How Juicy! The Benefits of Juicing (And a few great Recipes)
We all know that we should eat our fruits and vegetables, and plenty of them. Are you one of the many who finds it a bit, let’s say, impossible to get them all in? Juicing can help! The nutritional benefits of raw foods are innumerable. Juicing allows you to choose those specific nutrients which to energize your body. Vegetable juice is very nutrient-dense. The phytonutrients or plant chemicals in fruits and vegetables keep our bodies free of cancer, digestive problems, and other degenerative illnesses. Your body needs different vitamins and minerals and juicing is a great way to concentrate those vitamins to make it so you get the benefits without having to eat 5 pound bags of vegetables every day.
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Instant assimilation Juices are extremely helpful for your body nutritionally. The nutrients in pure juiced fruits and vegetables are utilized far more quickly than those from solid foods. When you juice, highly concentrated nutrients enter your bloodstream very quickly because your body doesn’t need to extract the juice from the fiber. There is hardly any digestive work needed to process raw, enzymatically active liquid. Vegetable and fruit juice gets into the system quickly
Cellular cleansing Every time we breathe out, we've cleansed our body of the metabolic waste known as carbon dioxide. Every time we have a bowel movement, our body is eliminating old cellular material (interesting: up to 40% of every bowel movement is dead cells). Cleansing occurs because our body's cells are constantly dying and being replaced with new cells. Our spleen and liver and stomach cells do it, our intestinal walls do it, even our bones and muscle cells do this regeneration circle of life. All vegetable juicing does is improve the regeneration process of cells. 2|Page
Natural healing A diet high in fruits and vegetables can prevent and help to cure a wide range of ailments. Phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables have shown to have healing effects on many diseases. Broccoli sprouts have been researched to protect against certain types of cancer. Citrus fruits are high in Vitamin c and help the body with fighting against common ailments like colds and the flu.
Detoxification One of the most important benefits of juicing are cleansing. Juicing cleans the liver. Vegetable juice goes quickly into the blood stream, it goes quickly into the liver as well. The benefits of detoxification with juice fasting are several, Visit the juice detox section of this website for more information.
Juicing can be an easy way to get in your daily servings of fruit and vegetables. Use organic vegetables and fruits when juicing and make sure to wash them before using them. Don't forget to check our organic cheat sheet if you are juicing on a 3|Page
budget. Green veggies make great juices! You can experiment with your veggie and fruit combinations, and also add superfoods to your juices. Ginger, Garlic, parlsey and lemon can also help you spice up your juice!
Get your juice recipes here Immunity Boosting Juices
With the chilly weather invariably comes cold and flu season. But before you stock up on Kleenex and cough drops, consider a preventive approach that strengthens your defenses with these healthy juices and tea. You can enjoy these juices as much or as little as you want. You can drink one everyday or up to three times a day depending on if you are sick or just improving your immune system. Remember, listen to your body. If you are juicing often and your body is sending you signals to slow down your intake, do it. The Immune System Juice Booster
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This juice is great for building and maintaining the immune system.
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1 stalk of celery 1 apple ½ cucumber ½ beet with the greens, ½ handful of parsley 1 clove of garlic
Juice all the ingredients in a juicer and serve. Immunity Tea: 5|Page
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1 green tea bag 1 cup of water 1/2 inch piece of ginger 1 tbsp of sage honey
Bring water to a boil, add ginger and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Strain and serve in a cup with a green tea bag and with some honey. Citrus Reliever:
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All citrus juices are rich in Vitamin C and are good for relieving the symptoms of cold and flu. Try this juice with ginger to feel the aches and pains of flu disappear.
