots of unknown health tips which I want to share with everyone through this series of blogs. Each week I will share another tip I have discovered on my journey to establishing London’s first natural tonic bar.

I also worked in New York for three years and discovered that they have already found the balance between taste and health. Many still go for the triple portions, corn dogs and burgers but balance this out with healthy, nutritious juices and infusions. They have realised the importance of fresh, natural products to maintain a healthy balance in the body, and even their burgers are becoming wholesome and nutritious. I’ve returned to the UK with a passion and greater knowledge and this blog will help me share some useful tips and easy to follow advice with you out there, even for the most extreme health dodgers.

To start with, it is important to know that rather than the usual supermarket juices, a juice should ideally be fresh, and mixed to contain around one-third in super-vegetables, such as lettuce, spinach, pepper or celery. Sweeter ingredients such as apple, beetroot and carrot can then be used to make an all round pleasant tasting and nutritionally balanced drink. Most supermarket juices on the other hand are pasteurised, which involves heating the juices to kill the living enzymes and extending shelf life. These enzymes are the nutritious parts of the juice though, so this process leaves the juice with little nutritional value. Just remember, fresh is always much more nutritious, and it's better to mix ingredients to generate a balanced nutritional impact.

That’s it for this week. So much to share, but will let you absorb this first!