Wellness Focus – Juicing is Hyper-nutrition

Earlier this year I wrote about an Australian businessman, Joe Cross, who saved his life by starting to juice his nutrition. (Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead)  Since then I have had several conversations with people who have begun juicing as part of their regular health regimen and the time has come that I have decided to place my entire family on a hyper-nutrition program.

Living in Manila, identified as one of the most polluted cities on this planet, my family members began noticing an undertone that can only be described as a decreased basic health equivalent.This manifested differently in each person but the underlying cause is an increase in Metabolic Syndrome that affected several body systems.

It took no time to decide to start a daily routine of taking high quality food supplements. We selected USANA vitamin, mineral and anti-oxidant products and Pharmanex (Nu-Skin) food supplements. Results showed some clear improvements from reducing the effects of the increased daily exposure to free-radicals from this environment.

Now that a few years have gone by it is noticed that a supplementation alone approach, added to a fairly decent nutritional lifestyle, doesn’t seem to be enough to preserve our long-term health standards. The past six months of absorbing new knowledge on the benefits of juicing vegetables and fruits has increased my confidence that it is time to bring in the benefits of hyper-nutrition that comes from juicing plant foods. I invite you to do your own homework on this subject as well and consider its benefits for you and your family.

We have looked at the different juicing machines and see the quality of the lecture sponsors (Breville) that uses a grinding mechanism to juice the plant foods. We are aware that there are also Cold-Press types of juicers available that may be superior in some ways but the end product has more pulp remaining in the liquid juice. My personal preference is to start with the clearer liquids, worried that the added pulp might be difficult to swallow every day.

So you are asking: “What are the benefits of hyper-nutrition and is it safe?” and that is an excellent question. These are some of the benefits of juicing plant foods

1. Juicing is a great way to squeeze fruits and vegetables into your diet, especially if you typically don’t like them or typically make time for them.
2. When making juice, you waste less produce by adding fruits and vegetables that are about to spoil.
3. Juicing can help you lose weight as part of a balanced diet plan. It supercharges your nutrient intake by providing your body with pure micronutrients, vitamins and enzymes that can be enormously beneficial for health, with none of the bad stuff that constitutes processed food.
4. You can kick start your metabolism and give your body a break from all of the strange chemicals you’ve been challenging it to process, by putting the most nutritious fuel into your system possible.

WARNING:
Juice, no matter where it comes from, is a concentrated source of calories. This is especially true if you use more fruits than vegetables in your juices; so focus on vegetables and ‘some’ fruits for better energy management.

Let’s end this blog with Joe’s Five Tips To Better Juicing:
1. Save time
Prepare your vegetables and fruits the night before if you plan on making a morning juice. Select the ingredients for your juice, wash the produce, place them in a storage container in the fridge and already have the the juicer assembled in your kitchen so it’s ready to go.
2. Store in the fridge
Juice will keep for 24-48 hours in the fridge (suggesting 72 hours is maximum time). Transport your juice in a cooler if you are travelling.
3. Fill your container full.
Filling juice to the top of your preferred container prevents oxygen from getting in, which can deplete the nutrients.
4. Freeze
Freezing is an option but less desirable than refrigeration. If you do freeze your juice do it immediately after juicing and thaw first in the refrigerator.
5. Wash produce thoroughly
Unwashed produce can be contaminated with bacteria so this is an important step in the juicing process.

Yours in Health,
docMIKE