Although people have been extracting juices from fruits and vegetables for centuries, performing the process at home has been something most people have lived without for a very long time. The rise of supermarkets and manufacturers who complete this sort of work for us led many people to rely on those processes and to move away from creating their own juices.
The 1980s and 1990s saw resurgence in the popularity of juicing as healthy living and fitness took center stage in much of North American and other Westernized societies. Prominent figures such as fitness star Jack Lalanne made juicing even more popular by releasing their own at-home juicing machines.
As all fads do, this one faded away for much of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Still, it managed to make quite the comeback in recent years, especially since the release of Joe Cross’s documentary film “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”.
In this article, we will look at some of the possible benefits of juicing your own fruits and vegetables at home using an at home juicing machine. After all, if you are here to research the benefits of specific centrifugal, masticating, and citrus juicers, it could also help to know a little bit about the potential health benefits of your decision.
Eat The Healthy Foods You Don’t Like
Let’s be honest here. For some of us, eating healthy isn’t easy because we simply do not enjoy the taste or texture of certain healthy foods. One of the wonderful things about juicing is that you can mask flavors and break down textures.
For instance, one of my favorite homemade juices incorporates almost a cup of spinach. I do not enjoy eating spinach – I simply cannot handle the taste. However, mixing it into my juice with some lemon, strawberry, kiwi, and banana can make all the difference in the world. Even though the juice comes out as green as grass, I cannot taste the faintest hint of spinach.
Multiply Your Nutrients
Whether you are drinking juice with your meal or in place of a meal, you are taking in much higher levels of nutrients than most people are able to consume during the course of a regular meal. Have you ever paid attention to how many pieces of a single fruit or vegetable go into a juicer to produce a single glass of juice?
I have found that I am able drink two to three meals’ worth of fruits and vegetables in a single glass of juice. Just think about how many more vitamins and minerals I am able to pack into my day this way.
Multiply Your Energy and Immunity
It is no secret that our energy has its roots in our vitamins and minerals. The same can be said for a large portion of our immune systems. Of course, there are other factors at play in both of those cases, but scientists and doctors agree that vitamins and minerals are essential to our energy levels and in maintaining strong immune systems.
As you multiply the amount of vitamins and minerals your body takes in you are also increasing your energy levels and building up your immune system. I cannot guarantee anything here, but I would be willing to bet that if you begin juicing you will find yourself needing less coffee and less cold medicine.
Feel Full Longer
The more nutrients your body absorbs the longer you will feel full and satisfied. Oftentimes, our cravings are the result of our bodies missing certain key nutrients. Unaware of what those nutrients may be, and very disconnected from healthy eating habits, we turn to comfort foods and junk foods to try to fill the void. Unfortunately, we often find that we aren’t able to fully satisfy that need and continually come back for more, again and again; never really feeling full.
Whole fruit and vegetable juicing helps to bring our bodies those nutrients we need so that we can stop cravings. Whether you are trying to lose weight or simply make it through a busy day without feeling as though your stomach is trying to eat itself from the inside out, juicing can help you feel full longer. There are certain nutrients out there which we may not be able to find in fruits and vegetables, which is why juicing should be part of a balanced diet.
Consuming Live Enzymes
One concern many people have raised about prepackaged foods is that they have been changed in order to last longer on supermarket shelves. Unfortunately, this is true. Fruit and vegetables juices found on the shelves of your local grocery store have usually undergone a process called pasteurization in order to allow the juices to last longer on the shelf without going bad. If the juices had not gone through this process it would be difficult to transport them over long distances before they expire, never mind leaving them out on a shelf until a consumer comes along and selects one for purchase.
Through the pasteurization process juices are heated then cooled. I cannot explain the entire scientific process that occurs here, but suffice to say that when the juices are heated the enzymes are killed off. Somehow, it is these live enzymes which make the food break down quickly after being turned into juice. Thus, killing the live enzymes allows for a longer shelf life.
Unfortunately, it is also these enzymes which help our bodies break down the foods we digest and carry the nutrients into our blood streams. Without these enzymes, this process is much more difficult and requires a lot more effort on the part of our bodies. It is widely believed that this extra effort steals resources from other important bodily functions, leaving us in a less-then-optimal state of readiness to attack any bacteria or viruses which make their way into our systems.
Luckily, when you juice at home you are able to maintain the enzymes in your food. This is especially true if you use a masticating juicer for creating your fruit and vegetable juices.
Control Your Fiber Intake
High fiber diets help us to break down, digest and dispose of the food we consume. Basically, the right amount of fiber keeps things flowing properly through us. When purchasing fruit and vegetable juices from a store, we are unable to control the amount of fiber we receive in them. One of the very few options most food retailers offer is a choice between low pulp and high pulp orange juice. When it comes to other juices, no options are usually offered.
If you juice your own fruits and vegetables at home, you can consciously decide to add some fiber back into your juice by dumping some pulp back inside. This way, you are able to absorb all of the nutrients and even some of the fiber without having to eat all of the actual fruits and vegetables which made their way through your juicer.
