Welcome to the Natural Life
The Basic "Why's?" and "How's" of Juicing
For the body to heal itself from degenerative diseases, we need to assist it by consuming the best quality foods available. Keep in mind that it is the body that orchestrates healing as it obtains energy and nutritional components from the foods we eat daily. The fastest way to reverse/heal from degenerative diseases is to drink fruit smoothies and juice your vegetables. I personally experienced incredible healing results from chronically infected eczema; a disease I battled for years, when I started to replace my regular cooked meals with fruits smoothies and vegetable juices.
Following is information on why you may want to consider juicing as part of your daily diet, even if you are healthy. I guarantee that when you start juicing you will be amazed at the incredible new levels of health and vitality you will quickly reach.
Why juicing instead of eating the raw foods?
Everyone can benefit from juice regardless of their physical condition. Ideally, circumstances would allow us to obtain all of our nutrition from a raw fruit and vegetable diet and thus, juicing would not be necessary. But, most of us do not eat an almost totally raw food diet. Also, the quality of the standard store bought fresh produce is low, plus the stress we live under is high, and the combination affects proper assimilation of raw produce. Juicing, therefore, is a great means of filling the gaps. It can be likened to getting healing nutrients "wholesale."
In the juiced form, nutrients are very easy to assimilate. Other important reasons for juicing are:
Juiced foods require little or no digestion; thus, the healing nutrients of the raw vegetables are readily available for assimilation.
Juicing allows the overall healing process to be made much moreefficient. Most peoples' digestive systems are so toxic and inefficient that their ability to break down raw vegetables is greatly hampered. They can only handle cooked and processed foods which are partially broken down before they are consumed. The paradox is, that raw foods provide the nutrients which heal the body, including the digestive system itself. Yet a sick person's digestive system is unable (in various degrees) to digest the food that will heal it. Juicing will greatly assist this situation.
For healing your body, you need to supply it with an enormous amount of nutrients above and beyond basic daily living requirements. The body normally does vital (cellular) activity only for daily basic living requirements. Healing is a luxury the body will not undertake unless it has excess energy. Excess energy can be provided to the body rapidly through juicing.
Juicing will serve to motivate you to continue on with the proper diet because your results will be seen faster than if you are eating (not drinking) only raw vegetables.
A glass of raw juice is the best "multivitamin/mineral supplement" money can buy. If you are concerned that you are not getting all the nutrients out of raw vegetables that you need, or you are just beginning to change your diet and want to decrease the required healing time, drink a minimum of a glass of raw juice daily. A 4-8 ounce glass of raw vegetable juice once or more daily is like 24 carat gold for your body. It provides not only all of the healing nutrients that have been isolated by scientists, but also all of those that man has yet to discover. It provides them in their living, organic, alkaline, whole, complete and balanced form(s).
Guidelines for juicing:
It is important to remember that juicing has a concentrating effect on the nutrients in vegetables. A glass of juice can (and should) be considered a meal in itself. Therefore, when juicing, keep the following guidelines in mind:
•For the best results, all of your vegetables should be organically grown. Healing requires the purest of foods. Commercial (agribusiness) produce can be highly toxic. If you cannot find a grocery store that sells organic produce, you can purchase organic foods by mail.
•Drink your juice slowly and swish it around in your mouth. This allows saliva to mix with the juice for better assimilation.
•Drink the juice alone, don't consume it with solid foods. If you take your juice with your food, it overloads the digestive system and defeats the purpose for drinking it. Allow at least one hour after drinking a glass of juice before eating any food, or wait until you are hungry. Likewise, do not drink juice until your stomach is empty (2-3 hours) after eating a meal or snack.
•Do not combine fruits and vegetables, as these require different digestive processes. All fruits may be mixed together. All vegetables may be mixed together. All melons may be mixed together. Exceptions: Lettuce and celery can be combined with either fruit or vegetable juice. Apples will mix well with vegetable juices and helps to sweeten the drink.
•Do not juice, then store the juice in the refrigerator for a later meal. All the vital enzymes begin to deactivate a few minutes after juicing. You should drink your juice immediately when made and juice only enough for immediate consumption.
Specific recipes:
Breakfast Smoothie for two:
In a blender mix the following fruits: grapes, apple, banana, orange, kiwi, pear and strawberries (frozen if not in season). You can add papaya, mango or pineapple when in season.
Add some coconut water or spring water (quantities of water depend on how you like your smoothie - thick or watery). We recommend as little water as possible (spring water is preferred).
Add wild-crafted blue green algae (empty capsules - pour the powder - into the drink) or add a "green" drink mix made from organic sprouted grains and grasses. Many green drinks have medicinal herbs added (stimulants). Avoid these green drinks. Buy a green drink that has only sprouted grains and grasses.
