From: Nancy Desjardins R.N.C.P.
When I think of juice, I don’t think carrots or apple. I think of vegetable juice. In particular, I think of GREEN JUICE. To me, nothing says living more than healthy green juices.
I know most people hop out of bed in the morning and grab a coffee — often sweetened and thickened with cream — then look around the kitchen for more sweetness, figuring that’s the energy boost they need to start the day.
Unfortunately, for most of us, that craving for “sweet” doesn’t leave much room for vegetables. And chances are, if you’re not starting your day with a sweetened coffee and a doughnut, you’re grabbing a big glass of fruit juice. Make that SWEET fruit juice!
Why aren’t we thinking vegetables instead? Perhaps it's the stress of consuming five or more servings a day — what everyone from our doctors to the government’s food guidelines recommend! Or maybe it’s the thought of the after-effects of eating so many vegetables.
But there is a way of getting all the benefits from vegetables without feeling we have to pack a picnic basket full, or being afraid some of the harder-to-digest vegetables will have our guts in an uproar.
The answer is juicing.
Juicing vegetables will help you meet your five-a-day — or more — serving requirement in a highly efficient manner. At the same time, juicing will allow your body to absorb all the nutrients you need from your vegetables. Think of juicing as the process of "pre-digesting" your food for you.
And that’s a good thing, since most of us have a dysfunctional digestive system from years of bad diet. As a result, our system “passes” most of the nutrients as waste. Which is really a waste of good nutrients! With juicing, the process optimizes your body's ability to absorb nutrients. Which means you have more energy right from the get-go, and it’s easy on your digestive system.
For you carb cravers, meeting the five-a-day or more rule is very important. In fact, it’s recommended that you consume about one pound of raw vegetables per 50 pounds of body weight each and every day. Now that’s one big stack of vegetables! Since munching on vegetables all day can get pretty boring, you’ll appreciate juicing.
One of the benefits is that you can choose from a wider variety of vegetables, because you won’t have to worry about whether you can digest them. You can even juice vegetables you wouldn't normally find pleasing to your palate, because mixed with several other varieties, you’re able to create your own flavours.
Juicing is all about raw foods, but it does not have to mean "no cooked foods." Juicing simply encourages including as much raw food as possible, because these foods have so many more nutrients and enzymes than their cooked counterparts.
For example, vegetables have been found to contain 77% more B6, 86% more vitamin E and up to 40% more zinc than cooked vegetables. The fresh juice of plants is very much like the juice of our own cells. The essential elements that may be lacking in your body's cells — particularly the live enzymes, bioactive vitamins, minerals, trace minerals and other unknown factors — can be easily absorbed through daily fresh green juices.
Raw greens are the basics of nature's medicines as well. When an animal is ill, it nibbles on green grass and weeds, or fasts, depending on its instincts. These animals have no medication and no doctors, but they inherently know what will make them well.
The same rule governs humans. Simply adding fresh green juices to your existing diet has a great effect on a variety of illnesses. Humans die from more than 250 known diseases, while grass-eating wild animals usually die of only five to 10 diseases. The reason, scientists say, is the level of fresh, naturally grown food in the diet.
I can't stress enough how keeping your menu to liquids — green juices! — in the morning is an excellent way to aid your body's natural repair cycles. Since our bodies are usually far too acidic, this is a good way to help flush out all the bad things and replace them with the good ones we need.
Just as blood is the key to our survival as humans, so are the properties in juices the key to survival for plants. And if it is so important to them, juices are equally as important to us! By ingesting the enzymes, alkaline, minerals and vitamins found naturally occurring in plants, we are able to bring ourselves back to the balance found before processed foods and fast food slowed our digestive system.
Here's what I DO and RECOMMEND:
Take 1 to 2 8-ounce servings of fresh vegetable green juice during your fasting day (once a week or every day). Juice kale, cucumber, celery and a bit of apple.
The most important addition to your green drink is blue-green or green algae like spirulina, chlorella and wild blue green algae. They all help to correct blood sugar imbalance because they’re rich in minerals and easily absorbable protein.
They renew cells and can reverse the degenerative aging process, helping to rebuild the tissues of the liver, the nervous system, the brain and every other part of the body.
I also recommend taking chlorella between meals, because it will help curb your appetite and help rid your body of heavy metal toxins. It will also regulate both low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) and high blood sugar (diabetes). Plus, it’s great for weight loss!
Chlorella is an incredibly powerful nutrient from the sea and is a form of algae. I use it quite a bit for mercury detoxification, because it binds very strongly to mercury to eliminate it from the body. The normal dose is one teaspoon in the juice to provide the following benefits:
* Provides a high source of chlorophyll;
* Adds magnesium and protein;
* Binds to heavy metals and pesticides.
Add spirulina, another algae that has many similar benefits, and is a good balance to chlorella and very high in protein.
Many of my clients thought that juicing would be a real chore, but the majority of them were pleasantly surprised to find that it was much easier than they thought — as well as tastier! I know it is surprising to find you like vegetable juice, especially GREEN vegetable juice.
If you’re looking for a starting point, select raw vegetables you already like. These are obviously the vegetables you should begin juicing with. After all, if you enjoy eating a particular vegetable non-juiced, you’ll ENJOY that vegetable juiced.
For beginners, I recommend a mid-priced juicer. Then you can move up to a more expensive one when you can afford it. Check out my recommendations.
And to get you started, here’s one of my favourite recipes, Juice Morning Magic.
I like to start out my day with this cleansing green drink because of all the alkaline minerals found in leafy greens. When you wake up, you literally have been fasting for 8-10 hours, so I like to flush out my system with high water content fruits, a green smoothie, or a green juice.
Ingredients:
* 1/2 stick celery
* 1-inch cucumber
* 2 apples
* 1/2 lemon
* 1/2 avocado (optional)
* 1 teaspoon spirulina (high source of protein)
Juice the celery, cucumber, apples and lemon. Place the flesh of the avocado and the spirulina into the blender, add the juice and blend until smooth.
And think green!
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