Summer juicing makes great sense. Your body needs a healing dose of nutrients and antioxidants during the allergy season, and there is a plentiful supply of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Juicing is a great supplement to an already healthy diet. However, most people’s fruit and vegetable intake is well below the recommended eight servings daily. Juices are a tasty and efficient way to increase fruit and vegetable intake.

Right now, you can take advantage of the health benefits of summer berries, such as blackberries, blueberries and boysenberries. Stick to a blend of 60-70 percent veggies and 30-40 percent fruit which is basically a green juice.

Drinking freshly pressed juice provides your body with a highly concentrated dose of vitamins and minerals, and beneficial active enzymes. Juicing also may strengthen the immune system and provide an energy boost. Juicing concentrates the protective antioxidants and anti-cancer substances present in fruit and vegetables.

Blue and purple fruits and veggies make for some colorful juices which contain a plethora of disease-fighting, health-boosting phytochemicals like anthocyanins and phenolics. Other nutrients found in blue and purple fruits and veggies include lutein, zeaxanthin, vitamin C, flavonoids, ellagic acid, quercetin, and even resveratrol.

Try some of these blue and purple fruits and veggies in your next juice recipe: acai, blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, eggplant, elderberries, figs, purple grapes, plums, purple potatoes, purple asparagus, purple cabbage, purple carrots and turnips.

Here’s a summer juice recipe, chocked full of fresh berries and seasonal vegetables.

Berry Basil Mint Juice

Makes 16-20 ounces of juice (depending on juicer and produce used)

•1 1/2 cups of seasonal berries
•2 green or red or 1 of each apple
•1 rib celery
•1 medium cucumber
•1/2 zucchini
•1/2 yellow squash
•2 or 3 broccoli florets
•1/4 beet root
•1/4 Lime
•mint leaves
•basil leaves

Those who juice advocate drinking your mixture within 20 minutes of pressing because the live enzymes from the juice may actively repair the cells of your body. Many nutrients, including Vitamin C, disappear quickly when vegetables and fruits are cooked or left to sit in open air and light.