You can also add a mixture of friendly bacteria to this drink. The specific friendly bacteria mixture that we add to this drink consists of: acidophilus DDS-1, bifidus, L. bulgaricus, L. casei, L. plantarum, L.salivarius, rose hips, jerusalem artichoke streptococcus fuecium, streptococcus thermophilus, and a number of plant-based enzymes. (empty the capsules into the drink).
This morning smoothie drink is exceptionally nourishing, and fulfilling. Once you start making it for breakfast you will be addicted to its delicious sweet taste. When we travel we take our blender in the suitcase so we can have this nourishing meal every morning. This smoothie will keep your hunger satisfied for many hours.
A special smoothie for diabetics and ADHD adults and children:
Choose your fruits from the low-glycemic foods family to start your day with. Here's a list: Apples, oranges, cherries, peaches, all berries, plums and pears. These fruits will release their glucose more slowly and require a more moderate insulin response. Remember to add all the superfood supplements recommended in the previous morning smoothie.
Juicing vegetables for your dinner meal:
The sicker or weaker you are, the larger your vegetable juice drink should be in terms of volume (number of ounces). Remember, for healing your body, you need to supply it with an enormous amount of nutrients above and beyond basic living requirements. Consider a 16 to 24 oz. size vegetable juice meal in the evening.
Following are the basic vegetables to be included in your juice. (Remember to buy organic vegetables whenever possible.)
•Celery - two stalks. Celery gives the body a natural diuretic effect and aids in the elimination of carbon dioxide from the body. The sodium content will neutralize acid ash (residue of acidic foods) in the body,
•Parsley - 1/2 bunch. Extremely high in nutrients. An excellent cleanser and potentiator of all bodily functions.
•Carrots - Two med. size. Don't cut the top part of the carrot (leave the hat part, but discard the green shoots). Most of the phytochemicals are located there. (It is said to be vital in the treatment of severe illness, especially cancer because of its high content of phytochemicals.)
•Cilantro - 1/4 bunch. Has the ability to remove mercury, lead, cadmium and other heavy metals from the body.
•Kale - 2 to 3 leaves. A very nutrient rich vegetable. One of the best cancer fighting vegetables found on our planet. Kale is the richest of all leafy greens in carotenoids (powerful anti-cancer agents). Kale's calcium content is easily assimilated, making it a wonder food for arthritis, osteoporosis, and bone loss disorders.
•Cucumber - 1/2 cucumber. A great diuretic (helps remove excess fluids from the body because it promotes urination). Excellent as a blood cleanser. (If you burn your skin, cut a cucumber open and apply it for relief from pain.)
•An apple to sweeten your juice.
•Add and alternate, in very moderate amounts, to your basic vegetable juice every night: 1/4 beet, some cabbage, zucchini, bell pepper , bok choy... etc.
Choosing a Juicer:
To make fresh juices at home, you will need a juicer. In order to select the juicer that best fits your family's needs, it helps to know a little about how a juicer works, and how to maintain it When you are shopping for a juicer, it is good to know how efficient it is and how long you can expect it to perform under normal conditions. Here's a list of selected juicers and their approx. retail prices:
•Champion - masticating - $260.
•Cuisinart JE-4- centrifugal - $110.
•Juiceman II - centrifugal - $289.
•Moulinex 753 - centrifugal -$75.
•Norwalk 265 - hydraulic press -$1,695.
•Omega 1000 - centrifugal - $235.
The different types of high speed juicers are:
•Centrifugal juicer. This juicer separates the juice from the pulp.
•Masticating juicer. This juicer mashes fruits and vegetables. Then it squeezes their juices from the pulp through a stainless steel screen.
•Hydraulic press. This high speed juicer masticates the fruit or vegetables into a paste, automatically places it in a cotton bag, and hydraulically presses it.
Our personal favorite and one of the finest centrifugal juicers made is the Omega juicer. It is very powerful and extracts a very high yield per pound of fruits and vegetables. It is easy to clean, quiet and easy to operate.
What about Juicing for our four-legged friends?
According to Dr. Billinghurst, vegetables are an important part of animals' diet. For example, the way dogs get their greens is by eating the stomach content of other animals that they kill. They get finely crushed and ground-up vegetable material.
Vegetables provide fiber, vitamins, minerals and enzymes to all cats and dogs. However, most pets cannot process raw vegetable material if given to them in chunks. It must be broken up and crushed first. Even grated vegetables are not of much value to dogs and cats. The most satisfactory way to feed vegetables to cats and dogs is to put the vegetables through a juicer and give them a mix of the pulp and the juice.
************************
Juicing can certainly provide you, your family and your four legged friends a safe, effective and natural way of achieving better health and vitality.
References:
Calbom, Cherie. Juicing For Life.
Robbins, Joel. Eating for Health and Wellness.
