Juicing has come into its own over the past decade or so as a practice that is very beneficial to health and well being. The Jack LaLanne infomercials along with a general shift in the consciousness in humanity in the direction of healthy living and eating as brought juicing out of the realms of something once undertaken only by strange health fanatics. So what health benefits are there in juicing?
Basically the health benefits of juicing are the same as eating lots and lots of fruits and vegetables (minus the fiber). Large prospective studies which follow the diets of thousands of people for many years always find that those who consume the most fruits and vegetables are almost always the healthiest people. They have less incidence of heart disease and cancer and live longer.
If we juice green vegetables, which are considered the 'king' of juices, then we can be assured we are taking in lots of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is essentially the 'blood' of plants and is a plant pigment that puts the green hue plants. Chlorophyll's health benefits are powerful. It helps us to increase the quantity and quality of our blood by both helping to build new red blood cells and also aiding in the detoxification of the blood. Chlorophyll is also a very alkalizing substance that helps our bodies to become less acidic and disease prone.
All fruits and vegetables are a source of vitamin C and juicing helps us to squeeze almost every last drop of this vitamin out of its host fruit or vegetable. Vitamin C has many important functions. It is essential for building collagen to make our skin strong and healthy, it boosts the immune system and helps us fight off infections and protects our arteries from free radical damage that could lead to arteriosclerosis. Mangoes, pineapples and green leafy vegetables are all extra good sources of vitamin C.
One of the fundamental benefits of juicing is that fresh juices are one of the easiest things to digest. The juice has already been released from the tough fibers of fruits and vegetables leaving very little for the digestion to do. So the fresh juice is effectively absorbed right into the blood stream. The other main juicing benefit is that we can juice the skins along with the pulp of many fruits and vegetables. The skins are loaded with antioxidants that we would not otherwise eat.
If you have been inspired to buy a juicer I recommend the Jack LaLanne juicer or if you are looking for some great recipes I recommend Jack LaLanne power juicer recipes.