Parsley juice is a potent and concentrated version of all the nutrition in the herb, including a rich array of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, enzymes, chlorophyll and volatile oils.
Parsley is also known to be especially good for kidney cleansing and liver detoxification and this page will suggest two recipes for this purpose, the first using a juicer and the second a blender.
Importantly, parsley should not be used in large amounts by pregnant women or those taking blood thinning medication.
There is also conflicting advice regarding using it for people suffering from kidney disease. Some medical resources caution against using too much parsley as it contains substances known as oxalates, sometimes suggested to be avoided by people with kidney problems.
On the other hand, parsley has a long history as a beneficial herb for the kidneys and both the fresh plant and dried tea are often recommended for kidney infections or to help dissolve kidney stones.
The page on parsley, pregnancy and other precautions has more information, but it would be best to consult a knowledgeable health care professional before using the larger amounts of the herb suggested in the recipes below if you have been diagnosed with kidney disease.
Additionally, parsley, like most green superfoods, is generally considered too powerful to drink on its own and is better mixed with other complementary fruits and vegetables. Some of the best of these for kidney cleansing and liver detoxification include:
Watermelon
Watermelon is great for flushing the kidneys and watermelon seeds are said to be especially beneficial for kidney stones. If this is something you’re concerned with, then look for a watermelon with the brown seeds rather than the seedless varieties.
Organic Celery
Celery strengthens the liver and kidneys and helps to eliminate toxins. Unfortunately conventionally grown celery often has a high pesticide load so organic is definitely preferable.
Beetroot
Beetroot is an excellent cleanser and detoxifier, particularly for the liver. It is also said to purify the blood and help eliminate calcium oxalate stones.
Organic Carrot
Carrot juice is another powerful body cleanser and particularly good for the kidneys. Unfortunately carrots can absorb pesticides and heavy metals from the ground they’re grown in so must be organic.
Organic cucumber
Cucumber is a diuretic that can help flush uric acid out of the body and dissolve kidney stones. The skin is full of antioxidants but conventionally grown cucumbers have a significant pesticide load and are also usually coated with wax. If you can’t find organic cucumbers you’d be better off peeling them.
Lemon Juice
Lemon juice from a fresh lemon is an excellent cleanser and can help dissolve mineral deposits that lead to calcium oxalate stones. Lemon will also help delay oxidization of the other juices.
The two recipes below use different combinations of these ingredients for the juicer and the blender. Feel free to mix it up depending on what you have available. Or, for the ultimate superfood kidney cleanser and liver detox, first juice and then blend and combine all the ingredients together.
Parsley Juice with a Juicer
While you could use as standard centrifugal juicer, unless it’s a particularly good one you often won’t get much out of even a whole bunch of parsley. In the past I’ve tried squeezing the parsley heads into a ball between two loads of carrots, but in the end I realized a proper masticating juicer just makes more sense.
While they cost more initially, a masticating juicer is an essential item if you want to juice green superfoods like parsley, spinach or wheatgrass effectively. They also get far more out of regular fruit and veggies as well as keeping the heat and oxidization right down. This greatly improves both the quantity and quality of the juice they deliver.
If you are juicing regularly, both from a health and nutrition perspective and financially in the long run, it’s well worth looking for a good masticating juicer, like this highly rated Omega Nutrition Center.
Carrot, Celery, Beetroot, Cucumber, Lemon and Parsley Juice
Ingredients
- Two large or three medium organic carrots.
- Two sticks of organic celery.
- One medium beetroot.
- One small or half a large organic cucumber with the peel (peel non-organic cucumbers).
- The juice of one large or two small lemons (always discard citrus seeds).
- One ounce of organic parsley soaked in warm water (roughly half an average sized bunch).
Method
Pour lemon juice into your collection container along with a couple of ice cubes. This will help lessen the degradation of the juice.
