CHAPTER TWO:
THE POWER OF JUICING
Drinking regular juices is like taking the most potent multivitamins you could ever get your hands on. All the wonderful properties that make fruits and veggies the nutritional powerhouses they are, are trapped in the fiber, and you get only a small fraction of them by chewing your food. When you juice them, on the other hand, you unlock all this nutrition out of the fiber and send it shooting straight into your bloodstream. You could never dream of getting those high doses of nutrients just by eating whole foods unless you were in a veggie-eating contest and ate till you passed out.
Under better conditions the body probably wouldn’t need the high levels of nutrition that juicing provides. But we don’t live under better conditions, so our bodies could definitely use a hand.
HOW JUICING HELPS THE BODY DETOXIFY
As discussed, when you juice you give your body a break from the daily grind, and your energy can finally stop focusing on never-ending digestion, and start being invested in other repair work. One of the jobs it can now concentrate on more efficiently is ridding itself of stored waste. But there is more.
Hardcore Nutrition
Juicing also helps the body detoxify itself more efficiently by giving it superior nutrition. The high doses of nutrients we get from these drinks are wonderful cleansing agents, as they nourish and stimulate our detoxifying organs, making sure they’re healthy and strong. The juices themselves don’t clean our bodies. They just help our cleansing organs do a better job at it.
When they get a little bit of help, these organs start flushing stored toxins out of the body in bigger quantities and at a faster pace than when left on their own, or even worse, when being fed a Standard American Diet (very appropriately called SAD). At the same time, getting rid of those toxins helps the body start absorbing nutrients more efficiently, as there is less waste blocking it from doing so. And this makes your organs even healthier and better at detoxifying. This is the replenishing cycle that takes place in your body when you start juicing. Don’t you love it?
Even if you keep eating three meals a day and don’t go for a full-on cleanse, adding detox juices to your diet will help your body work more efficiently. As an added bonus, they will help you feel fuller and leave less space for unwholesome foods.
Eating processed food without nutrition and full of toxins does the exact opposite. Every time we eat a meal taken out of the Standard American Diet’s catalogue, we get little or no nutrition (hence, weaken our organs), and feast on toxins instead. When you do this, you are begging for trouble.
Juices vs. Smoothies
The difference between juices and smoothies is not rocket science. In short, juices are devoid of all the fiber in the fruits and veggies whereas smoothies contain all the fiber. But which one is best?
The answer is they both have pros and cons.
Juices may spike your sugar levels a little, because the fiber is not there to anchor all those natural sugars. However, this can be avoided by drinking greener juices with less sweet fruits and veggies in them. The fact that juices go directly to your bloodstream without any distractions has a super health shot effect on the body. You can actually feel your cells vibrating with vitality and joy when you drink them. Try it, and you’ll see what I mean.
Smoothies, on the other hand, take more time to get into your bloodstream, as the fiber still needs to be digested, delaying the process. You also use less amounts of fruits and veggies (hence, less nutrients) in a smoothie, as the bulk of the fiber would make you feel too full if you added more. Of course, this is a pro if fullness is what you’re looking for.
All things considered, I prefer to drink juices more often than smoothies, as I get larger amounts of nutrients that way, and they give my body a break from digesting. If you have the time (and the juicer), try to make this your first choice most of the time.
If you have only a blender, however, or if you are always in a rush, smoothies are still a great way of including more fruits and vegetables in your daily routine, and of improving your health by unlocking more nutrients out of the fiber. Just make sure you don’t use frozen fruits or veggies too often, as they weaken your digestion (if possible, avoid them completely, or thaw before using), and that you drink them on an empty stomach, and wait at least an hour before you eat something else. Most of the juices in this book can be easily turned into smoothies by adding a little water, green tea, or almond milk to them.
DOES DETOX JUICING HAVE LASTING EFFECTS?
Some nutritionists are against detox diets because they consider them a fad, and a quick fix without lasting effects. I partially agree with this. Detox juicing won’t completely change your life if you do it just once and then dive right back into smoking, drinking cocktails every day at happy hour, and having doughnuts for breakfast and pizza for lunch. But if done right, juice cleanses can be a gigantic step toward better health, and greater awareness of your body, how it works, and what you put in it.
To get lasting effects that will be noticeable, you need to accompany your periodic cleanses with a change in diet, and, if possible, a change of lifestyle too. Changing your diet, by the way, is not as hard as you may imagine. Excess eating and cravings are usually the effect of poor nutrition. You may be giving your body large amounts of food every day, but if those foods don’t contain what your body needs, it will keep asking for more. Once you start eliminating stored toxins out of your system and your starving cells get a taste of real nourishment, your body will become more efficient at letting you know exactly what it needs.
In fact, one of the great things about juicing is that it is highly addictive. Hooray for that! Once your cells know what they were missing out on, they will never get enough of this royal treatment. Can you imagine how different the world would be if we all had this kind of addiction?
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER A DETOX?
Even if you go back to total food and lifestyle chaos after your cleanse, and only juice and eat healthy once in a blue moon, I do believe that some detoxifying every now and then is by far better than nothing. By bringing your organs back to balance ever so slightly, your body will carry less of a toxic burden for a while, be more efficient at absorbing nutrients, and start working more efficiently than if you never gave it proper maintenance.
But of course, we encourage you to keep drinking these nutrient-rich juices on a regular basis, and to make wholesome food choices for the rest of your life. Doing this will be totally worth your effort.
TEN REASONS TO DO A JUICE CLEANSE
1. You have been eating the Standard American Diet for far too long!
2. You want to know what your body really wants.
3. Your digestive system needs a much-needed vacation from all that overeating.
4. You want to look younger for longer, and to feel it too.
5. It’s spring, and you feel the urge to do an internal house cleanse.
6. You want to get rid of your compulsive cravings, and get new, healthier ones in their place.
7. You want to feel amazing for the first time in a very long time, and get rid of annoying physical, mental, and emotional symptoms.
8. You want your clothes to fit better.
9. You want to navigate more smoothly through the physical and emotional toxins in your daily life.
10. You’re feeling adventurous and want to try new fruits and veggies every day.
