Juicing For Health – Fifty Fascinating Facts

1. If you are juicing for health, it is useful to remember that fresh juice starts to lose nutrients as soon as it is made. If you want to retain the full benefit of your effort, drink the juice immediately or as soon as possible.
2. Some juice extractors, such as the centrifugal-ejection type, generate enough heat during operation to do some damage to the delicate structure of the juice. The resultant oxidation destroys nutrients.
3. Masticating juicers use a more gentle process, preserving more of the valuable nutrients. This also enables you to store the juice for a longer period.
4. If you have to store the juice for a while, make sure that the container is airtight, add a few drops of lemon juice, and keep it refrigerated.
5. When juicing for health, a clever gadget named PumpNseal can be used to vacuum seal juice in any jar. Removing the air enables you to store the juice for longer periods without nutrient loss.
6. In general, masticating juicers offer extra features, such as accessories you can use to mill, grind, puree, to make pasta, and to come up with the most delectable frozen desserts. When juicing for health, these extras will give you a fairly varied repertoire in the kitchen. A raw food diet will become more feasible in the process.
7. If you are concerned about a high noise level, rather choose one of the masticating models.
8. Remember to remove hard pits from fruit such as peaches. You won’t eat these and neither will your juicer! Don’t ruin the blades! Apple seeds contain small amounts of cyanide. Be sure to remove these before juicing.
9. Most body-building, leafy greens have strong flavors. Cucumber is a terrific disguise for this, and has the added advantage of containing important nutrients. Maximise the benefit by using one that doesn’t need peeling.
10. If you are juicing for health, use organic produce as far as possible. Otherwise wash everything thoroughly.
11. Often the greatest concentration of nutrients lie just beneath the rind or skin.
12. Don’t peel carrots, but do remove their greens. Rhubarb greens also need to be removed. There may be a problem with toxicity if you juice these.
13. Do peel citrus, mango and papaya. These peels are not usable and may even be harmful to you. The skins of oranges and grapefruits contain toxic substances. However, the white, pithy part just below the skin, contains valuable bioflavonoids. Aim to retain as much of this as possible.
14. Soft fruits such as peaches, melons and strawberries will produce a much thicker juice than harder textured fruit such as apples. Combine the two to improve the results.
15. Rather blend banana and papaya. They don’t juice well. If you have one of the masticating juicers with added features, you can try these as a frozen dessert. Juicing for health isn’t suppose to be a punishment, after all! Enjoy something sweet regularly.
16. Follow soft fruits with harder textured produce, to facilitate clearing the pulp.
17. Juicing leafy greens becomes much easier if you roll the leaves into a little ball, before feeding it into the machine.
18. Wheat-grass is exceptionally nutrient-rich, and has a taste strong enough to equal its value! If your juicer can manage it, start with tiny amounts and increase the quantity slowly.
19. It is claimed that the benefits of drinking wheat grass juice includes cleansing the lymph system, building the red blood cells, removing toxic metals from the cells, nourishing the liver and kidneys, and restoring vitality.
20. Wheat-grass needs to be consumed in juice form, as the body cannot process the plant fibres.
21. Wheat-grass is gluten-free, in spite of its name. Gluten is found only in the seed kernel, and not in the stem and grass leaves of the young plant. It should therefore be safe for individuals with a gluten intolerance.
22. Drink freshly made juice daily and concentrate on using as wide a variety of produce as possible, to ensure that your body receives a bit of all the most beneficial micronutrients.
23. Your need for expensive supplements in the form of vitamin and mineral tablets, will diminish significantly, if you are juicing for health on a daily basis.
24. Many ailments will improve if juice forms a regular part of your diet. For example, cabbage juice is one of the most healing juices in case of ulcers. In this case, use under medical supervision.
25. If you experience water retention, juices such as celery, cucumber, cranberry, and watermelon are extremely helpful.
