Juicing's biggest health benefit can be summarized in one phrase: cellular cleansing.
Bar none, cellular cleansing is the single biggest reason. Every time we breathe out, we've cleansed our body of the metabolic waste known as carbon dioxide. Cleansing occurs because our body's cells are constantly dying and being replaced with new cells. Our spleen and liver and stomach cells do it, our intestinal walls do it, even our bones and muscle cells do this regeneration circle of life. All vegetable juicing does is improve this spring-cleaning regeneration process. Juicing works so well at cleansing because of a few reasons:
There is hardly any digestive work needed to process raw, enzymatically active liquid. Vegetable juice gets into the system quickly. Squeezed vegetable juice is very nutrient-dense. This concentration acts to supercharge the system in the same way that herbal tinctures work.
They are proving-as those who have switched to whole foods always have known-to be the key behind keeping our bodies free of cancer, digestive problems, and other degenerative illnesses. The most important, and most overlooked, reason: juicing cleans the liver.
Liver cleansing is actually easy, because the number one job of the liver is to cleanse the blood. In other words, every drop of your nine pints of blood runs constantly through the liver, removing toxins and metabolic waste every second of every day of your life. Since crushed vegetable juice goes quickly into the blood stream, it goes quickly into the liver as well.
I cannot say this enough: a cleansed liver is a felt sensation. Improving its function seems to affect everything, from mental clarity and focus, to emotions, to sleep, to how stress is handled, our digestion and our skin. Liver detoxification is so important, and nothing comes close to it like the juice of raw vegetables.
Buy a starter juicer. These will run from $125 - $150, and will last a year or two before burning out.
I don't think it is necessary to get too specific about which juice works best for each condition and symptom. I would just start juicing. Still, it's interesting to note that every vegetable has its own particular healing properties. Cucumber juice is thought to clean your kidneys, lower high blood pressure and improve skin problems.
Cabbage juice is one of the most healing nutrients for stomach repair. Contains sulfur and selenium, both which are good for joint stiffness. Beets are famous for their ability to cleanse the blood and strengthen the gall bladder and liver. Beet juice is very concentrated, so a little goes a long way; try 20% of the total amount. Broccoli: Even the staid National Cancer Institute is excited about this plant, saying that it's showing anti-cancer properties. A strong taste, so I only add about 10%. Apples: I think tart apples are one of the most underrated healing foods we have. Apples contain malic acid, which is capable of softening gallstones and other hardening of the body.
Celery: long considered a nerve tonic. Parsley: amazing plant, very high in chlorophyll. Cranberries: Contains quercetin and tannins, flavonoids that are getting a lot of attention for their anti-bacterial, inflammatory and tumor properties. Seems to help cleanse the kidneys, because it helps lower uric acid levels (often associated with gout, kidney gravel, and joint pain). |