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2 blood red oranges or regular oranges 5 oz carrots 1 inch cube ginger root chopped
Peel the oranges and Juice the ingredients in the juicer and serve in a glass. 7|Page
Get more vegetable juice recipes here
Vegetable Juicing
Vegetable juicing is critical to good health because it is an important source of raw food. Each of us needs raw foods every day, and juicing is an excellent way to make certain you receive large quantities of such raw foods. Vitamin powerhouse
Ingredients:
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1 bunch parsley 6 florets broccoli handful of spinach or kale 1/4 inch piece of ginger 1 small bunch of lettuce 1 apple or 2 carrots (optional)
This drink is rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin E, iron, zinc, Lutein and Zeaxanthin which defend your cells from the damaging effects of free radicals and are also good for the eyes. Juice the ingredients in the juicer and serve immediately. Easy Detox:
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1/2 a beet, chopped 9|Page
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2 carrots, chopped 1 apple, cored and chopped 1/4 cup fresh mint sprigs
Juice all the ingredients in the juicer and serve immediately. Use just 2 oz of beets around 1/4 beet per serving, excessive use of beets could cause hives or give chills or a fever. Alos it is not recommended to drink beet juice by itself. Tomato Special:
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3 tomatoes, 5 celery stalks, 10 | P a g e
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2 carrots 1/2 inch piece of fresh horseradish 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt (optional) 1/2 juice of lemon
Juice the tomatoes, celery, carrots, horseradish ingredients in a juicer. Pour in a glass. Add the salt and lemon juice and serve. Green Machine - The Vitamix Way
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6 Romaine leaves handful spinach leaves 1/2 cup fresh parsley sprigs 1/2 cup chopped pineapple 1/2 cup chopped mango 1 inch fresh ginger optional 1/4 cup of water
Add all to the ingredients to the Vitamix. Start on Variable 1 increase speed to variable 10 and process for a few seconds. Blend until smooth. You could also use a blender for this if you do not have a Vitamix. However if you haven't already explored the possibility of getting a Vitamix and its wonderful health benefits you may want to read this.
The Green Drink - Get recipe The Green Drink Green juices are usually harder to drink and may take some getting used to but try this green juice and you may be pleasantly surprised. What's in this green drink?
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1 cup spinach 1 cucumber 1/2 " ginger 1 boy chok 2-3 sprigs cilantro 1 celery bunch 1 bunch parsley 11/2 green apple
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Juice of 1 lemon
Note:
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ingredients
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people.
Preparation Wash the spinach leaves. Use fresh spinach.
Wash the cucumber and peel it only if it is not organic.
Wash and clean the ginger, cilantro and boy chok. If boy chok is not available you could add 1/2 cup of cabbage.
Wash the celery and keep a few of the green leaves in addition to the head.
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Wash the parseley leaves to remove any soil/dirt.
Wash and cut the green apple in half, you can juice the whole apple depending on the type of juicer you have. If you are using a blender, remove the seeds.
Juice 1/2 lemon and keep aside to add later.
You can use a blender for this recipe if you want to retain the fibre. It is a lighter juice however, if made in a juicer. Juice all the ingredients together add the lemon juice and serve.
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The spinach, cucumber, apple and celery are the main ingredients, so if you do not have all the ingredients you can still make a different version of the healthy green drink.
Benefits The alkaline benefits of this juice are incredible.The benefits of spinach are many including it being rich in antioxidants. Cucumber is low in calories, Parsley may inhibit tumor formation and neutralize toxins in our bodies.Celery has potassium and vitamin C which relax the muscles around the arteries, allowing the blood to travel at lower pressure. Ginger may reduce pain and inflammation. Lemon possesses vitamin C, a water soluble antioxidant that repairs damage outside and inside the cells. Apple with its powerful flavonoids also helps to make this juice delicious. Unless you try it out, you will only imagine this juice.
How to naturally lower your cholestrol with plant sterols Did you know that there are naturally sourced compounds in foods that can lower your total blood cholesterol and your “LDL” (bad) cholesterol by as much as 10 - 15%? This means that if your blood cholesterol was 220 mg/dl at your last doctor’s visit, consuming plant sterols for 6 -8 weeks could lower your cholesterol level to 178 mg/dl. These compounds are called plant sterols or phytosterols and are found naturally in vegetable oils, seeds, fruits, vegetables and nuts. In a typical American diet our phytosterol intake is only 200 – 400 mg per day but if you are a vegetarian, your intake could increase to 600 mg per day. Is this a sufficient quantity to lower your blood cholesterol? How can you identify foods that contain phytosterols? Reading the ingredients on a food label will tell you if plant sterols are included in the product. Also some foods contain a symbol with a heart that indicates that plant sterols are “on board”. Another important fact to look for on the label is the Food and Drug Administration approved health claim. As of February, 2012 the health claim will read, Foods containing at least 0.5 g per serving of phytosterols eaten with meals or snacks for a total intake of 2 g, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease. A serving of [name of the food] supplies ___g of phytosterols.”
