I DON’T MEAN KOOL-AID

Juicing…. I love juicing…Juicing has SO MANY health benefits!

Eating fruits & vegetables in your daily meals is also essential but there are some special benefits from drinking your fruits & veggies. I look forward to it every morning.

It has taken the place of our 1st cup of morning coffee. Instead of adding a caffeinated/dehydrating beverage into your system first thing in the morning consider adding a beverage that is PACKED FULL of energy, nutrients & flavor.

There are three main reasons why you will want to consider incorporating juicing into your daily routine:

1.    Juicing helps you absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables. This is important because most of us have impaired digestion as a result of making less-than-optimal food choices over many years. (Fast Food)

2.    Juicing allows you to consume a higher amount of vegetables. You should eat one pound of raw vegetables per 50 pounds of body weight per day. For most, eating that many vegetables is  difficult, but it can be easily accomplished with a quick glass of vegetable juice. (I'm not talking about 3lbs of potato's either!!)

3.    You can add a wider variety of vegetables in your diet. Many people eat the same vegetable salads every day. This violates the principle of regular food rotation and increases your chance of developing an allergy to a certain food. But with juicing, you can juice a wide variety of vegetables that you may not normally enjoy eating whole. (Come now, ANOTHER Cesar Salad... not good)

Below are some of the additional health benefits of juicing:

·         Improving the cardiovascular system and heart health:

Both antioxidant vitamins C and E prevent the damaging effect of free radicals on artery walls. They prevent blood from sticking, clotting, as well as becoming toxic. For the health benefits of juicing vitamin E you can use blackberries, kiwi, asparagus and spinach in your juicer recipes.

·         Detoxifying the liver:

The liver has 100′s of important functions. One of its main functions is to clean the blood and remove toxins and metabolic waste.

Certain nutrients are needed to provide the juicing benefits of liver cleansing. Antioxidants beta-carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin E are potent liver cleansers. In addition, B-vitamins riboflavin and niacin also aid liver cleansing. Cabbage, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower have been found to be great for the liver.

·         Alkalizing your system (vegetable only):

All vegetables are alkalizing. Fruits on the other hand are not.( they are mostly acidic in nature)
The benefits of making your body PH level less acidic is a subject of its own, so here are just a few juicing benefits;

• Improved brain function
• Improved heart function
• Slowing down the aging process (ya girl!)
• Improved joint function – helping with arthritis
• Less disease-prone body environment. - Acid breeds diseases.          
• Better digestion

·         Healthy skin, hair, nails and eyes:

• The antioxidants vitamins C and E help to prevent skin damage.
• A deficiency in riboflavin (vitamin B2) can cause cracked lips, hair loss, dermatitis, greasy looking skin and other skin problems. Putting kale, spinach, and asparagus in your juicer recipes will provide you with vitamin B2.
• The most potent nutrient for healthy eyes is vitamin A, which is not found in plants. Beta-carotene, is found in abundance in orange colored fruits and vegetables & beta-carotene is turned into vitamin A by the body. Carrot juice is a very good source for both of these vitamins.

·         Increased energy levels:

This one is pretty simple. Lots of juicing means lots more vitamins and minerals which are responsible for all sorts of health and vitality and therefore lots more energy.

·         Rebuild blood cells:

Basically, taking chlorophyll is almost like getting a blood transfusion!
Chlorophyll is also a pigment that gives plants their green color. So put the green stuff in your juicer! The darker the green, the more chlorophyll it contains. GREEN = GOOD

·         Improved immune system:

Drinking 'juice' regularly is going to give you more than adequate amount of antioxidants which are essential for a healthy immune system. The antioxidants from fruits and vegetables include vitamins A, C, E, plus a wide range of plant chemicals called phytochemicals. Phytochemicals have amazing and varied health benefits, most notably anti-cancer properties.

So the 3 main reasons why juicing is SO beneficial:

* The juice requires hardly any digestion, so all its nutritional goodness gets rapidly into your system.

* When you juice, you use more fruits and vegetables than you could actually eat.     

* Liver detoxification

Lesson 1: Use pesticide free veggies.

It is wise to choose organic whenever possible. However, some vegetables are worse than others. Below are the vegetables that are the most pesticide loaded ones according to the Environmental Working Group.

So it would be wise to only purchase these vegetables if they are organically grown. The worst ones are listed first.

1.    Celery

           2.    Spinach

3.    Kale

          4.    Collard Greens

5.    Lettuce

6.    Carrots

           7.    Cucumber (not as bad if you peel the skin)

For this very reason, I purchase all the veggies listed above at Terra-Organics.

In our house we have a pretty standard combination of vegetables & fruit that we juice on a daily basis. We mix it up from time to time, to keep it interesting, but for the most part we juice:

  Green Kale                                                     
    Red Kale
Rainbow Chard
      Celery
      Carrot                                         Orange/lemon/lime
        Apple
(see how COLORFUL that is!)

I love to throw in a cucumber, pear, turnip, tomato, ginger, cilantro, or pepper from time to time! J Mix it up- be creative & ENJOY.

So basically if you want to have better hair and skin, lose weight, have more energy, detoxify & be healthier, you should start juicing YESTERDAY.

That’s a lot of information to think about, so I’ll leave it at that!

Heather