Juicing has been all the rage for a while now. You know it has gone mainstream when food companies start to poke fun at it in multi-million dollar snack food commercials. Or when you see that it makes an appearance on a cooking show that has nothing to do with health and typically features Italian food. Best of all is when blender companies use the word ‘juice’ in their infomercials, but then exalt the benefits of all the fiber. They seem to be torn between wanting to utter the word ‘juice’ because of the hype and tiptoeing away from the biggest criticism and really giving you a smoothie (which contains the fiber that juice leaves behind). It all makes me laugh and shake my head at the same time.
Be sure not to get caught up in the tug o’ war between juices, smoothies and chewing. The truth is, they are all great and enjoying one does not have to mean avoiding the others. Instead, consider these juicy reasons why you just might want to grab some juice in addition to your daily smoothie. And just to be clear, I mean a freshly prepared, unpasteurized, mostly vegetable juice, not a boxed, bottled, pasteurized, sweetened concoction that may be green, but isn’t exactly loaded with nutrients.
Here are the real reasons why fresh juice is actually good for you and why you should be enjoying this nutrient-packed, delicious treat daily (or at the very least, as often as possible).
Juicy Reason #1: It supercharges your nutritional intake.
Drinking just 16 ounces of juice gives you as much as 5 or 6 servings of fresh, natural goodness. This is much more than the smoothie option, which is good too, but with all the fiber, just can’t match the serving power of juice. And chewing that pile of produce in one sitting is nearly impossible for most people. Where else can you get such a concentration of nutrition, vitamins, enzymes, phytonutrients and minerals in an easy-to-carry cup? And without the fiber, you absorb these incredible nutrients faster and more efficiently than you would if you just chewed it all.
Juicy Reason #2: It’s easy to digest and gives your body a break.
When you juice and remove all that insoluble fiber, you are effectively easing the hardest part of the digestion process. By removing all the cellulose from the vegetables and fruits you juice, your digestive system gets a bit of a break and your body can then reallocate some of that energy to other activities like cleansing, healing and living. Have you ever heard people who juice talk about their energy level, incredible sleep and clarity of mind? Reallocated energy and a flood of nourishment is why they feel so great.
Juicy Reason #3: It’s a path to great eating habits.
No matter where you start with your food habits, adding fresh juice moves you in a direction towards getting more plants in your diet. Let's face it, absolutely everyone agrees that more vegetables and fruit in your diet leads to a healthier life. This is one of the few things that is never contested. So having even one fresh juice each day leads you naturally to a diet that includes more plants. I like to call it the GLAD way of eating. Juicing just makes it easy and the easier it is to increase those servings of vegetables and fruit, the healthier you will become. Over time, you will also begin to notice that your taste buds change just a bit too. They will start taking more of a liking to vegetables and fruit and pretty soon, you’ll be craving these nutritional powerhouses all the time. And guess what that leads to? Eating more of them, which is so beneficial to your health.
See more of my articles for FitLife.tv here.
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