Remember when mom pleaded with you as a child to eat more vegetables? Now it’s no longer just children who aren’t eating enough fruits and vegetables. Children and adults alike are just not eating wholesome meals. And we are paying a terrible price with the alarming rise of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and many other diet-related illnesses!
A growing number of people recognize this serious lack of adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables in our diet, marked by the popularity of commercially made vegetable juices. It’s a convenient solution but not the best one, because commercially made juices, even the best organic brands, are neither fresh nor chemical-free. The bottom line is that if you’re not making your own juice, from organic or home-grown produce, you’re not getting many nutrients that are critical to fighting disease and equally important in maintaining a vibrant, energetic, and healthy body. Just imagine reaching for fresh, organic, and chemical-free produce, and right at home easily turning it into a delicious and nutritious juice, customized to your taste and healthcare needs.
Fruits and vegetables are filled with important nutrients that are crucial to combating and even curing disease. Here are some examples: current studies show that cabbage juice treats peptic ulcers. Another study shows that keracyanin, abundant in cherries, helps to reduce gout. It’s common practice to prescribe cranberry juice for kidney stones and urinary tract infections. Grapes include a recently discovered ingredient called trans-resveratrol, which when eaten daily is just as effective as low-dose aspirin in preventing heart attacks. The seed of the grape contains special antioxidants called proanthocyanidins, which have been found to be far more potent antioxidants than vitamin C or vitamin E in fighting free radicals, a major factor in many diseases and even the aging process. You can juice the whole grape – seed and all. And these are just a few of the amazing disease-fighting nutrients found in fresh juice.
Commercially made bottled juice, even the best quality organic products, cannot provide all the nutrients found in freshly juiced fruits and vegetables. Here’s why. First, most commercial juices are made from concentrates instead of whole fruit juices. The nutrient content of concentrates is far less than fresh juice because many nutrients are lost in processing, freezing, and storage. In addition, commercial juice needs by law to be pasteurized before it can be sold to the public. This process of cooking the juice to remove any possible harmful bacteria, also removes beneficial nutrients, particularly a host of enzymes that aid in digestion and metabolism. Finally, many special nutrients in fresh juice, particularly juice from the cruciferous vegetables (broccoli and cauliflower to name a few) break down within hours. Thus creating your own fresh juice from organic or home-grown fruits and vegetables provides you with the very richest source of nutrients from whole foods.
Start with just one glass of fresh juice each morning and you will be as amazed as I was – and still am – at the how much more energetic and alert you will feel! Try juicing today!
By: Jan Gilbert
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