Push all of the ingredients through the juicer, alternating between the harder carrots and beetroot with the softer cucumber and celery. Scrunch the parsley up into a ball and feed it through between the harder vegetables. Once again, you will get much more parsley juice out of a masticating juicer than a centrifugal one.
Stir to mix the juice and drink immediately.
Parsley Juice in a Blender
A well-designed blender can blend up parsley heads into a refreshing smoothie, where you’re getting all of the health benefits of parsley in an easily digestible form.
Cheap ones may struggle to chop it up, but a powerful blender like this Breville model I use will turn parsley into an extremely healthy, dark green puree.
Watermelon, Cucumber, Lemon and Parsley Smoothie
While you could chop up watermelon and juice it, it’s so high in water content that it is especially suitable for blending. The same goes for cucumber.
There are also beneficial nutrients in the seeds of both watermelon and cucumber, so if you’re not afraid of a little texture, then keep the seeds in (the better the blender the smaller these will be chopped up).
Ingredients
- Half an ounce of organic parsley (less is needed than in juicing as the whole herb is used).
- The juice of one large or two small lemons (minus the seeds).
- One large organic cucumber, diced with the peel on and seeds kept (peel first if you can’t find organic).
- As much watermelon with the seeds as you can fit into the blender.
Method
Blend all these ingredients up until you can see the parsley leaves finely blended and the watermelon seeds chopped up into small pieces. Drink immediately.
This smoothie is extremely refreshing and very good for cleaning the kidneys. Remember though that watermelon really doesn’t keep once blended so you’d want to drink this smoothie right away.
I’d appreciate hearing any feedback on how you feel after making up either the parsley juice or smoothie. For a really potent combination you could first juice carrots, celery and beetroot and then added it to the watermelon, cucumber, lemon juice and parsley smoothie above. That’s a bit of work, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more powerful and better tasting liver and kidney cleanser.
Next is another way to get more of this amazing herb into your diet with a great tasting Parsley Pesto Recipe.
Liked this page? Subscribe to the RSS feed for more!
Photo 1 credit with thanks: thebittenword
Photo 2 credit with thanks: Mykl Roventine
Photo 3 credit with thanks: stevendepolo
A very informative piece. Good work!
Thanks Dominic.
Should be really use the seeds of the water melon? I usually remove this when making water melon juice. Do let me know.
Hi Vianee. Yes, watermelon seeds are full of nutrients and quite healthy. I keep them in my blended smoothies as well.
Hi
We roast water melon sees and eat them as snacks after we shell them, just like sunflowers seeds. Is this healthy? We also eat pumpkin and honey dew seeds same way
Hi Shosho,
I think it depends a lot on how high a temperature you roast the watermelon seeds and other kinds of seeds at. The higher the temperature the more chance of the healthy fats changing their structure and becoming less than healthy. You definitely don’t want them going too brown.
This page has a low temp alternative for pumpkin seeds in healthy coconut oil. Maybe you could try it for the other seeds as well – http://superfoodprofiles.com/homemade-pumpkin-seeds
I found this recipe after looking up the health benefits of parsley. Tastes great, thanks so much for sharing!
Cheers Mike.
Hi, I tried the receipe for the blender using fresh watermelon, cucumber, lemon and parsley. I absolutely LOVED this. Thanks so much, it was so refreshing and even lifted my mood
will be making it again and again.
Thanks Kate. Glad you liked it.
To: Webmaster
From:
Kathy
Message:
Hi,
My Dad has recently experienced problems with his bladder not properly
excreting unrine and had to be hospitalized because the urine back up
in his system and causing a very toxic build up which has affected his
kidney function. He is still having testing done, but in the meantime
what types of food should we give him. I am thinking lots of healthy
organic liquid recipes?