26. A general rule is that a pound of produce will give you about a cup of juice.
27. One cup of carrot juice is equal to about four cups diced, raw carrots. Carrots are much easier to consume in liquid form. Your body is also able to assimilate them better.
28. Vegetable juice is a low-calorie snack and contains no fat. Use it as part of a sensible eating plan, and experience the wonderful results.
29. Fresh juices act as a healthy, harmless appetite suppressant, and craving curber.
30. Vegetable juice can also help to stabilize blood sugar levels. It has much less sugar than fruit juices and about 50% less calories, yet it will satisfy that sweet tooth every time. Try carrot or a combination of carrot and parsley juice when a craving hits you, and the juice jolt will give it a knock-out before you know it!
31. A water fast may leave you feeling drained, while a vegetable juice fast will give you an energy surge. Fasting should always be done under supervision.
32. If you really don’t like the taste of certain vegetables, try juicing these and adding them to some of your favorites. You probably won’t even notice the difference in taste, but your body will certainly notice the difference in nutritional value!
33. Your skin may become slightly yellow if you consume large quantities of carrot juice. This effect is harmless and will disappear once you reduce your consumption.
34. Juicing for health is more beneficial if you consume juice that is at room temperature.
35. Ginger gives a bit of a bite to juice. Try it! It has anti-inflammatory properties. Stomach irritations, nausea and motion sickness can be relieved by taking ginger.
36. The nutrients in the juice you drink, is taken up immediately by all the cells in your body. Your juicer magically transfers the produce into pre-digested food. This means that your body is able to make maximum use of all the enzymes, vitamins and minerals.
37. Juices help you to maintain the proper PH in your body, which is important in preventing diseases like cancer.
38. The phytochemicals in the juice also helps to remove carcinogens from your body.
39. The properties in many vegetables, such as cucumber and carrots, will improve your skin, hair, and nails. If you up your intake of fresh juice, expensive beauty treatments may become a thing of the past.
40. Juicing for health is anti-ageing and puts the spring back in your step.
41. Children love the sweet taste of carrot juice. It is easy to add other, perhaps detested veggies to the juice, without them noticing it.
42. Remember that, it you have kids, they may be more willing to try the juice at first if you turn it into a smoothie. Try apple, carrot and grapes or strawberry. Put ice-cubes in a blender, and pour in your juice mixture. Add some frozen yoghurt or sherbert if you want, and blend to the desired thickness.
43. A good way to add extra flavor and sweetness to juice, is to use fresh or shredded coconut.
44. You can also add some cranberries if you like the taste. Cranberries have an extremely high antioxidant content. In addition, they may help you to avoid urinary tract infections.
45. Scientists recommend 8 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables to be consumed per day. A substantial portion of the population don’t even reach 20% of the ideal. Juicing for health is the easiest way to bring you closer to this goal.
46. Although juicing removes some of the fibre, the process allows you to ingest a much more concentrated, easily assimmilated form of enzymes, minerals and vitamins. Just be sure to boost your fibre intake, by eating fibre-rich foods such as cereals and whole grains.
47. It is believed that sugar cane juice has properties that help to prevent tooth decay. In contrast, eating sugar cane often, will result in frequent visits to the dentist.
48. There is also evidence that there may be some wound healing and immune strengthening properties in sugar cane. In addition, the juice has a soothing effect on the digestive system, especially when combined with fresh ginger.
49. Juicing for health isn’t a cure-all! If your lifestyle is unhealthy in general, don’t expect juicing to magically wipe out the negative effects of all the things you know you probably shouldn’t do!
50. If you are pregnant, planning to get pregnant, nursing or have any illness, you need to get medical advice before starting a juicing for health program. The same rule applies to small children. Some juices are quite potent and may do more than good under certain circumstances.

