Five Things you Need To Know About Juicing

Like most of us I used to “run” on coffee and sugar. A couple of lattes to wake me up in the morning and a chocolate bar to keep me going until my lunch-time, calorie-counted, sandwich. Then another “healthy” oat bar (full of sugar) which would provide me with just enough energy to totter home and collapse in front of the television set. And phone for the pizza delivery service. The trouble is that this sort of lifestyle leads inevitably – yes, inevitably, sooner or later – to physical and mental burn-out. I’ve been there, done that. And I’m not the only one. Am I?

What most of us need is a simple way out the dilemma and the easiest, most effective method I have found is to eat less and drink more. And the one most effective means of doing both those things is – juicing.

Our digestion is the most “expensive” system in the human body – it uses a huge amount of energy just to process the junk that we stuff it with.
Juicing allows us to consume an optimal amount of vegetables – and we all know that we should be eating at least five portions of those a day, right? – in an efficient manner. Consequently, we are able to provide ourselves with lots of healthy, healing nutrition without overloading our hard-working digestive system. All the energy that we save can then be used for the exciting enterprise of physical and mental regeneration and rejuvenation. Hurrah!

I’ve been drinking one pint of home-made juice every day for three years now and can report that the results have been all that I could have possibly wished for. I wake up energised; my brain is sharper, I am emotionally happier, more optimistic and I have come to understand what it feels like to be ALIVE again. Like it was when I was a kid. Full of Prana, as the Yogis have it.

OK, now here are the five things you need to know – so that you too can begin to experience the dramatic changes available from juicing for yourself:

1. Most people find that eating large quantities of vegetables is at best a bit of a chore and at worst screamingly boring, but the full, health-giving, benefits can easily be accomplished by a quick glass of vegetable juice. My experience has taught me that about a pint of juice a day will achieve the wonderful results we are looking for.

2. Juice is not a smoothie! A juice is a drink made using a juice extractor which provides all the liquid without any of the fibre. A smoothie is made by mixing whole ingredients into a pulp in a blender. For a pint of juice you will use three time more vegetables than you would for a smoothie which means you are receiving three times more of the good stuff – the life giving vitamins and minerals.

3. Juice your vegetables. Eat and/or blend your fruit. Fruit is sweet and if you remove the fibre it becomes even more highly glycemic. Not good! (You may find yourself suffering from mood-swings and increased cravings for sweet food like sugar and carbohydrates – those chocolate bars again!) Also it’s already easy to eat 3-4 fruit a day – and delicious as well. So why bother? Its the juice of green vegetables from which you will benefit most.

4. Why Greens? Chlorophyll is the magic ingredient. It’s the pigment responsible for the green colour in plants. It enables them to “trap” energy from sunlight. Chlorophyll assists in red blood cell regeneration, enhancing the oxygenation process. It cleanses the digestive system, assists in purifying the blood, eliminates bacteria, disinfecting and detoxifying as it goes about it’s work. Oh, and it balances the body’s acid-alkali levels. Chlorophyll is rich in zinc, selenium, vitamins E, C and A, biotin, pantothenic and folic acids, calcium, chromium, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium. Not to mention iron.

5. What about protein? Yes, indeed! Your juice will provide some of the protein complex but take a few nuts or seeds with your juice. They will help you absorb it better as well as making it a more complete food.

Juice recipe:
Juice kale, spinach, parsley, lime, ginger, cucumber and apples.
While you are cleaning the juicer, soak the chia seeds for 5-15 minutes in the juice, allowing them to expand.
Chia is high in protein and omegas and assists in the absorption of nutrients.

Smoothie recipe:
Blend pear, cinnamon, spinach and ginger.