The benefits of juicing vegetables:
An introduction

Fresh veggies can all be juiced! - Photo courtesy of N. Kreinberg

I have been experiencing the benefits of juicing vegetables since I got a juicer for my birthday several months ago. A juicer is simply a kitchen device that extracts the juice from fruits and vegetables, and using one is called "juicing." The purpose of juicing vegetables is to get the valuable nutrition that vegetables provide in a delicious, concentrated and fresh way.

You can juice fruits as well as vegetables, but fruit, although extremely nutritious, has a high sugar content (called fructose) so should be eaten in moderation. Especially if you have diabetes like I do - fruit with its fruit sugar is a carbohydrate that needs to be moderated.

One of the benefits of juicing vegetables is that it is low-carbohydrate and low-calorie but super high in nutrients that the body needs to function. Don't get me wrong; carbohydrates in food are the body's primary source of energy! But there are healthy carbohydrates, such as in fruits, and unhealthy carbohydrates, such as refined sugar and the carbohydrates in junk food.

So I've focused on fresh vegetable juicing as a way to increase the amount of real nutrition I get into my body on a regular basis.

Most of us have been told to "eat our vegetables" since we were kids. I remember having a stand-off with my mother about eating peas - I refused to believe that eating something green, cooked and yukky was "good for me." So I sat at the table with my arms folded across my chest - a defiant look in my eyes no doubt - for a couple of hours. Hell could have frozen over before I'd touch those things!

Well guess what? Although I didn't know it at the time, I was right! Cooking vegetables destroys all the nutrients - vitamins, minerals, enzymes and other beneficial plant nutrients. So although I know my mom had good intentions in trying to make me eat my peas, she wasn't aware that the cooked ones weren't going to do me (or her for that matter) any good!

One of the major benefits of juicing vegetables is getting extremely concentrated nutrition from fresh, raw vegetables. We are advised by the government to eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, but in reality, most Americans get only 1 serving if that. And now research is demonstrating that the nutrients in vegetables play a huge role in preventing and alleviating many physical conditions, including diabetes and cancer.

One of many brands and types of juicer

You'd have to be chomping all day on fresh veggies to even come close to what the body needs! That's just unrealistic for most of us. But juicing your fresh vegetables solves that problem beautifully. I get a tomato or two, several stalks of celery, one or two carrots, a big bunch of leafy greens such as spinach, some broccoli or cucumber and a clove of garlic all in a glass (about 2 cups) of juice.

And talk about benefits of juicing vegetables - it tastes awesome! I find it difficult to really describe how totally delicious fresh vegetable juice tastes... there is absolutely no comparison or similarity to cooked vegetable or even dressing-drenched salad... I think it's something you need to try for yourself.

Before I started juicing vegetables, I steamed fresh frozen veggies, which is a lot healthier than cooking them. But the only steamed vegetable that my husband cared for was string beans. He didn't care for steamed broccoli, spinach or other vegetables like I do.

But he really likes them juiced! I'm jazzed because we are both noticing improvements in our health and energy since we started drinking fresh vegetable juice. We try to drink some every day.

If you have finicky eaters in your family, including children, one of the many benefits of juicing vegetables is that people who don't normally like vegetables, especially cooked ones, can find the joy and healthiness of vegetables in juicing them.

There are many more benefits to juicing vegetables, including

• Improving the pH of the fluids in the body


• Being an extremely healthy and nutritious appetite suppressant


• The water content of vegetables contributes to hydrating the body.

I wanted to share what I've experienced so far with you in the introductory article. There's a lot more information available on the Web about this and how drinking freshly juiced (preferably organic) vegetables is by far one of the best forms of nutrition and things you can do to improve your health.

Cheers!

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