For more information visit Best-Juicing.com. Rika Susan of http://www.Article-Alert.com researches, writes, and publishes full-time on the Web. Copyright of this article: 2006 Rika Susan. This article may be reprinted if the resource box and hyperlinks are left intact. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rika_Susan

Five Simple Juice Recipes

Some juicing recipes can get complicated so if you are a beginner why not try one of the following five very simple juice recipes:

No 1:

• 6 Carrots
• 1 Apple
• Wash the carrots and apple then core the apple and cut the tips off the carrots. Juice.

No 2:

• 1 Apple
• 1 Carrot
• 1 Celery Stalk
• Wash all the vegetables and core the apple. Juice.

No 3:

• 4 Carrots
• ½ Cucumber
• 1 Beetroot
• Wash all the vegetables then cut the tips off of the carrots. Peel, slice and quarter the beetroots and cucumber. Juice.

No 4:

• 1 stalk of celery
• 1 apple
• Wash all vegetables and juice.

No 5:

• ¼ beetroot
• 2 celery stalks
• 2 carrots
• Wash the vegetables then skin the beetroots and cut the tips off the carrots and celery. Juice.

I hope you like these simple juicing recipes; if so have a look at our other recipe ideas

Juicing Detox Recipes

There are literally hundreds of detox drinks available on the internet and in health-food stores however the vast majority of them have a number of ingredients in common, many of which act as diuretics (to flush out toxins) and laxatives (to flush out toxins in a slightly different way!)

There are three major types of detox drinks though and these are juices, water and herbal teas.

Juices

Pretty much any fruit and vegetable can be made into a detox juice drink with a juicing machine. In this way, your fruit and veg retain much higher quantities of vitamins and antioxidants which in turn benefit you. According to detox experts the best juices for detox purposes include celery, cucumber, carrot, apple, pineapple, lemon and ginger however any drink that you want to try can be tries – experiment is the key.

You should try to buy organic produce fresh from a farm shop or somewhere similar so that you know it has only been picked in the last 24-48 hours. The longer a fruit or vegetable sits on a shelf the more of its vitamin content it losses and the less it will help your detox.

Water

Distilled water or mineral water is essential during a detox programme because it is the main flushing-out ingredient. One point though – the water needs to low-aluminium because aluminium is a heavy metal and a toxin in its own right.

It is recommended that you try to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day however you should be careful not to go overboard as it is very easy to upset the body’s natural and very delicate water balance.

Herbal teas

There is a whole range of herbal teas suitable for detoxing however you must make sure that the one you choose is naturally caffeine free. Many people automatically think that green tea is a detox drink however normal green tea contains caffeine so be sure to find a caffeine free alternative.

Dandelion and Burdock tea is especially good for detoxing as is jasmine and lemon tea. Try a number of different varieties until you find a few you like. Some can be quite bitter however a touch of honey works wonders.

Detox drinks are as important to a detox regime as the diet itself so find a couple you like and stick to them. You can always try a few more next time you detox.

Find out more about Water Detox: Copyright 2006, Leroy Fong and Detox-Guide.com Leroy Fong. Detox Guide | Liver Detox | Colon Cleanse Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Leroy_Fong

Juicing – A Beginners’ Guide

You can spot a juicer a mile off at the supermarket or greengrocer. Apart from the huge number of carrots and apples they are loading into their trolley, they also have that slightly smug, see-how-healthy-I-am look about them. Or is that just me?! Actually, I don’t buy a lot of carrots and apples any more, because (other than my indiscretion with a packet of shortbread this week) I’ve radically reduced the amount of sugar I take in. My juice of choice is a vegetable one, a green one – but more about that later, first let’s ask…

Why is juicing so good?

In my article Enzymes and Raw Food, I explained why eating enzyme-rich food is so important. If you are buying cartons (or bottles) of juice, even many of those labelled ‘freshly squeezed’ you are almost certainly missing out on the enzymes. Why? Because they are likely to be pasteurised. There are different methods of pasteurisation, but all of them involve heating to temperatures a lot greater than 118F – which is the point at which enzymes are killed.

Fresh juices, on the other hand, are packed with enzymes, vitamins, minerals etc. and they taste a zillion times yummier too. Plus if you invest in a good juicing book, you can select your ingredients based on your immediate health needs too. I recommend Superjuice: Juicing for Healing and Health by Michael van Straten.

Do I need a juicer to juice?

