Cheers to Juicing!

From fasting to smoothies to no carbs to counting calories there are diet recommendations everywhere we look. Sadly the food industry has made billions of dollars by producing foods claiming to be fat-free or low-cal, when really they are filled with fake, nasty ingredients doing loads more harm than even normal junk food. But the exciting truth coming out in the past couple years is focusing consumer’s attention away from man-made food to the true healthy foods that people were actually intended to eat. Real food, produced by Mother Earth herself. Documentaries like Food,Inc. and authors such as Michael Pollan have opened our eyes to the unhealthy affects of everything from fast food to growth hormones. Stemming from this revolution is the current health trend of juicing, gaining massive popularity among everyone from soccer stars to soccer moms. What’s the big idea and why do people keep talking about it?

Although the concept of juicing has been around for hundreds of years, it’s recently taken a major leap from the occasional wheat-grass shot in a health food store. Consumers are spending hundreds of dollars on machines made specifically for juicing, wanting the major benefits being claimed from celebs to health-food advocates. The idea is simple; to consume just the juice of raw fruits and vegetables, eliminating the flesh of the produce so the body does not actually have break down the fiber and go through the process of digestion. Yes, our bodies are made to digest, but think for a moment about all of the crazy things we feed ourselves and expect our bodies to deal with. Of course eating produce by itself and drinking homemade smoothies are excellent ways to get enzymes, vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants. But the juice itself contains the highest concentration of these magical little elements, and juicing allows the body to be flooded with them while giving the digestive system a break to focus on its other duties like elimination, recovery, and healing.

Many proponents claim the effects from allowing our bodies to relax by juicing works miracles on everything from creating a clear complexion to improving results on fighting cancer. They believe that by allowing the body to consume the important things while not having to work for it (through digestion), the body can focus on healing whatever ails it. Aside from the digestive system, ABC News Health notes that “your cells have the time to catch up with their works as well. They can repair themselves and detoxify.” Along with allowing the body time to heal, juice-lovers also claim better energy and mind clarity, improved mood and overall physical and mental health.

The detox qualities of juicing also offer the advantage of weight loss according to many advocates like Cherie Calbom, author of The Juice Lady’s Turbo Diet. “The antioxidant-rich juice binds up toxins and carries them out of the body,” she says, “then the body can let go of fat cells that were storing toxins to protect delicate tissues and organs.” Juicers can be strict or lax, but either way the added nutrients will benefit even the harshest naysayer. After all, juicing isn’t some get-rich-quick scheme invented by the food or diet industries. It’s just the simple, pure truth of eating real foods.

Some like to stay on a strict juice diet for days at a time while others choose to add it to their diets once or twice a week to help fill deficiencies. Whatever the motivation, one thing to remember is juicing does not include using the pasteurized juices in the aisles of the grocery store. First of all most of them are filled with tons of added sugar, and secondly the process of pasteurization kills bacteria and germs, allowing the product to be shipped and stored in stores. Juicing has to be done one meal at a time to avoid the developing bacteria found naturally in produce. (Hence, the realness of the food.) The pasteurized juices in stores have lost vital enzymes, vitamins, and minerals essential to the purpose of juicing.

So you want to try juicing? Many products have surfaced lately because you must have a juicer to get on this train unless you frequent businesses that do it for you. There are basically two types of juicers: the less-expensive centrifugal and the pricier masticating model that professionals say lessons the nutrient-zapping oxidation process from the high speeds of the blending blades in centrifugal juicers. If it’s all Greek to you, checkout buyer’s guides on websites like SavvyVegetarian.

The Mayo Clinic notes that juicing doesn’t have to be complicated, and can just be a fun way to add fruits and vegetables to a diet currently lacking in variation. Remember, eating apples and carrots everyday is good for you, but your body needs all sorts of nutrients found in all sorts of fruits and veggies. Sticking to the same diet creates major deficiencies that we as a culture are not aware of. Not only do we lack variation in real foods, but even worse, we fill our stomachs with fat-free Oreos and diet sodas, genuinely believing that these “food-like substances,” according to Michael Pollan, are really feeding our bodies. Ask yourself if your food was grown on the Earth. If not, pass on it by thinking how much your body will rejoice and reward you if filled with fresh seasonal produce. Juicing is another way of getting it, and if juicing is a tasty way to eat your beets and kale, why not give it a go?