I got inspired to write this blog post because there is a lot of misconception around this subject and I feel like expressing myself in regards to juicing, as a habit. I know that juicing seems a pretty new thing, like a fashion trend, but let me tell you that this is simply not true.
For example in 1920 Max Gerson was using raw fresh squeezed juices combined with a vegetarian diet to heal different disease. Max Gerson was a german scientist and let me tell you that he did a pretty nice job in healing his patients from different chronic diseases. In 1936 another great man, Dr. Norman Walker invented the Norwalk juicer and he made juicing a practice worldwide. His philosophy was that a raw food diet along with fresh juices was going to assure health and vitality in every human being. I want to mention that Dr. Walker lived according to his philosophy and he thrived for 99 years on this planet. :d In 1960 Dr. Bernand Jensen opened a retreat in California. This was a oasis of health and vitality. Patients from all over the world came in to learn about proper nutrition and juicing was one of the most encouraged practices. You all know Jack Lalanne right? 😀 He was an American fitness instructor who promoted juicing like no other. He was always talking about the power of juicing; I am sure that you all heard and remember him from a few TV commercials. As years were passing by, juicing became more mainstream and people from all over the world were finding out about this habit. Nowadays we have people such as: Jason Vale, Dr. Robert Morse, Joe Cross and so many others that encourage everybody to drink homemade juice. Why is that? It must be a secret right? :d
No secret here! All of these people that I mentioned above and many others support the habit of juicing because they learned from their own experience and from the experience of thousands of other people and more, that the juice obtained from fruits and veggies is a magical tool for our body, and used correctly it helps our organism to heal itself from chronic diseases. This is the experience that all of the great people mentioned above had in regards to juicing and we cannot disregard their work and the results they had.
We have many juice therapy centers all over the world now and people start to become more opened in regards to this subject that is rejected violently by many “well intended people”, by people that are not well informed and by people who believe what they are told by their medical doctors…and hey, who can blame them? In a normal world we should be able to trust our medical practitioners right? Don’t get me wrong, medical doctors have their place and their purpose and we must respect it, but most of them are not opened minded to see also other aspects of healing and rebuilding the body. Luckily they are starting to open to the idea of holism and this is a great step for all of us. 😀 I am sure that soon the medical doctors will work hand in hand with alternative doctors and the result will be spectacular.
Back to our subject!
So why we should juice… what is the philosophy behind juicing?
- It’s the fastest way to bring valuable nutrients into your blood stream and then into your precious cells
- Fresh juice is very well digested and it helps your digestive tract to work less and to heal and rebuild itself
- Juice is absorbed very fast with minimum energy from your body and it allows your organism to heal and rejuvenate… big time 😀
- Juicing is an amazing tool for cleansing and flushing out toxins, that unfortunately are found more and more in our bodies, since we live in this modern world
- It can help you to have a better intake of veggies and fruits into your diet. For example you can juice a whole lettuce and mix it with carrot juice and maybe some beet juice and sip it right away… and I am sure that in other circumstances you would have never eaten a whole head of lettuce at once
- This is the fastest and easiest way to introduce a whole range of vitamins, minerals and enzymes to your body. A fresh squeezed juice is like a bomb of nutrients that is well absorbed by your body
- Fresh juice is full of anti-oxidant properties and helps our system to fight with free radicals
- Do you know who will be thankful for this habit too? Your immune system
- By juicing you make sure that your intake of nutrients it’s perfect and you have control over what you eat, because you make the juice by yourself only from fruits and veggies
The philosophy behind juicing, as far as I have experienced, based on the books I studied, written by the great doctors mentioned above and based on their own experience in treating thousands of people worldwide is that by juicing you give your body the fuel that it needs, but in the same time you give your body a rest from digesting complicated things. This means that your body will have more energy left from not digesting all day long and this energy will be used in detoxing and healing purposes. Fresh juice is digested and absorbed in maximum 15 to 20 minutes so imagine how easy it is for the body to process this type of food.
Before your start saying that juicing will get you diabetic and that is too much sugar in fruit juice, let me tell you that fruit juice doesn’t have the sugar that we all know, that is bad for you. Fruits contain fructose. This is a natural type of sugar that is well absorbed by the body without too much effort. Fructose is assimilated into our body by diffusion and it doesn’t overwhelm the pancreas and the liver. You don’t have to believe me, just start juicing and see how you feel.
We are now in the times where we can benefit from the technology and we can juice for health very easy because of the advanced juicers that are found in this times. You don’t need a fancy juicer to juice, even though a slow juicer would be the perfect option for any type of juice… just try it out, see how you feel for yourself and read about it and about the effect that this habit had on others also. I promise you, this simple and fun habit will change your life! 😀
One more thing, juicing must be supported by a well balanced diet and by healthy choices in general. We cannot expect to eat fried meat with French fries and drink fruit juice and feel our best and in the same time we can’t expect to heal if we have a poor diet. Let’s be reasonable! Also I want to say that whole foods are the key to our health, but a diet that contains whole foods (plant based) combined with fresh juices is a key to wellness and health.
Now get your dusty juicer down from the basement and start working with it, combine things, see what your body enjoys the most and experience a cocktail of nutrients with a smile on your face! 😀
Here are a 3 resources that you can use for support, there are plenty more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aaxa7rxEbyk – Super Juice me (documentary)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o0pSnp0Xs8 – Fat sick and nearly dead (documentary)