10 BENEFITS OF JUICING
1. CONSUME MORE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES IN ONE SITTING
If you make juicing a part of your everyday life, you’ll consume far more fruits and vegetables than you would if you had to eat them in whole form. Juicing makes getting your recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables so much easier. If you had to chew up a few stalks of celery and eat them with pile of spinach and then eat an apple, it would be quite daunting. But a green smoothie made from juicing those same ingredients can be drunk in a few minutes.
2. STAY ALKALINE
Getting your body to an alkaline state and keeping it there can pay big dividends in the form of health and well-being. Alkaline foods help swing your body’s pH levels to the alkaline side, which is one way to stay healthier, as many diseases and conditions form when the body is in a persistent acidic state. Keep in mind that whether a food is acidic or alkaline depends on how it is processed by the body. That’s why some foods that seem acidic, like a lemon, can actually have an alkaline effect on the body once consumed.
3. DETOXIFY YOUR BODY
You’ll often hear juicing brought up in the same discussion as detoxing, because it does such a great job of providing the body with a flood of nutrients it can use to help rid itself of toxic waste. Any good detoxing program will simultaneously be providing the body with plenty of nutrients, which is why juice fasting has become so popular in recent years. It’s the process of cutting out all food except for juices made with fruits and vegetables specifically chosen to help cleanse key organs of the body.
The most popular organ for detoxing is the liver, which is why you’ll see juices made with lemon, grapefruit, or garlic, as these have been shown to help the liver purge itself of toxins and function as it should.
4. IT'S EASIER TO DIGEST (YOUR BODY DOESN'T NEED TO WORK AS MUCH)
When you juice you get the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables, but you’re getting them in liquid form. This makes it much easier to digest them, and absorb the nutrients they contain. Chewing is the first step of digestion, and juicing is a way of skipping that step. Many times we don’t chew our food enough, which leads to indigestion. This is especially true for raw fruits and vegetables which require a lot of chewing to get them broken down. This means that by the time the juice reaches your stomach and starts being digested, you’ve already got a head start on the process. Your body won’t have to work as hard to break down the food and pull out the nutrients it needs, and more of these fruits and vegetables will be use than if you had eaten them whole.
5. HAVE MORE ENERGY
You’ll naturally have more energy from juicing because you’ll be infusing your body with fruits and vegetables full of vitamins that give you real energy. Rather than settle for the phony “energy” found in energy drinks loaded with caffeine and sugar, it’s much better to get real energy from juicing . These foods have absorbed the power of the sun, and they relay that energy to you, while at the same time helping every system in the body. These juices also contain antioxidants which will help limit the amount of oxidative stress placed on the body, and help fuel you for hours on end. Best of all, no crash later.
6. IT'S A NATURAL STRESS RELIEVER
One of the best things about juicing is how versatile it is. You can tailor your juices to a desired effect, juicing up certain fruits and vegetables depending on how you want to feel. Just as some concoctions can help you have more energy, others can help you deal with stress and calm you down.
Load up on spinach if you’re feeling stressed. It contains a number of factors that will help you feel better, including being high in tryptophan, the substance in turkey that is notorious for bringing on a sleepy state. It also contains plenty of magnesium, which will help relax the body and help you cope.
7. GET STRONGER BONES
Juicing up fruits and vegetables high in calcium is a better way to meet your calcium need than through milk and dairy products. Running low on calcium is easier than you might think. Getting high quality calcium into the body each day is essential, and juicing can help with that in a big way.
8. LIVE A LONGER LIFE
Juicing has long been touted as helping with longevity and helping you live a better life in general. With more energy, more antioxidants, and more vitamins being taken in, it’s easy to see that you’ll live longer, all else being equal. By constantly feeding the body the things it needs you’ll be displacing unhealthy foods and avoiding the toxic effect they have on the body. Juicing helps all of your vital organs do their job better, so you’ll have a more vibrant life and you’ll be able to live it the way it was meant to be lived, in a body that is functioning as Mother Nature intended.
