Benefits of Juicing

Benefits of Juicing

Freshly made juice is rich in vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and amino acids. It's the best way to give your body what it needs and to keep it working at its optimum. You may be wondering whether you can buy natural juice instead of making it. The truth is that commercial juice does not contain the high nutrient content that freshly made juice has. Processing destroys most if not all of the nutrients.

One benefit of juicing is that fresh, organic juice is easy to digest and quickly absorbed and assimilated into your bloodstream. Your blood then carries the nutrients to various organs and body tissues to nourish and repair cells.

Another benefit is that you can consume much more live foods through juicing. It takes approximately one pound of carrots to make a glass of juice. Most people cannot eat this many carrots. However, drinking a glass of juice is something that everyone can do.

Another reason to juice is that raw juice contains more than just vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and enzymes. Depending on the juice, you can receive other benefits. For example, string beans contain insulin-like properties. Cucumber and onion juice contain hormones needed by the pancreas. In addition, tomatoes, garlic, onions, and radishes contain antibacterial properties.

You can use juices as a supplement to your diet of natural, whole foods or you could do a "juicing fast" a few times a month. Juice fasts take place over a day or sometimes several days. You'll do nothing but drink fresh, natural juice. It's a great way to kick start your healing and rid your body of all of the junk that you've been putting into it.

Below are some examples of juices you can make at home to help you get started juicing and their benefits.

Carrot Juice (this is the base for many juice combinations)
* Thoroughly wash about one pound of carrots
* Do not peel; feed into the juicer one at a time

You can drink straight carrot juice; it has a cleansing effect and builds the blood.

Celery Juice
* Cut a stalk of celery into two or three pieces
* Feed the celery one piece at a time

Celery has diuretic properties and helps to maintain proper sodium levels.

Apple Juice
* Wash and core three or four apples and cut them into sections
* Do not peel
* Feed into the juicer one at a time

Apples are high in phenolics. Phenolics have anti-aging properties, help protect against cardiovascular disease, and cancer.

These are just a few examples of juices you can make. There are endless juice combinations to treat numerous conditions. However, it's important to keep in mind that there are some differences between fruit and vegetable juice. Fruit juices are beneficial for cleansing and detoxifying the body, while vegetable juice is conducive to rejuvenating and repairing the body.

Happy juicing!