The Benefits of Juicing and the Great Impact it has on Your Health
There are many great benefits of juicing, and it can seriously change your life in many ways. We will explore juicing benefits, cautions to juicing, who juicing is right for, things to do when juicing, ways to juice and more!
Juicing is a great thing to add to a routine for reasons we will get into further down. But it may not be right for everyone. We will take a look into if juicing is a good option for you.
I began juicing years ago. I read about juicing in a book given to me by my mother. It discussed the wonderful benefits of juicing, especially for people with compromised systems, so I was eager to give it a try. I went out, bought a juicer, which I love and still use, and have been juicing since.
The nutrients that juicing offers to bring to the table may be surprising to you. However, a well-balanced diet is important as well. The benefits of juicing is dependent on your lifestyle, state of health as well as other things.
This article is all about the benefits of juicing and offering you the information you need in order to decide if it will benefit you to add juicing to you routine.
What is Juicing?
Juicing is separating the fiber of the vegetable for fruit giving us the liquid part of the vegetable or fruit using specialized equipment.
There are different types of ways to do this which we will cover later in the article.
Benefits of Juicing
1. Toxin Removal
Juicing provides the body with essential vitamins and minerals. This in turn allows the body to work more efficiently. The nutrients support the liver and kidney as well as other toxin elimination systems of the body to work better. Toxins are therefore excreted easier from the body.
Green vegetables are filled with chlorophyll. Chlorophyll provides the body with oxygen and this helps toxins to be removed. Leafy greens also contain magnesium. Magnesium assists in calcium usage.
Just be careful if you have problems with histamines or oxalates. If you do have these problems, then certain green vegetables should be avoided or used in moderation until your body is able to properly use them.
Safe foods that I use regularly are carrots, collard greens, arugula, celery, cucumbers, parsley, basil, ginger, lemons and green apples.
2. Enzymes
Enzymes are destroyed when we cook food. Not all enzymes are destroyed, but not all are left in their original form.
These enzymes help with food digestion, cell repair, and they make sure vitamins and minerals are properly used. Food is not cooked in juicing, therefore, it allows you to immediately receive a high amount of enzymes into your body. This is highly beneficial if a person’s body is compromised due to illness.
Enzymes will be better of be used by the body if you “chew” before drinking the juice. Yes, pretend to be chewing food, prior to drinking your juice.
The digestion process begins as soon as the food hits your mouth. Chewing allows saliva to interact with the food/juice and signals the digestive system to act accordingly.
Be sure to fill the juice as close to the top as possible to keep many of the nutrient in tact from the juice. I simply use glass mason jars like these.
3. Hydrates the body
Adding liquid to the body in turn naturally add hydration along with the vitamins and minerals.
4. Helps with chronic illness
The benefits of juicing once a day or more gives a compromised body vitamins and minerals without making the body work as hard.
Fiber is an important nutrient, but it can be hard on digestion. Sometimes people think that if you juice you are depriving your body of the food working as a whole. But I find that removing some fiber allows for better nutrient absorption and can be beneficial if implemented appropriately.
While I do believe that fiber is very important, offering the body nutrition through a juice can prove to be important. Fiber is able be obtained throughout the day through eating whole foods.
5. Improves mental clarity
A body that receives more vitamins and minerals is going to naturally function better. Alertness and focus are benefits of this.
6. Increases energy levels
The body does not function when it is missing key nutrients. Providing these nutrients through juicing allows energy levels to increase.
7. Depression and Anxiety
A benefit of juicing is that nutrients are absorbed without the body needing to do so much work. Depression and anxiety are often a side effect of a person not having the proper vitamins for neurotransmitters to be working well.
There is more involved than just simply stating depression and anxiety is relieved due to vitamins received from juicing. Neurotransmitters do not function properly due to a person’s body not working properly. This involves many different circumstances.
These circumstances usually are many and can be like trying to solve a puzzle. Several things need to be worked on to ensure neurotransmitters are working properly.
I do not want to minimize the hardship depression and anxiety can have on a person’s life. It can be a tough hurtle to overcome and impact every aspect of their life.
