Benefits of Juicing
Raw Juicing – Why Not Eat the Whole Plant?
by Matt Bolinger, MD
Introduction
Our quality of life depends on the quality of food we consume. This basic fact is evident in the laws of nature and science; garbage in, garbage out. The old saying, you are what you eat, could not be more true. Guided by these facts, we should consume as much live, raw, enzyme rich, energy and life giving foods as possible.
Juicing raw fruits and vegetables is an excellent way to nourish your live-food and enzyme starved body. Most of us depend on dead and processed foods to keep us going. The life of the food has been cooked, fried, boiled, and processed out. Preservatives are often added to keep microorganisms from feeding on the dead food and creating toxins that accelerate our illness. We where created with a tremendous tolerance for abuse and can survive, for a time, on less-than-optimum nutrition. Unleash the full potential of the healing systems you were created with by consuming raw and living fruit and vegetable juices. If shopping for a juicer, don’t forget that you usually get what you pay for.
Why Not Eat the Whole Plant?
As juicing becomes more popular, many question, “Why not eat the fruits and vegetables, we need the fiber, don’t we?” The answer lies in the mechanisms of digestion and assimilation. The fibrous solid foods require hours of digestion and a tremendous amount of expended energy before the “goodness” of the plants can be assimilated into the body. While fiber is vitally important to clearing the intestinal tract of waste, it slows the assimilation of nutrients and has no nutrient value of its own. These facts in no way excuse us from consuming whole raw fruits, vegetables, and plant foods. Raw fruits and vegetables should be consumed along with the juices to encourage a sweeping of the intestinal tract.
One can easily consume a quart of juice made from fresh raw apples, carrots, or spinach. It might not be as easy to consume the plants used to make this juice along with the fiber removed by juicing. Juicing does not necessarily concentrate the fruits or vegetables, but it does allow us to consume a much greater quantity of nutritionally important substances, giving the body easily digestible goodness in record breaking time.
How Much Juice is Enough?
This question, like most, depends on the user. Those using juice to replenish their bodies to a healthy state should drink as much juice as they can comfortably drink. Very few results can be obtained by consuming less than one pint each day. Ideally, one to two quarts or more should be consumed daily. The more raw juices one consumes, the faster the consumer will see results.
What Kind of Plants Should I Juice?
Carrot juice is, by far, one of the best things those with chronic illnesses should be incorporating into their lifestyle. Juicing combinations are limited only by the imagination. Let’s list a few examples of fruits and vegetables commonly juiced and a few combinations.
- Fruit and Vegetables
- Carrot
- Celery
- Cucumber
- Parsley
- Spinach
- Cabbage
- Beets
- Endive
- Bell Peppers
- Lettuce
- Watercress
- Alfalfa
- Apples
- String Beans
- Radishes
- Pomegranate
- Potatoes
A Few Combinations
Again, the imagination is the only limitation.
- 1 Part Carrot
1 Part Apple
¼ Part Beet - 1 Part Carrot
1 Part Cucumber
¼ Part Beet - 2 Parts Carrot
1 Part Spinach - 2 Parts Celery
1 Part Cabbage - 2 Part Carrot
1 Part Radish
1 Part Lettuce