Juicing for Health

Have you tried juicing yet? If not this might be a great time to start. A juicing plan can help you on your way to a radiant and energetic life and truly optimal health.

Try adding one juice/smoothie a day to your regular diet and notice how you feel. Just one juice a day will give you a huge nutrient boost – (it’s a lot easier to receive the nutrition that 6 carrots and 4 apples will give you in a juice rather than eating them!) . This will help to fill you up and also help considerably towards your daily fruit and vegetable intake.

Juicing or Blending?

Firstly, let’s describe the difference between juicers and blenders. A juicer will literally extract the juice only from the fruit or vegetables and leave the pulp behind. The advantage of this is that the nutrients from the juice go straight into your bloodstream and are absorbed immediately giving  you an instant boost. Juicing also gives your digestive system a break so it can help with healing. The disadvantage is that all the fibre is left behind in the pulp and wasted.

A blender, however, will blend the whole fruit or vegetable including all the beneficial fibre contained in it. This means that, although you won’t feel the benefits straight away, you will feel fuller for longer and you will get the benefit of all the fibre which is important with fruit particularly as the fibre in the fruit balances out the fructose so it will stop you getting blood-sugar spikes.

For juicing, you should be ideally looking at juicing a higher ratio of vegetables to fruit (80:20 ideally)  so as not to overly increase your daily sugar consumption. This particularly applies if you have high blood pressure, diabetes, insulin resistance or high cholesterol.

The exception to the fruit rule is lemons and limes as they have virtually no sugar to worry about. They can also help to eliminate any bitterness from the vegetables.

Which are the best fruits/ vegetables to juice?

Buy organic vegetables where ever possible and maybe think about joining a local box scheme where they will very often do a juicing box full of local organic seasonal vegetables.  Some veggies which are great for juicing are :-

• Cucumbers – great for cleansing.
• Celery- anti-inflammatory. Can help to lower blood pressure.  Great for digestive issues.
• Carrots, rich in beta-carotene, beneficial for eyesight, and also a great liver/gall bladder cleanser.
• Kale, exceptionally high in nutrients, high in iron and very alkalising.
• Fennel, excellent for digestion, reduces bloating.
• Apples – great as a base for most juices –  helps to sweeten and also helps with detoxification.

Smoothies

We use and recommend the NUTRIBULLET blender. It is more of a nutrition extraction device and it can break down the pulp, skin, seeds and stems of the fruit and vegetables. You can also add nuts and other seeds such as sunflower and pumpkin to further boost your levels of vitamins and minerals. Herbs are great too – consider adding Parsley for a vitamin C boost and for general digestion and detoxification, Coriander for boosting iron levels, detoxifying heavy metals and for lowering blood sugar,  Basil for it’s anti-inflammatory benefits and Mint for  immunity boosting and digestive support .

Last but not least, spices can add a great bit of flavour and they have amazing medicinal properties.

Ginger is a natural anti-inflammatory and can also help with nausea, colds and flu, pain, blood circulation and respiratory problems.

Cinammon  is one of the most powerful spices around and can help with weight loss due to its amazing ability speed up the metabolism, control insulin levels, suppress appetite  and decrease blood sugar.

Cayenne is helpful for weight loss and for reducing acidity. It fights irritation so is great for helping upset stomachs and ulcers. It also helps to fight colds and flu as it is good at breaking down mucous. It’s active ingredient capsaicin can help to prevent migraines and even act as a possible anti-cancer agent.

Turmeric root is also a great spice to add to juice drinks -many studies are now showing how curcumin – ( the active compound found in turmeric) also known as the ‘king of spices’ can be help with many conditions such as depression, inflammation and RA, chronic pain, diabetes,  cancer, ageing, brain health and memory.

Cardamom is also known as the ‘queen of spices’ and can really help with digestive issues such as bloating and IBS. It can also be helpful for high blood sugar, diabetes and high blood pressure. It helps the body to detoxify by eliminating waste through the kidneys. It’s also acts as a natural antidepressant and has anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

Click here for smoothie remedy recipes.

For more information on how juicing could help you heal, have a look at ‘The Juice Lady’s Guide to Juicing for Health : Unleashing the Healing Power of Whole Fruits and Vegetables” by Cherie Calbom. Read a sample here.