The process of juicing allows for better vitamin absorption. This then allows the body to utilize them for better functioning.
I am speaking from experience with this. My mood is positively impacted when I juice, and my body is so much calmer.
Nutrient and Vitamin Absorption
Nutrients hit your bloodstream quickly with juicing. This is useful to a compromised body due to disease, autoimmune problems or lack of necessary vitamins and minerals. The body does not have to work so hard to process the nutrition into your body.
Juicing is beneficial because it enables your body to get certain vitamins and minerals from the juice without your body doing extra processing. This is especially the case for compromised individuals.
Doctor’s Advice on Juicing
Some doctors that I have researched are not in favor of juicing. Some reasons being that the fiber in fruits and vegetable contain polyphenols which are stripped away when juicing, it can create a spike in blood glucose levels, fiber is taken out when people juice, and it is needed to wipe out our body as it works.
This research that I found against juicing talks about it as if people are only drinking juice as their main diet. Although soluble fiber may be removed, insoluble fiber is still received when you juice.
The points they give often state reasons for eating vegetables in the whole, which most juicers that I have come across don’t say to stop doing.
The science on it is scarce, but I and other juicers have found juicing beneficial when implementing it into an eating regimen. Informing yourself will help you determine if the benefits are worth it to you.
Who Should Juice?
Circumstances are different according to the needs and body of the individual. A diabetic would have issues with the spike in sugar levels, dependent on juice type. So a diabetic would want to consent with their doctor before trying.
A person that has problems with histamines, oxalates, mold biotoxins, etc. will need to make sure they are juicing foods appropriate for their circumstance.
A compromised individual, however, can greatly benefit from the immediate nutrients obtained when juicing.
Always consult with a knowledgeable doctor when deciding to implement a regimen such as juicing into your routine.
Juicing and Lifestyle
A balance is important when maintaining a healthy lifestyle. A healthy diet, the right supplements, appropriate exercise and relaxation techniques, detox methods and self-care all need to be applied. Juicing can be highly beneficial when added to a healthy lifestyle routine.
A small scientific study was done on individuals with a variety of health issues. The problems were Alzheimer’s, dementia, different levels of depression and anxiety, Parkinson’s disease, poor memory and multiple sclerosis. some of the conditions overlapped in the individuals.
Specifics of diet, supplements, exercise, destressing activities were all accounted for along with a specific and entailed juicing regimen.
The study found the subjects to have overall better memory and mood, less fatigue and an increase in energy, better focus, less stress, a calmer personality, increased positive thinking, clearer skin, better digestion, better sleep and increased cognitive functioning. You can view this study here.
Types of Juicers
Centrifugal Juicer vs. Masticating Juicer
Things to consider when choosing a type of juicier:
- How often you will juice
- Price
- Prep time
- Storage
- Juice amount versus waste
Centrifugal Juicers:
Centrifugal juicers chop fruits and vegetables into tiny pieces. Then juice is extracted from the food. This happens by a metal blade spinning next to a mesh filter.
When using a masticating juicer, a great amount of heat is needed. This means some nutrients and enzymes are lost. The juice and pulp are separated into two different containers at the end of the process.
Option 1- This is a high quality centrifugal juicer to buy.
Masticating Juicers: (cold press hydraulic juice)
This juicer grinds fruits and vegetables into smaller bits and then crushes them. The food is slowly pressed with less heat, and the juice is squeezed away from the pulp. Less heat used means there is less oxidation, keeping nutrients in tact. These machines also create a higher yield of juice.
A centrifugal juicer tends to be less expensive than a masticating juicer. But from my experience, both machines have great benefits.
I use a masticating juicer at home and notice a greater yield in juice than when I have used a centrifugal juicer. The yield difference is slightly higher.
But on the other hand, the centrifugal juicer allows items to be added whole. It does not require the prep time of chopping vegetable and fruits into pieces prior to putting them into the machine, only washing them.
I believe both machines can greatly benefit someone who would like to begin juicing.
This is a high quality centrfugal juicer that I have used
