Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Get Juicing!


Fresh fruit & vegetable juices can be a vital support to regaining vibrant health, as they play an important role in assisting your body's detoxification and regeneration process. Using a juicer to extract the liquid nutrition from the plant is different than pureeing or blending vegetables and fruits. Drinking freshly pressed juices is like giving your body an immediate infusion of life force energy. Here are just a few reasons to get your juice on:
  • Juicing, specifically juice cleansing or fasting, allows your digestive system to rest, so that the body has freed up energy to support elimination, recovery and healing, instead of laboring to digest heavier meals. During a time of juice cleansing, cells can repair themselves and detoxify. Freshly pressed juices provide easily assimilated living enzymes, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, anti-oxidants and yes, protein!
  • Juicing breaks down vegetables (and fruit), making the nutrition much easier to assimilate, so you will receive most of the nutrition. So a juicing protocol for someone who has any kind of impaired digestion is an excellent, healing course of action.
  • Juicing allows a higher consumption of fruits and  vegetables, as some people may find eating an adequate amount of fibrous fruits and vegetables difficult. One can easily get a higher level of vital nutrients into the body with a tall glass of freshly pressed juice.
  • You can add a wider variety of vegetables in your diet. Many people eat the same vegetables, raw or cooked, every day. Foods should be rotated to prevent developing allergies. With juicing, you can explore a wide variety of fruits and vegetables that you may not normally enjoy eating whole.
  • Juicing is a great way to use any abundance that you may get from your garden, farmers market or CSA — especially the ones you don’t know what to do with. 

Use local, organic vegetables and fruits when possible. Follow the list by the Environmental Working Group, which lists the pesticide residue testing data from the US Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration.  They have a ranking for all major fresh produce items - You don't want to be drinking juices that are laced with pesticides. 
Start with vegetables you like to eat. Use some sweet vegetables with some that are not sweet. Watch the amount of bitter leafy greens, like dandelion and arugula, in the beginning and add more as you gain more experienced with juicing.
Reminding you that today is the final day to sign up for your chance to win an Omega VRT350 juicer. It is a top of the line juicer that retails for nearly $400. For details on how to enter the drawing, click here. We will be drawing our winner tomorrow - July 4th - Good Luck Everyone!!!