JUICING FOR HEALTH

Juicing for health Choosing a juicer
Vegetable juicing
Vegetable juicing is critical to good health because it is an
important source of raw food. Each of us needs raw foods every day,
and juicing is an excellent way to make certain you receive large
quantities of such raw foods.
Fruit juicing is certainly good for you, but it has one disadvantage
over vegetable juicing: fruit juice tends to increase insulin levels
when consumed.


Vegetable juice does not raise insulin levels like fruit juice. The only
exception to this would be carrot or beet juice which function similarly
to fruit juice. Nevertheless, fruit juicing is certainly better for you
and your children than drinking soda, which is a very bad idea.

Why should I juice vegetables rather than eat them whole?
Many of us have relatively compromised intestines as a result of poor food
choices over many years. This limits our bodies' ability to absorb all the
nutrients from the vegetables and juicing tends to facilitate this
absortion.
Vegetable and fruit juicing is also well suited for the fast moving
lifestyle which we pride ourselves in here in the West. It makes it
possible for busy people to add more healing foods into their diets with
minimal effort.
Can I make my vegetable juice in the morning and drink it later in the
day?
Although this is much better than not drinking vegetable juice at all,
juice is best drank freshly juiced. Vegetable juice is one of the most
perishable foods there is and ideally it would be best to drink all of
your juice immediately. However, if you are careful you can store your
vegetable juice for up to 24 hours with only a moderate nutritional
decline.
You can do this by putting the vegetable juice in a glass jar with an
airtight lid and filling it to the very top. There should be as little air
in the jar as possible because it is the OXYGEN in air that will "oxidize"
and damage the juice. Think of a cut apple turning brown when exposed to
air.
It's a good idea to use an opaque container to block out all light which
would also damage the juice and then store it in the refrigerator until
about 30 minutes prior to drinking since ideally the juice should be
consumed at room temperature.
What type of vegetables should I juice?
Celery + fennel + cucumbers is a good combination that is easily
tolerated by those just starting out with juicing.

Unfortunately these are not as beneficial as the more intense dark green
vegetables. Once you get used to these though you can start adding the
better, but perhaps less palatable ones in.
Green LEAFY vegetables are the best to use in your vegetable juicing
program. All green leafy vegetables work well. The easiest ones to use
include all the lettuces including, but not restricted to:
Red leaf lettuce
Green Leaf lettuce
Romaine lettuce
Escarole lettuce

You can then put in some of the other similar green leafy vegetables such
as spinach, kale and cabbage.
Cabbage juice is one of the most healing juices when it comes to repairing
an ulcer as it is a huge source of vitamin U.
Herbs also make wonderful combinations. Parsley and cilantro are great in
vegetable juice. (My favorite source for organic cilantro in 1 pound bags
and other organic herbs is here.)

One important note about the TASTE of vegetable juice
One major objection people raise when talking about vegetable juicing is
the TASTE. They can't stand it. I try to get my son to drink "green
juice", which is a challenge, and so I have to get creative... THERE IS A
SOLUTION: I highly recommend you use a few seedless grapes in your
vegetable juice. It's a fantastic way to improve the taste of your juice.
Adding 2-3 apples also works well.
You can get more ideas for juicing on the juicing recipes page. There are
also many juicing books which can help you put together a solid juicing
program.
You must rotate the vegetables you are using in your vegetable juicing
program!
It is very important to not have the same vegetables every day. the
chances are quite high that if you keep juicing the same vegetables for
any significant length of time you will become allergic to them. Variety
is king.
What type of juicer can I use in my juicing program?
In my opinion, the Vitamix and the Healthmaster juicer are the best
machines on the market.
Cleaning up your juicer is important
It's important to clean your juicer immediately after you juice to prevent
it from contaminating the juicer with mold growth. I like to regularly
clean my juicer by dropping a few drops of bleach in my juicer, running it
for a minute and then rinsing it thoroughly.
Because vegetable juice has virtually no fat and no protein in it, it's a
good idea to balance the meal by adding some essential oils when you juice
as well as some protein supplement to make the meal more balanced. I find
the lowest price for high quality liquid amino acids on the internet is
here.
Adding essential oils to your vegetable juice
There are 4 basic supplements you could use:
Fish Oil (EPA/DHA) (source of omega 3 fatty acids)
Flaxseed oil (source of omega 3 fatty acids)
Cod Liver Oil (has vitamin D and vitamin A in addition to the EPA/DHA of
fish oil.)
Evening Primrose Oil (source of omega 6 fatty acids)
Juicing as a way of fasting
Consuming nothing but fresh, diluted juices from various fruits and
vegetables for a day or more is a safe and helpful form of fasting. I
believe that juice fasting actually works better than a straight water
fast, because it helps to eliminate wastes, old or dead cells while
building new tissues with the easily accessible nutrients from the juices.
The more drastic water fast is more intense, often resulting in more
sickness and less energy, than fasting with fruit and vegetable juices.
Paavo Airola, one of the pioneers of fasting in America, states in his
book "How to Get Well" that "systematic undereating and periodic fasting
are the two most important health and longevity factors."
When juicing, always make sure to use clean filtered water as you do not
want chlorine to be a part of your diet.

© 2002 Healing Daily