Studies show that we don’t eat the amount of fruits and vegetables we need; only about 20 to 30 percent of our population gets the minimum five servings a day. What we appear to be quite short on are nutrients such as the antioxidants (vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, lycopene, flavonoids, and glutathione), and certain cancer-preventative phytochemicals such as limonene, ellagic acid, indoles, and isothiocyanates. And since many of us don’t eat the minimum five servings of fruits and veggies each day, juicing helps us meet our quota.
If you read my story of recovery from chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia by juicing and changing my diet on my website at www.juicinginfo.com, you’ll know why I’m so passionate about vegetable juice. Are you’re battling an illness? If so, juice is very beneficial because it puts less stress on your entire digestive system because it’s already broken down into an easy-to-digest form. And it provides a host of nutrients that will help your body heal. It also helps the body detoxify, which is a very important aspect of recovery, as well as, an important component for anti-aging and disease prevention.
Simply stated—juicing is a delicious way to increase your consumption of many of nature’s most life-giving, anti-aging foods in a very easy-to-digest form. And it gives your body an antioxidant defense boost!
I now know without a doubt that juicing has made a huge difference in my body’s antioxidant levels. I just had my antioxidant activity level measured with a biophotonic scanner (a scanner that measures carotenoid antioxidant biomarker). This machine test antioxidants in the tissues and gives a reading that is termed the Body Defense Score. My score was in the optimal range at 53,000 (the highest possible is 100). Since scans began, 1375 people have been tested and the average score has been 19,000, which is indicative of weak antioxidant defense activity. Antioxidant defense is vital to our good health. It means that our immune system is well fortified—able to ward off colds and flu bugs and also diseases such as cancer. Juicing is an easy way to add these defense benefits into our diet—something nearly all of us know we need more of.
Because fruit is higher in sugar, I don't recommend drinking large quantities of fruit juice—no more than 2 to 4 ounces a day as a general rule. Use fruit to flavor vegetable juice recipes, such as half an apple with carrots and ginger root to make the "Ginger Hopper," one of the recipes from my book The Juice Lady’s Guide to Juicing for Health. Or try adding half a small lemon to your favorite vegetable juice combination.
A good juicer and fresh organic produce will allow you to enjoy a wealth of nutrients as well as parts of plants you might not eat otherwise such as stems, leaves, skins, and seeds. (Yes, seeds are good for you!) But don’t just take my word for it; find out for yourself. You can experience the health promoting, energizing benefits of vegetable juices firsthand.
If you don’t have a good juicer, now is a great time to get one. Choose a juicer that is easy to use and clean so you’ll be ready to fulfill that New Year’s resolution of getting in better shape in the coming year. The right juicer could mean the difference between juicing every day—or never juicing again. Don’t be so concerned with having the largest feed tube on the planet. One that adequately takes one-half an apple is just fine. The most important thing is that the juicer is easy to clean—only a few parts to rinse off. I also recommend on that it is stainless steel so the juice bowl won't stain. Pick one that doesn’t need a special tool to remove the blade basket, and make sure it has a strong motor (1/2 hp) that won’t overheat. (In centrifugal juicers, the complaint is that many of them overheat and this kills enzymes and nutrients.)