9. GET BETTER SLEEP
Need help getting to sleep? Juicing could be the answer. You just have to know which foods to juice up in order to induce natural sleep signals in the body. There are foods that contain melatonin, the hormone that is naturally released in the body that gets us to start yawning at night. Try juicing cherries, tomatoes, oranges, or bananas as a digestif to your dinner and then look for natural signs of sleep when bedtime rolls around. Listen to your body. If you start to get tired around 9pm, go to sleep, don’t fight to stay awake. You’ll feel much better for it, and you’ll likely be more alert and better able to function without the need of stimulants.
10. IT PROVIDES BRAIN POWER
Juicing can help you focus and be more alert during your day, something we can all appreciate. The best part is that it does so naturally, using foods that provide additional benefits to the body. Green smoothies are perhaps the most effective way to get your brain moving. Choose any green, leafy vegetable and you’ll be surprised how great you feel after drinking it down. It may not have the same buzz that a caffeinated energy drink has, but if you try to focus you’ll see that you can, and it’s something that is sustainable without any negative side effects or long term problems. The right mix of fruits and vegetables can kick your brain into gear more effectively than any 5-Hour drink can.
WHAT'S COLD-PRESSED? HPP?
Cold-pressed refers to juice that uses a hydraulic press to extract juice from fruit and vegetables, as opposed to other methods such as centrifugal or single auger. The process of high pressure processing (HPP) allows the juice to be stored for about 30 days. Without pasteurization or HPP, cold-pressed juices can be stored for 2 to 4 days. This type of juice has existed for decades, but gained public popularity in 2013 to the present day.
We think it’s best to drink our juices the same day they are pressed. As soon as any juice meets the air it begins to oxidize, compromising its nutritional value. However, storing your full juices in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed glass jar slows this process. Cold-pressed juices contain many beneficial nutrients, although they can also be high in sugar and low in dietary fiber.
BLENDED VS. COLD-PRESSED
When juicing, the machine extracts the juice (this is the water and most of the nutrients the produce contains), leaving behind the pulp. When blending, there is no left-over pulp. Blenders pulverize the whole produce to make a smoothie.
When you juice you are removing the insoluble fiber – the pulp. Don’t get me wrong. Fiber is good for you. It keeps your digestive tract healthy and it slows down the absorption of sugar. But it also slows down the absorption of nutrients and some nutrients stay in the fiber. When you juice, you are extracting up to 70% of the nutrition right into your glass, and without the insoluble fiber your body absorbs 100% of these nutrients.
The benefit in some ways of blended smoothies (with soluble + insoluble fiber) is that fiber slows down digestion and keeps you full longer. You also consume significantly less produce in a blended smoothie, however some of the nutrients stick to the fiber and are carried out of the body -- so less nutrients are absorbed.
WHY IS ORGANIC BETTER?
Organic farming use methods that minimize the use of toxins while building soil quality and protecting water quality. Additionally, buying organic supports chemical and pesticide-free practices that are healthier for our farmers and for our planet. Lastly, we feel that organic foods have more intense and delicious flavors.
HOW TO START JUICING?
Did you know that 95% of the vitamins and enzymes our bodies need are found in the juice of raw fruits and vegetables? We would need to eat 2 lbs of carrots, 10-12 apples, or 8 lbs of spinach to get the same amount of nutrients you receive in one 16 oz juice. When you drink juice, highly concentrated vitamins, minerals and enzymes rapidly enter the bloodstream absorbing all of the nutritional benefits of the fruits and vegetables and giving your digestive organs a much-needed rest.
SIDE EFFECTS
You may experience some side-effects of juicing such as dizziness, hunger, and headaches. But you will also experience a feeling of lightness, clarity that outweighs the negative. Please check with your juice provider for a full list of pros and cons.
