Juicing- the Key to Vibrant Health!

The practice of juicing is not new. From Hippocrates to today's hip juice bars, juicing has enjoyed a long tradition. With obesity at an all time high, and heart disease and cancer rates continually rising, there has never been a better time to incorporate fresh fruit and vegetable juices into your diet.

Benefits of Juicing

Easily meets recommended daily allowances for fresh fruits and vegetables. The Center for Disease Control recommends, in order to maintain good health, that adults consume 5-9 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a day. There is no easier way to meet this quota than by juicing!

Complete and efficient assimilation of nutrients. In whole fruits and vegetables, some enzymes, phytochemicals, and vitamins are trapped in the fiber and cannot be used by the body. By breaking apart the cell walls through the process of juicing, all the valuable nutrients are available to the body within 15 minutes.

Energy savings. Juice is not digested by the body, it is simply absorbed by the body's cells. This energy savings allows the body to rest, use energy for healing, fighting off illness, or detoxification.

Great source of water. Most of the population is dehydrated. There is no better source for liquids than what is provided through juiced fruits and vegetables. These juices also promote alkalinity of body fluids.

Assists in cleansing the body of toxins. With the fiber removed from the produce, juice, especially fruit juice, has a laxative effect which aids the body in ridding toxins. Cleansing also helps the body's metabolism stabilize and become more efficient, and over time allows for a return to normal body weight.

Availability of life force. Plants contain a life force that is lost when they are processed.

Abundant antioxidant power. Fruits and vegetables are high in antioxidants which are important in counteracting free radical damage that can lead to aging, cellular damage, degenerative and chronic diseases.

Contains chlorophyll which is beneficial and only found in plants. Chlorophyll is a unique structure that encourages the body to produce hemoglobin, enhancing the body's ability to deliver oxygen to cells.

Now that you are convinced that juicing should be something to incorporate into your daily routine, the next step is finding a juicer that is right for you. There are several types of juicers.

Centrifugal juicers are usually the least expensive and readily available in stores. The machine first grinds the fruit and vegetables then pushes them through the strainer by spinning at a very high rpm. The drawbacks of this type of machine includes the heat that it generates, possibly destroying some of the precious enzymes, and slightly less juice extraction capability than other types of machines.

Masticating juicers operate at a slower speed preserving enzymes. It chews the fibers and breaks up the cells of vegetables and fruits. These juicers are often more versatile because in addition to extracting juices, they can homogenize to make baby foods, sauces, nut butters, ice creams and fruit sorbets. Some also have an optional grain mill attachment for grinding grains into flour.

The twin gear machine turns at the slowest rpm, and it has a two step process. The first step crushes the fruits and vegetables, while the second step presses the juice. This process gives you a great amount of fiber, enzymes, vitamins and trace minerals. Juicing time is longer with twin gear juicers, but it results in a very high quality juice.

There are many great books available containing interesting and tasty juice recipes. There are also of course various informative websites as well. Visit the following online sites for further information:
http://www.bestjuicers.com/recipes.html
http://www.mercola.com/nutritionplan/juicing.htm
http://www.living-foods.com/articles/benefits.html
Juicing is a quick, convenient, and highly nutritious way to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet. Drink up!