Juice Your Way To Better Health

Most fruit and vegetables can be used to make healthy, delicious juices and once you get into juicing the likelihood is that you will consume a great deal more fruit and vegetables than you would have done before and by doing you will be juicing your way to better health.

Juicing is considered to be one of the quickest and most effective ways of providing the body with all of the vitamins, minerals and enzymes that are essential to maintain good health and vitality.

It is not only a fun and simple way to consume more fresh fruit and vegetables, it also provides our body with a hit of high quality nutrition in fast and easily digestible form.

Juicing enables us to give our body a nutritional and wholesome health-benefiting drink that tastes delicious. To achieve similar effective nourishment we would need to be eating anywhere up to 2 kilos of fruit and vegetables at one sitting everyday which I am sure that you would agree would be a rather monumental task even for the most staunch vegetarians amongst us.

A diet that is high in fresh, raw fruit and vegetables will require a lot of energy to be able to digest food and extract nutrients effectively and therefore making this energy no longer available to be used to heal and restore our body. The energy that is preserved is used by our cells to build, repair and renew our body by detoxifying and flushing out nasty unwanted toxins and waste.

We can digest fluids a lot more easily than we can solid foods. Liquid nutrition is much more easily absorbed, preserving energy and giving our digestive system a much needed rest.

Not only will freshly juiced juice furnish you with increased energy and strengthened immunity it will also help to flush-out the toxins out of your body, provide the raw materials to help your body heal more quickly and completely and best of all it is very low in calories, practically fat-free and bursting with vitamins,minerals and hard-working enzymes.

Enzymes are the body's workforce and they provide the energy to support this process and they act as a catalyst for the hundreds and thousands of chemical reactions that take place every day, from the digestion and absorption of food to the production of energy, whilst the anti-oxidants mop up any excess 'free radicals', which are the rogue molecules that attack the body's cells and tissues.

Juices are so fast-acting and tend to act somewhat like a 'blood transfusion' simply because during the juicing process all the fibre is removed from the piece of fruit or vegetable that is being juiced leaving the vitamin and mineral-rich pulp that is then absorbed directly into the bloodstream. Within approximately 20 minutes this vital source of goodness is nourishing the body's cells.

It is the vitamins, minerals, enzymes and phytonutrients that are found in freshly juiced juices that are the key to a healthy body and healing, which is why juicing is a central element of many nutritional healing and detoxification programs.

Drinking juices is an effective way to hydrate all our cells.

Treat yourself to a juice today - you will immediately feel the benefits and you will be juicing yourself to better health!

The type of juicer affects the quality of juice extracted. If you are new to juicing, start out with an inexpensive juicer. Then, if you decide you like it and want to juice regularly then you can invest in a more expensive juicer which will last longer and will extract a greater quantity of juice from the pulp.

Choose a single or twin gear crushing juice extractor over a centrifugal juicer that whips or spins the juice because the heat and electrical activity triggered by these juicers can damage the sensitive plant enzymes, thereby reducing the availability of nutrients to our body.

An easy to clean juicer is a bonus, simply because the simpler it is to maintain and clean the more frequently you will be likely to use it and the less chance it will end up hiding away in a kitchen cupboard where it is of absolute no use or benefit to you.

If you cannot afford a whizz-banger of a Juicer and you already have a Blender, you can still take heart at being able to use it to juice up your fruit and vegetables as all you will need to do is add a cup or so of water (depending on which fruit and vegetables that you are using), blend and strain the juice either through a sieve or a piece of muslin-type cloth to remove the pulp from the liquid.

This is a great juice to make when you feel a cold or flu coming on.

This particular juice drink is antiseptic, detoxifying, diuretic and cleansing to the liver.

Wash and put through a Juicer -

2 large stalks of CELERY (including the leaves)

2 large CARROTS (unpeeled)

1 large APPLE (unpeeled)

1/2 - 1 inch (1 - 2.5cm) fresh GINGER root (unpeeled)

1/2 LEMON (peeled)

1/4 cup (60ml) fresh or frozen BLUEBERRIES, CRANBERRIES or ELDERBERRIES

If making in a Blender -

Add 3/4 cup (180ml) WATER into blender, add cut-up Celery and blend.

Then add remaining cut-up ingredients and blend until smooth.

Line a large measuring cup or bowl with muslin or use a fine sieve and pour the liquid through.

Serves 1.

This juice is a mild tonic for the liver as well as being high in Vitamin C.

If you are using frozen strawberries it is advisable that you leave them to thaw out a bit before putting them through the juicer or blender.

Wash and put through a Juicer -

2 cups (500ml) Fresh or Frozen STRAWBERRIES (hulled)

2 large CARROTS (unpeeled)

1 ORANGE (peeled with the white pith left on)

1 cup (250ml) KALE or other Dark Greens (pack it in)

If making in a Blender -

Add 3/4 cup (180ml) WATER into blender, add cut-up Ingredients and blend until smooth.

Line a large measuring cup or bowl with muslin or use a fine sieve. You might need to twist and apply some gentle pressure to help you to get all of the liquid out.

Discard pulp.

Serves 1.

This drink has it all ... it aids digestion, it is a diuretic, it is detoxifying and anti-inflammatory and best of all it tastes really good!

Wash and put through a Juicer -

2 large stalks of CELERY (including the leaves)

1 large CARROT (unpeeled)

1/2 CUCUMBER (unpeeled)

2 cups (500ml) chopped PINEAPPLE

1 cup (250ml) chopped CABBAGE (pack it in)

If making in a Blender -

Add 3/4 cup (180ml) WATER and Pineapple into blender and blend.

Then add Cucumber and blend.

Then add remaining cut-up ingredients and blend until smooth.

Strain through a piece of muslin or use a fine sieve and pour the liquid through.

Serves 1.

As it is the very concept of juicing to remove the pulp so that digestion and assimilation of the nutrients will be rapid, just what exactly should you do with the leftover pulp?

Good question, because this is a common concern for most people as they simply do not like the idea of 'wasting food'.

My suggestions include ...

Adding the leftover pulp into your compost pile (remember to spread it out throughout the compost in small amounts especially if it contains citrus)

If you have no use for it straight away then freeze it and use it as you see fit such as -

Mix it in with your salad (trust me, it is not as bad as you might think!)

Use it when you are next baking cakes, muffins, etc

Blend it into smoothies in lieu of other fresh fruit and vegetables

Add it into soups

Add small amount into your dog's food

If you are lucky enough to have chickens then feed it to them if you are not keen on eating it yourself.

So what are you waiting for ... go on and start juicing today!

You will immediately notice the benefits of having more energy, boosting a stronger healthier immune system and better weight management.

JUICING is a tasty way to boost your health!

It is very important that you begin slowly with juices because your body will not be accustomed to digesting such a concentrated form of nutrients.

It is also better to drink juice on an empty stomach because that way it will pass down into your intestine more quickly for an immediate vitamin and mineral boost.

Another thing that you must remember is that raw, freshly juiced unpreserved juice is highly perishable so try and drink it straight away after making it. Any contact with light, heat or air will start an oxidation process that will eventually break down many of its valuable nutrients.

However tempting it might be to juice up all of your fruit and vegetables, it is imperative that you do not eat all of your fruit and vegetables this way because the juice that you are drinking does not contain fibre and you need to have fibre in your diet.

Juice ... it really is the ULTIMATE FAST-FOOD!

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UrsulaRose

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