Well, yes and no. There are so many juicers on the market and the prices vary radically. I always recommend that you start with a mid-priced model that is easy to clean. This is important. If cleaning it is a right old pain, you will be put off using it which is no good at all.

The US market is probably quite different, but for UK readers, I use the Breville AWT JE3 which retails at just under a £100. It’s by no means the best juicer on the market, but it is very good for the price and a doddle to clean. Plus the new model features two speeds, one for hard produce and one for soft fruits.

There is also the Magimix Le Duo which I understand to be better than the Breville AWT and is the same price.

If you are reluctant to invest in a juicer at the moment but you already have a blender, you could just stick to smoothies. Or for around £5, you could buy yourself a nylon sprout/nutmilk bag and simply strain the juice from the pulp to create your healthy drink. Make sure you chop up the produce and add some bottled water too.

What should I juice?

If you have acid reflux/heartburn problems, candidiasis, thrush, diabetes, IBS or an IBD, then you should avoid going overboard with fruit and sweet veg juices eg. carrots. (Actually this strategy will benefit anyone with any health issue!)

The irony is that the sweet juices may be the ones you are most drawn to, but sugar feeds microforms (like yeasts, fungus, molds, bacteria and viruses) which thank us by excreting acidic, toxins into our blood stream when they ‘digest’ the food we give them!

Your best bet is to stick to green juices which aklalise the body. I really struggled with this to start with as the flavour is a bit of an acquired taste but then I discovered lemons! My favourite juice now is…

Claire’s Green Goddess
100g of curly kale
2-3 sticks of celery
4-5 inches of cucumber
5-6 Green beans
A quarter of an unwaxed lemon (with peel)

The lemon really does do something special to the flavour. For those who are concerned about the acidity of lemon, here’s an interesting thing; lemon is only acid outside the body. Once it goes in, it alkalises. Same is true of white grapefruit and lime. But not oranges or ruby grapefruit whose higher sugar content makes them more acid inside the body.

If you have a sweet tooth and the lemon isn’t working for you, you could try adding an apple instead, but aim to reduce the quantity over time.

Should I peel?

Obviously, you will want to peel some fruits and veg, eg. a pineapple. But using organic produce means you need only give the produce a good scrub rather than peeling it which is recommended for non-organic produce.

And one final tip…

If you want to add ginger to a juice and your juicer tends to spit the chunk of ginger out without really juicing it, put it through your garlic press and stir in to the finished juice! Happy juicing.

Claire Raikes is a Wellbeing Coach, Speaker and Writer who ‘cured’ herself of a chronic, disabling and potentially life-threatening bowel condition without the use of steroids, surgery or any other traditional medical intervention. She now shares her passion for natural and vibrant health through coaching, speaking and writing about the importance and power of a truly healthy diet. She publishes a free weekly eZine, In Essence and is compiling an eBook of Healthy Fast Food with 25% of the proceeds going to The Cancer Project, a charity set up by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine(PCRM) and nutritionists to educate the public on the benefits of a healthy diet for cancer prevention and survival. If you have a recipe you would like to submit, visit http://www.LiveInEssence.com for further details. To book Claire to speak at your event, email her at Cla...@LiveInEssence.com. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Claire_Raikes

Health Benefits of Juicing

Bolstering your family’s intake of nutrients through the benefit of juicing, will prove to be a priceless gift to them.

Why such a bold statement about a mundane topic like juicing?

These days the 9 to 5 you are at work, isn’t nearly as important as the 5 to 9 you are expected to eat at home. I am referring to the recommended portions of fresh vegetables and fruits you need each day.

Only a fraction of the population reach that lofty goal. If you have kids, you know all about broccoli-battles and other skirmishes…

The solution lies in the benefit of juicing. Discover this for yourself, and you will never look back. Is it easier to down one pint of juice, than eating two large salads? Or to drink one cup of carrot juice, rather than crunching through four cups filled with diced raw carrots?

Every child goes through a stage where, having to eat certain veggies, is nothing short of torture. Don’t make healthy eating a battleground! The benefit of juicing offers an easy way out.

