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Healthy Living

Benefits Of Juicing

Benefits of Juicing

Juicing is rapidly becoming a popular. The newest ideas from nutritional experts tell us to eat less pre-packaged food and more raw fruits and vegetables. Diets like the paleo diet urge a return to the diet of early humans which was nearly all raw food. The idea being that our digestive system evolved eating these foods. Modern ailments like Gluten allergies may prove such diets are better.

Juicing provides a way to get all the benefits from fruit and vegetables (with the exception of fiber). Think of how much faster you can drink a glass of water versus the time it takes to eat an apple. This is the reason everyone is juicing.

Of course, if you have seen the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, you may be aware of the weight loss potential. If you have not seen the movie, check out the trailer below.

Benefits of Juicing

Everyone should be familiar with the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables.

The food pyramid shown to the right. I recall this diagram from my grade school days. It is published by the USDA.

The US Government clearly advocates consuming more fruits and vegetables. They occupy a large lower portion of the pyramid. You are told to consume more of them than any other food group. In fairness, there is some argument over this. Some versions of the pyramid have breads and grains at the bottom. Veggies appear above them. Some charts go a step further and show water across the bottom.

Fruit and vegetables are fully of vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and phytonutrients. This is the reason the USDA recommends a large amount servings per day. Veggies are a potent source of all the essential vitamins

Benefits of Juicing

Anti-oxidants are a nutritional buzz word. What does it mean?

A free radical is highly reactive compound. Basically a molecule missing an electron in its outer shell. Recall chemistry class, and that this molecule will aggressively looks to take an electron from another molecule. The process of damaging other molecules is called oxidation, as oxygen is a notorious free radical. Think over water and how the oxygen binds two hydrogen atoms. So, if you ingest free radicals (and you do) they oxidize tissues and organs.

Anti-oxidants are molecules that willing give up electrons. Thus if you combine free radicals and anti-oxidants, they will neutralize each other. So, if you consume anti-oxidants they can eliminate free radicals.

Plants have developed especially strong anti-oxidants. This is because plants breathe carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. Thus oxygen is a byproduct and plants evolved methods of neutralizing it.

Consuming fruits and vegetables containing anti-oxidants will prevent free radical damage. Experts believe free radical damage may be the reason we age.

Benefits of Juicing

You simply cannot buy juice at the store and expect to get the same benefit as juicing.

Commerically prepared juices are pasturized. They are heated to destroy bacteria and pathogens. The problem is it destroys the vitamins and anti-oxidants as well.

For example, look at the label on orange juice. Ascorbic Acid is one of the ingredients. Ascorbic acid is vitamin C. Manufacturers add synthetic Vitamin C to replace the natural vitamin. This is the only way they can print the vitamin C claims on the package.

Odwala juicemade in California used to be fresh juice. However bad apples tainted the product several years ago and six people ended up dead. Now Odwala flash pasturizes their juice and destroys most of the nutritional value.

Benefits of Juicing

One drawback to juicing is that you don't get the fiber you would from eating the vegetables. Juicers remove the pulp, and this is the fiber. When you eat a veggie this dense pulp material would make its way through your stomach and intestine undigested. It would eventually be expelled.

Some juicing fans advocate eating the pulp. I find that if you change a meal or two a day to liquid drinks from solid food, you don't really miss the fiber.