Kitchen Products > Juicers
Top Ten Reasons to Juice
1. Enzymes! Fruit and vegetable juices provide a convenient source of enzymes. Although people don't think of them much, enzymes are extremely important to health. They spark the essential chemical reactions we need to live. They are necessary for digesting food, for stimulating the brain, for providing cellular energy, and for repairing all tissue.
2. Juicing prevents disease. Many studies point out that a diet high in fruits and vegetables can prevent disease.
3. The complete package. When you juice, you get the whole package--all the nutrients found in fruits and vegetables. This means natural nutrients in natural proportions, not added sugars, like those found in juices on supermarket shelves.
4. Healthy sugar. No, this is not an oxymoron. Juices contain simple sugars that we need for energy; however, because they are combined with other healthful nutrients, they are not harmful, as are refined sugars.
5. Less digestive work. When you drink juice, you save your body energy; it doesn't have to do as much digesting. It also helps maintain your supply of digestive enzymes--you do not use as many.
6. Quick absorption. When you drink juice, the nutrients get to you quickly!
7. Protein from nonmeat sources. Although fruits and vegetables do not contain large quantities of protein, their juice can be a convenient carrier. Simply add some brewer's yeast, wheat germ, or whole grains to whatever you're juicing. These give you protein without the fat that meat contains, and protein that is quickly and easily absorbed by the body.
8. Phytochemicals. Heard of them? They are substances in plants that are linked to good health and to prevention of specific diseases. They are found only in fruits and vegetables, and juicing is a great way to get them.
9. Specific vitamins and minerals. When you juice raw fruits and vegetables, you get specific vitamins and minerals in a natural, easily absorbable form. Looking for beta carotene? Drink carrot juice. Looking for potassium? Try a green juice, or blackberry juice.
10. Liquids. We need liquids to remain healthy, and juicing is a good source of liquids.
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Top Ten Reasons to Avoid Processed Foods 1. They're dead! Much of the goodness is cooked or processed out of our foods. We do not benefit from the enzymes and nutrients the foods normally contain. Dead foods equals dead cells! 2. Lose money. Although fruits and vegetables often appear to be expensive, they are often less expensive than processed foods. Fresh broccoli can cost $0.78/lb, while frozen broccoli can cost $1.19/lb. 3. Wrong market. When you spend money on processed foods, you encourage growth in this market. Spending your money on fruits and vegetables, preferably organic, encourages others to enter this market. 4. Fortified with synthetics. To make up for the loss of nutrients during processing, synthetic vitamins and minerals are added. Although helpful, these synthetics are not as healthy as their natural counterparts. 5. What nutrients? Processing takes a lot of the nutrients out of nutrient-rich foods. You get little that your body needs. 6. Mystery ingredients. Many processed foods are filled with strange parts and pieces. For example, hot dogs contain "edible offal": animal skin, snouts, ears, esophagi, etc. 7. Hide and seek. Processed foods often contain hidden sugar, salt, and fat. All three of these contribute to health problems! 8. Unhealthy additives. Unhealthy chemical additives are added to foods so that they will stay fresh longer, or to enhance color. 9. They ruin your taste. Processed foods contain refined sugar, extra salt, and other flavor enhancers. Not only are these often unhealthy, but they dull your taste buds to natural flavors. The result? A need to eat more processed foods to get the taste you want, and natural foods that don't taste as good as they should. 10. You're not listening to your mom. Mom said eat your veggies, not processed foods. And she was right. |
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Benefits of Juicing |
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The regular consumption of fresh vegetable juice is one of the very best gifts that you can give to your body. |
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Of course, vital to all of this is your definition of ‘juice’! ‘The Benefits of Juicing’ defines juice as being "water, flavours, pigments, enzymes, vitamins, minerals and nutrients... working synergistically to give your body the materials that promote healing, energy, and protection from disease." This obviously rules out packaged juices such as cartons of ‘fresh’ orange juice, Nudie-type juices or any other juice that has been packaged, pasteurised or made more than twenty minutes before consumption. If nothing else, the sheer length of time between creation and consumption is enough to kill any nutrients and enzymes in these juices. However when you consider that most prepackaged juices are pasteurised (killed) and packed with sugars, sweeteners and other chemicals you can begin to understand why they do not really count as ‘juice’. Better than Coke? Probably, yes. But these are still not beneficial to your health. Why Juice? If it is not obvious already then I hope that these points will help you decide to make vegetable juicing a permanent part of your lifestyle: - Green juices contain lots of chlorophyll which is incredibly effective in detoxifying our bodies. Chlorophyll can help make our bodies strong, detoxify the liver, can purify and help to rebuild our blood cells (as the molecular structure is very similar to haemoglobin which moves oxygen through our blood), remove mold, parasites and myco/exotoxins from the body and (as many, many studies show) can help prevent and remove cancer cells. - According to macrobiotic.co.uk – one of the biggest health benefits of juicing can be summarised in one phrase: cellular cleansing. According to Steve Meyerowitz (the Sprout Man!) all changes to a persons health should start at a cellular level by oxygenating and cleansing the system of toxins and other damaging foreign invaders. This is known as creating and enhancing health and fitness from the inside out. The cellular environment is the environment where all of the cells in our body live, including the lymphatic system, digestive system, and cardiovascular system. This could be a whole article in itself, however, it is important to remember that fresh vegetable juices are massively beneficial to the body’s efforts to cleanse its cellular environment. - Raw, fresh vegetable juices are extremely alkaline. We have several other articles on the importance of alkalising your body, however, very briefly – it is highly beneficial to ensure that your body does not become over-acidic and that an alkaline balance is maintained in the blood & tissues. Over acidification is the common theme and cause of almost all conditions of ill health! - As mentioned, raw vegetable juices/ green drinks are an excellent source of vitamins & minerals, trace elements, enzymes and nutrients which supply essential elements required for the body’s healing processes and cell regeneration. - Vegetable juices are rich in natural medicines, vegetal hormones & antibiotics. For instance, certain hormones needed by the pancreas to produce insulin are present in cucumber & onion juices and freshly juiced garlic, onions, radish & tomatoes contain many beneficial antibiotic substances. This list could easily go on and on…but I don’t think that it needs to – isn’t this reason enough to start juicing!? |
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How to Start Juicing The obvious starting place is with the juicer itself. If you already own a juicer – excellent – if not, I would probably do whatever it takes (within legal and moral limits!) to get access to one. Basically, beg, steal or borrow (without the stealing bit). There are literally thousands of juicers available on the market and it can seem a little overwhelming at first when trying to find the juicer that is right for you. When you are looking it could be important to consider the following: - What can I afford right now? - What juicer action will be best for me? - What features are you looking for? |
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