Juicing is the Ticket

Do you eat abundant amounts of vegetables daily? Most people don't receive daily adequate amounts needed. One way to achieve this is by juicing vegetables in your own kitchen. Juicing preserves nutrients, enzymes, and vitamins while providing a good variety and amount of vegetables in one serving. Intake of vegetables in this manner allows nutrients to be absorbed into the body the most efficiently - on the cellular level, which is where nutrients are most readily taken in.

Drinking processed juices in jars, cans, and bottles is not advised because these substances are mostly pasteurized, removing vital nutrients and enzymes needed by the body, leaving no pulp and delivering a hefty dose of liquid sugar into the bloodstream. Because these products fail to contain important live enzymes for life, they are a simply a waste of money and do not provide proper nourishment.

Here are some basic tips for juicing:

• Don't use vegetables such as beets or carrots. These root vegetables contain a lot of sugar and raise insulin levels too high. Eat these vegetables raw in salads or lightly stir fry them with a main meal.
• In the beginning, do use vegetables such as celery, cucumber, and fennel. When you have become accustomed to this mixture, add leafies such as red, green, romaine, endive, escarole, and spinach. After a week or so of this combination, add cabbage and bok choy. Once you have done that for another week add in some herbs like cilantro and parsley. Finally, after one more week you can add in the most nutrient dense varieties such as kale, dandelion, mustard, and collard greens.
• Use protein such as one or two raw eggs. Also use a good quality seed for healthy fats such as pumpkin or flax. Use a coffee grinder to grind the flax seeds and use immediately after grinding.
• If you cannot use raw eggs, you may use instead a high-quality protein powder that uses whey as the base of the protein. Whey is the most complete protein and easy to digest. If you are worried about allergies (lactose intolerance), there is no cause for concern with whey protein because most issues arise from casein (an ingredient in most dairy products, and especially pasteurized varieties). Do not use soy protein because of the intensive, industrial processing that takes place to produce soy products, rendering it not a whole food. As an alternative, rice may be acceptable.
  
• Use chlorella - a potent nutrient that comes from the sea and is important for detoxification as well. One teaspoon is sufficient - check your health food store for this product and ask for something you can add to juice mixtures. Roughly 30 percent of people are unable to tolerate chlorella, so if you find that consuming it causes nausea, discontinue.
  
• If you cannot use chlorella, consider spirulina - another algae superfood from the sea. Obtain spirulina at your health food store.
  
• Use oil in your juice mixture - the best type is a high-quality, fresh cod liver oil (in winter months due to less sunshine; cod liver oil contains Vitamin D), and fish oil for summer. If you live in a primarily sunny climate year-round, it is not recommended to use cod liver oil.
  
• Add some garlic - one clove or less, depending on the individual.
  
• For flavor add ginger, lemons, cranberries, or unsweetened, fresh coconut - all of these substances render their own special health benefits to the body and are most beneficial.
  
• Be sure to purchase a high-quality juicer (but don't follow recommendations that come with juicers as they recommend using carrots and beets).
  

If you don't normally have time to make your own juice at home, BarleyMax is a good alternative from Hallelujah Acres.


Here is a link from Dr. Mercola's site which provides in-depth information about proper ways to juice depending on your individual needs, and shows which vegetables are good to use versus which ones are not as useful.

Here is another resource from Juicing for Health.