Almost everyone has eaten cholesterol-lowering foods like walnuts, salmon, and oatmeal. But what's a
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plant sterol or stanol? And do you really want to eat it? Most experts say yes. "Eating sterol and stanol-containing foods is an easy way to lower your LDL cholesterol, which helps reduce the risk of heart disease," says Ruth Frechman, RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association (ADA). Plant sterols and stanols are substances that occur naturally in small amounts in many grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Since they have powerful cholesterol-lowering properties, manufacturers have started adding them to foods. You can now get stanols or sterols in margarine spreads, orange juice, cereals, and even granola bars. Read more
Source: http://www.eatright.org/Media/Blog.aspx?id=4294970733&blogid=269 :http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/features/low-cholesterol-diet-plant-sterolsstanols
The New Low-Cholesterol Diet: Plant Sterols and Stanols What are sterols and stanols, and does anyone like to eat them? By R. Morgan Griffin WebMD Feature Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD
Almost everyone has eaten cholesterol-lowering foods like walnuts, salmon, and oatmeal. But what's a plant sterol or stanol? And do you really want to eat it? Most experts say yes. "Eating sterol and stanol-containing foods is an easy way to lower your LDL cholesterol, which helps reduce the risk of heart disease," says Ruth Frechman, RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association (ADA). Plant sterols and stanols are substances that occur naturally in small amounts in many grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Since they have powerful cholesterol-lowering properties, manufacturers have started adding them to foods. You can now get stanols or sterols in margarine spreads, orange juice, cereals, and even granola bars. How Do Plant Sterols and Stanols Help? On a molecular level, sterols and stanols look a lot like cholesterol. So when they travel through your digestive tract, they get in the way. They can prevent real cholesterol from being absorbed into your bloodstream. Instead of clogging up your arteries, the cholesterol just goes out with the waste. What's the Evidence? "Plant stanol esters help block the absorption of cholesterol," Frechman tells WebMD. "Research shows that three servings a day can reduce cholesterol by 20 points." Experts have been studying the effects of food fortified with plant sterols for decades. One important study of people with high cholesterol found that less than an ounce of stanol-fortified margarine a day could lower "bad" LDL cholesterol by 14%. The results were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
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A more recent study from the University of California Davis Medical Center looked at the effects of sterol-fortified orange juice. Of 72 adults, half received regular orange juice and half the fortified OJ. After just two weeks, the people who drank the stanol-fortified juice had a 12.4% drop in their LDL cholesterol levels. The results were published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. The FDA gave these products the status of a "health claim." This means that experts widely agree on the cholesterol-lowering benefits of stanols and sterols. It also allows manufacturers to advertise the heart-healthy benefits on labels. Getting Sterols and Stanols Into Your Diet Frechman says it's easy to add in these foods to your diet. "When you are putting a spread on your whole-grain bread or rolls, choose one with sterols or stanols." ADA spokeswoman Suzanne Farrell, MS, RD agrees. "If you use butter or margarine now, just switch over to one of these sterol-fortified spreads," she tells WebMD. If you don't eat butter or margarine now, this is not an invitation to start slathering on the spread. More is not better. Extra margarine spread -- with or without stanols and sterols -- means extra calories. You can also find plant sterols or stanols in some cooking oils, salad dressings, milk, yogurt, snack bars, and juices. Indeed, so many fortified products are headed to grocery store shelves that you'll soon have a dizzy array of choices. But check the labels carefully. While plant sterols are healthy, extra calories are not. Excess calories simply lead to excess pounds.
What are sterols and stanols, and does anyone like to eat them? (continued) How Much Do You Need? The National Cholesterol Education Program recommends that people who have high cholesterol get 2 grams of stanols or sterols a day. A Caveat From Some Experts Research aside, some experts say people are better off getting their nutrients from whole foods. Whole foods offer a complex combination of nutrients that work together in ways we don't fully understand. "Getting nutrients from whole foods [instead of additives] is the best way to go," says ADA spokeswoman Keecha Harris, DrPH, RD. "Supplements that are fortified with sterols do not offer as many benefits as getting sterols and stanols as they naturally occur." The American Heart Association doesn't recommend sterol and stanol-fortified foods for everyone. Instead, it suggests that only people who need to lower their cholesterol or who have had a heart attack should use them.
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