Drink Yourself into the New Year: The Benefits of Juicing!
Written by Ali Rosen, IFBB Pro Tuesday, 27 December 2011 15:47
Drink yourself into the New Year!The benefits of Juicing
Juicing is hardly a new trend and, in fact has been used as medicine since ancient times. The first written words were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which dates back to 150 B.C. to about 700 A.D. Whether eaten raw or transformed into liquid by islanders, fruit and vegetable juices have played a critical role for their medicinal qualities and for maintaining general health. Juicing importance has risen today due to the Western diet being robbed of numerous valuable nutrients It starts with the commercial farming soil being stripped of minerals that results in the production of fruits and vegetables lacking vitamins and minerals. It's safe to say the Western diet has strayed from our ancestors’ natural diet dramatically. Incorporating juicing in to your diet can help balance your body’s homeostasis and help fight diseases and their consequences.
In order to understand the benefits of juicing one must understand the two byproducts produced: phytochemicals and enzymes. Enzymes are your body’s work force so to speak. They act like catalysts for numerous chemical reactions that occur within your body. They are essential for digestion, absorption, and conversion of food in to body tissue and for the production of energy. Overall, enzymes are the key to most metabolic activity within your body. Phytochemicals are natural compounds found in fruits and vegetables. The word ‘phyto’ means plant in Greek. They are essential elements for health and help fight the body against disease. They have many functions within the body such as stimulating the immune system where they work as antioxidants. Phytochemicals regulate the hormonal system and work as antiviral and antibacterial compounds. Under the umbrella of phytochemicals are cartenoids (i.e. beta carotene and lycopene) and flavonoids. Flavonoids act as antioxidants, which are extremely important in the inactivation of cell-damaging free radicals. Juicing preserves the enzymes where heating destroys them. If cooked above 144 degrees the enzymes have been destroyed, but when juicing raw fruits and vegetables enzymes are preserved and the phytochemicals are released.
The benefits of juicing are extensive. Currently looked upon as a weight loss solution, juicing embodies a true revival for your digestive system. Your digestive system finally gets a break and has time to put its energy in to elimination of toxins, which results in recovery and healing for your body. Your stomach, intestines, pancreas, gallbladder and liver get a temporary recess as well. Simultaneously your cells have time to catch up with doing their job too. During this time your cells can truly detoxify and repair themselves.
Many studies have shown that juicing increases your body’s function and helps strengthen your endocrine, digestive and immune system(s). Juicing removes the indigestible fiber, which allows more nutrients to be absorbed in larger quantities to the body. Many nutrients are trapped within the fiber of the fruit and vegetable. For example, a raw carrot yields 1% beta-carotene whereas a juiced carrot yields close to 100% beta-carotene production.
Juicing also helps incorporate more water in to our body, which is key when considering the cells within our body are made up of 65% water and the cells within our brain consist of 80% water. Raw juices are extremely high in alkaline elements. This is highly beneficial in normalizing the acid alkaline balance in the blood and tissues as there tends to be high acidity in most conditions of ill health. The organic minerals received from raw juices, especially calcium, potassium and silicon help in restoring biochemical and mineral balance within the tissues and cells, thereby preventing premature aging of cells and disease. Needless to say juicing is a delicious and nutritious way to replenish and restore your body with minerals, vitamins and enzymes.
Some important facts to remember involve type and duration. Not all juices are created equal. Store-bought juice in a container is pasteurized in order to have a longer shelf life as well as inhibit the growth of bacteria. The best juice is made fresh and consumed immediately after juicing. The duration is important when introducing raw juices to your body. Start slowly on day one, two and three. This allows your body to acclimate to a new command system that will be going on within your digestive system.At the end of the day there are many ways to run the race. Some people might want to slowly convert their fruit and vegetable consumption to the juiced version while others will jump start their transformation with a raw juice cleanse. Both are effective and beneficial as any step forward is progression to a new you for the new year!
If any of you are interested in trying juice cleanses or have questions about juicing please feel free to post on my athlete page and I would be more then willing to assist you.
Until next time Eat Right, Train Hard & Stay Positive.
Alison Rosen is an NCSA-ACPT and is pursuing her Masters Of Dietetics and Nutrition and RD license at Florida International University. She is also an IFBB Bikini Pro and member of Team Bodybuilding.com! You can find out more about Alison at:
Twitter: @ALIROSEN
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