Hi Kathy,
Run any of this by his doctor but the Ayurvedic preparation Triphala is considered very beneficial for the kidneys – http://superfoodprofiles.com/triphala-benefits-health
Pumpkin seeds also have good nutrients for the kidneys – http://superfoodprofiles.com/are-pumpkin-seeds-good-for-you
I would also think soups and juices made from healthy foods like these would help – http://superfoodprofiles.com/carrot-parsley-soup-skin-food
http://superfoodprofiles.com/super-skin-bok-choy-smoothie-recipe
While this last one says it’s for the skin, the kidneys are closely related.
Please give him parsley parsley and parsley … Is number one of kidney .. And urine cleansing … My fathe has the same problems … After eating the parsley .. He went to doctor … And he was surprised. For the result … All stones in the urine was destroyed. And his kidney function very well now thanks god for the gifts you gave us in the nature…
Hi Joseph,
I have read a lot of positive reports like this on the effectiveness of parsley for kidney stones. Thank you.
Just read a few days ago about some of the benefits of parsley for the kidneys. I am in my mid 50′s and have no known problems but since kidney problems seem to run in my family, I am going to try prevention now rather than treatment after the fact. I came up with my own “recipe” of 2 to 3 slices of pineapple with some of the juice, cinnamon and/or powdered cloves (small amount of each for taste) and about 1/2 cup of water to help the blender chop up the parsley. Now I am glad to find your website with even better suggestions for other beneficial ingredients.
Hi Brian,
That sounds like a great recipe for kidney health. Perhaps you could combine it with the ingredients here. Taking care of your kidneys with healthy foods like this can help improve a lot of different areas of health and energy.
Will tyr this parsley smoothie asap.
For those with blemishes/pimples try using a mixture of half lemon juice and half cold water( ratio 1 is to 1) as your face toner.
It has worked wonders for me and i have also helped a lot of my freinds.
Could you give the parsley cleanse to your pet .. such as a dog with heart disease??
Hi Diane,
I can’t advise parsley for dogs or other animals as they have very different digestive systems. I have read that citrus fruit can be bad for dogs but I would suggest discussing this with a vet.
Some people told me that drinking a concentrated parsley soup is supposed to help as well with kidney stones.What is your opinion?I have been doing the treatment this month
twice a week.
Hi Yael,
While it would be advisable for those with kidney issues to consult a knowledgeable health care professional before having heavy doses, it is a traditional treatment for kidney stones.
hi there
does barsley helps my kidney problems? i hav a cyst on my kidney according to the ultrasound, is it safe to drink the juice of it? i need to kno bfore, trying it
rjay
Hi Rjay,
It’s best to consult your doctor before drinking parsley juice if you already have kidney problems though it is a good preventative. It is also better mixed with other beneficial fresh juices as described in the article.
How long should you drink the parsley and water detox. What amount of week or days. Thank you
Hi Evelyn,
3 days would be a good initial treatment. If this is well tolerated a person could make it up for a week and then have a week off.
Hope this helps.
I used to be on the herbalife marvelous diet but after loosing 20 pounds, one day I didn’t feel good so I end up in a hospital once in there the doctor ordered a study of urine collection of 1 hole day. The results were that normally you eliminate 150 mcg of protein in the urine and I was eliminating 1300 mg, it was like everytime I go to the bathroom and expelled urine was like throwing dishwasher liquid cause of the amount of bubbles, the doctor said that the internal wall that separates urine from others nutrients was too thin and in the nearby future I was a candidate for dyalissis which is a process to clean and process the blood externally. What can I do?
Hi Robinson,
I think it’s important to find a health care professional you feel comfortable with who can help you fix what sounds like a serious health issue. Natural methods may well have a place in helping you to heal but you’d need to be seen and treated personally by a specialist I think.
Best of luck getting this fixed.
What is the amount recommended to drink?
Hi Christen,
The juice recipe here will make a good sized glass, probably a glass and a half. It’s always better to drink parsley juice with other complementary juices like the ones in the article. It’s considered a bit to powerful to have just on it’s own. Half a regular sized bunch is the maximum I’d have in a juice and a quarter in a smoothie.
Hope this helps.