Carrot, Apple, Lemon, and a Spoonful of Horseradish: The Homemade Juice Nutritionists Compare to a Multivitamin in a Glass

Even wellness-famous people swear by some version of this glass. Actress Lindsay Lohan recently described her own daily ritual in almost identical terms: a morning juice built around carrot, ginger, lemon, olive oil, and apple, alongside plenty of green tea and water. Swap the olive oil for flaxseed and the ginger for horseradish, and you land almost exactly on the traditional home recipe below — proof that the "kitchen-cabinet juice" idea keeps reinventing itself, from grandmothers' kitchens to Hollywood wellness routines.

There Isn't One "Healthiest Juice in the World" — There's Yours

Here's the truth about the world's healthiest drink: the most beneficial ingredients are almost always the ones already growing near you. That's exactly why every region tends to have its own "miracle juice." This particular recipe earns its place for a simple reason — it needs nothing more than affordable, everyday ingredients from a home kitchen, combined in a way that lets the flavors and the nutrients work together rather than against each other.

As always with home remedies and traditional recipes, it's worth remembering that a homemade juice is a tasty addition to a varied diet, not a substitute for medical treatment or professional dietary advice — especially for anyone managing a health condition or taking medication.

What You'll Need

• 1 carrot


• 1 apple


• 1 lemon


• 2 tablespoons grated horseradish (fresh ginger works well as a substitute)


• 2 tablespoons flaxseed (or 1 tablespoon coconut oil, if you prefer)


• 1 dl (about 3.4 fl oz) good-quality red wine, optional

How to Make It

Wash and slice the carrot into rounds. Choose an organically grown apple if possible, wash it well, and cut it into smaller pieces — skin included, since much of the fiber sits there. For the lemon, use both the juice and the pulp (scoop it out with a knife). If the mixture is too thick for your blender or juicer, thin it with a little lukewarm water, and drink it right away — fresh juice oxidizes quickly once exposed to air and loses potency the longer it sits. Sip it slowly rather than gulping it down.

If you'd like, stir in the optional dl of good red wine. Along with its antioxidant content, wine is traditionally credited with supporting digestion, while the lemon contributes an alkalizing effect and the pectin in the apple is often associated with a gentle cleansing effect on the digestive tract. The beta-carotene in the carrot supports the body's own production of vitamin A, which is linked to eye, skin, and blood health — but there's an important catch worth understanding, since it explains why this recipe is built the way it is.

The Beta-Carotene Trick Most Juice Recipes Miss

Beta-carotene is fat-soluble, meaning your body can only convert it into usable vitamin A when it's consumed alongside a source of dietary fat. Multiple nutrition studies have converged on a similar finding: as little as 3 to 5 grams of fat per meal appears to be enough to meaningfully improve carotenoid absorption, according to a review of dietary factors affecting carotenoid bioavailability published on PubMed, and the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University reports the same 3-to-5-gram threshold for ensuring carotenoids are absorbed at all. In other words: carrot juice on its own, without any fat, may pass through the body largely unused.

That's exactly where the flaxseed comes in. Ground flaxseed is a well-documented source of alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid, along with soluble fiber and plant lignans; Mayo Clinic's overview of flaxseed and flaxseed oil notes it may help support healthy cholesterol levels as part of a balanced diet. If you don't have flaxseed on hand, a spoonful of coconut oil or any other seed or nut oil serves the same fat-pairing purpose — which is also why a "local alternative" almost always exists for whatever exotic ingredient a recipe calls for.

Why the Apple and Lemon Are More Than Just Flavor

Apples bring pectin to the mix, a soluble fiber concentrated mostly in the skin. A pooled analysis of controlled human trials cited by Healthline's review of apple pectin research found that pectin supplementation was associated with reduced LDL ("bad") cholesterol without lowering HDL ("good") cholesterol, and pectin is recognized by food-safety authorities as a fiber that can support healthy digestion as part of a normal diet. A separate clinical trial published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that apple-derived pectin lowered LDL cholesterol by roughly 7 to 10 percent compared to a control group over several weeks — a modest but real effect, and a good reminder that "fiber-rich" isn't just a marketing phrase.

Lemon, meanwhile, is best known for its vitamin C content, which plays a supporting role of its own: vitamin C has been shown to significantly improve the body's absorption of iron from plant foods, a pairing discussed in Foods That Improve Nutrient Absorption on Foodwhisper.

What About the Horseradish?

Horseradish's sharp bite comes from glucosinolates, plant compounds that convert into isothiocyanates when the root is grated or crushed. A review published in Horticulturae summarizes decades of research into horseradish's traditional use in supporting respiratory and urinary tract health, attributing much of that reputation to these isothiocyanate compounds. If horseradish is too intense for your taste, fresh ginger is a gentler substitute with its own long history of traditional use for digestion — an approach also explored in Foodwhisper's Juice With Cayenne Pepper That Boosts Metabolism.

A Glass That Can Stand In for a Light Meal

Because of its fiber, healthy fat, and concentrated micronutrients, a full glass of this juice can comfortably replace a light lunch on a busy day — though it shouldn't become a habitual meal substitute without input from a healthcare provider, particularly for anyone with specific nutritional needs.

And as this recipe shows, you don't need anything exotic to put together a nutrient-dense drink. For every "superfood" ingredient — ginger, coconut oil, an imported citrus — there's usually a humble, local, and considerably cheaper stand-in doing much the same job. That combination of carrot, beetroot, and apple juice has become something of a habit for plenty of people, as Foodwhisper's own readers have noted in Three Ingredients, One Habit: Why Do So Many People Swear By Carrot, Beetroot, and Apple Juice?