Children love the sweet taste of carrot juice, combined with apples, grapes or peaches. They will not even notice that mom has added a few secret ingredients in the form of cucumber, celery, leafy greens, and other unmentionables.

Add a bit of beetroot for an appealing colour – not too much though, as young palates may not enjoy the strong taste.

Give the juice combination a name they can associate with, and they will be more likely to drink it. Or ask them to come up with a name for their own concoction! If you can tempt them to drink juice on a regular basis, they probably won’t need additional supplements, unless they have special health needs.

Even adults who detest certain vegetables, such as cabbage or broccoli, will be surprised by how palatable they become when juiced together with other produce. If you combine the no-no’s with carrots, apples and beetroot, for example, they won’t even be noticeable. Through the benefit of juicing, you have tricked your body into absorbing all their valuable nutrients!

To experience the advantages of juicing to the fullest, use as wide a range of produce as possible. Variety is necessary to ensure nutritional balance.

Why is juicing so beneficial? The fibres in fruits and vegetables trap enzymes, minerals, and vitamins. A substantial percentage of the goodness remains out of your body’s reach in the normal digestive processes.

When produce is processed in a juice extractor, these nutrients are released for immediate absorption. In a sense the juice becomes pre-digested food. When drinking the juice, your body can instantly access this most concentrated form of micronutrients.

The powerful cocktail of enzymes, minerals, and vitamins are available to all the cells in your body, and is quickly assimilated with virtually no effort. You will almost hear your body heaving a sigh of relief!

Just imagine how much energy your body usually has to expend to digest huge, heavy, fatty meals. Instead of the usual energy slump you experience after a meal, a glass of juice will be followed by an energy surge.

The secret to experiencing the full benefit of juicing, lies in drinking it with as little standing time as possible. Your aim is to minimize oxidation, and loss of any of the precious nutrients.

The three main culprits responsible for destroying the micronutrients in your fresh juice are heat, air, and light. If you have to store juice, try to do so in individual portions. Fill the container to the top, seal it airtight, and even go so far as to wrap the container in aluminium foil to keep light out. Refrigerate it immediately. Don’t store the juice for longer than 24 hours.

A few drops of lemon juice added to the juice, also helps to preserve it.

Much has been written about the health benefit of juicing. Not only does it improve well-being and vitality. It is anti-aging and may even prevent certain serious diseases from developing. Many existing ailments are better managed if fresh juice is introduced as part of the treatment plan. Drinking vegetable juice daily, will go a long way toward helping your body to achieve optimal performance.

If you are unwell or elderly, you may experience difficulty eating in the normal way, or your digestion may be compromised. Whatever the situation, you should be able to experiment and find suitable recipes for juices you are able to tolerate well.

If you are constantly on the run and don’t nourish yourself as you know you should, what can be easier than quickly popping a variety of veggies into your juicer, and downing an energy cocktail?

A few caveats:

1. If you have any illness, if you are pregnant, planning a pregnancy or if you are nursing, it is always sensible and safe to consult a medical practitioner before joining the juicers.

2. You lose some of the fibre when you juice fruit and vegetables. Make sure you find other natural ways to include enough fibre in your diet.

3. Some vegetables are more difficult to tolerate or metabolize. Start slowly and find the combinations that work for you. Wheat grass for example, has quite a strong taste, but is very beneficial. If your juicer can manage it, introduce it slowly and always in combination with other juices.

4. You may wonder if store bought juice won’t give you the same benefit. Many store bought juices contain unwanted, unhealthy ingredients. Even if you do find 100% pure juice, the nutrient value will have been depleted to a large extent.

Of course, no one expects the benefit of juicing to make you give up the benefit of eating that aromatic, tasty meal! Juicing is not meant as a replacement, only an addition… very soon to become an addiction.

For more information visit Best-Juicing.com Rika Susan of http://www.Article-Alert.com researches, writes, and publishes full-time on the Web. Copyright of this article: 2006 Rika Susan. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rika_Susan