Why Juice?

Making fresh juice a part of a well-balanced, plant-based diet is an important tool for:

• Achieving good health.
• Calorie reduction without nutrient deprivation
• Promotion of healthy eating habits
• Delicious way to consume fresh produce
• Floods the body with micronutrients

Juicing offers many life-enhancing health benefits including a faster, more efficient way to absorb immune boosting nutrients naturally found in fruits and vegetables.  It provides a way to access digestive enzymes typically locked away in the fiber matrix of whole fruits and vegetables.  Most commercial juices are processed and lacking in nutrition while freshly juiced fruits and vegetables are loaded with an abundance of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.

Drinking fresh juice can help us adopt healthier eating patterns.  For those of us who do not traditionally consume many fruits and vegetables, incorporating fresh juice can be a fun and different approach to increasing consumption of these important plant foods for improved health and wellness and reaching your weight loss goals.

Make sure you have the basics in place before you`blend’ it all in…

WAKE UP POTION:
Drink fruit juices mostly in the first half of the day, or at the start of your day as it provides the necessary carbohydrates to energise the body. For the latter part of the day, drink juices that are less sweet, like partial or full green juices. In fact, experts say that fresh juice should ideally be consumed on an empty stomach to let the vitamins and minerals go straight to your bloodstream. Having some fiber or food already in your tummy prevents that from happening.

FAMILIARITY IS GOOD:
If you are a novice to the world of juicing, start with fruits you enjoy eating. This way, your body would already be familiar with the taste of the juice. Initiate with the more common produce which is easier on your stomach like carrots, apples, oranges or watermelons. They are gentle on the tummy and mild for your taste buds.

ROTATE YOUR GREENS:
Variety is the spice of life and it’s the key for juicing correctly and safely. When you consume the same variety of green leafy vegetables, your body gets the same repetitive nutrients. If you rotate, each variety of plant will give you different nutrients, minerals, and antioxidants. So, alternate between kale, spinach, mustard greens and dandelions.

THOROUGH CLEANING:
Organic is always preferable when it comes to a raw diet. It has more nutritional density and lesser chances of pesticides and genetically modified foods. If you can’t get organics, make sure you wash the veggies and fruits thoroughly with a vegetable wash and avoid anything that is known to be heavily sprayed or cannot be peeled.

DON’T LET IT SIT:
Fresh juice contains a lot of raw food enzymes and vitamins, many of which are easily lost as the juice sits. To store juices for later, carefully pour the juice into a flask, or an air-tight glass jar while the juice is still cold. Fill the juice to the brim, leaving very little space for air as the oxygen in the air can oxidize the juice.

IT’S NOT WATER:
Many juices help keep you hydrated, clean your colon, lower your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. But it is still not water. So, keep having your fixed gallons of water every day.

What are you waiting for?
Get your juicer and start juicing. I suggest adding juices to your daily meal plans. Do not skip your mail meals; add these juices in between meals!