The juicing trend is still going strong, and for good reason. When you juice you naturally use very healthy ingredients, and it gives your body a jolt of nutrition it likely wouldn’t get otherwise. Fruits and vegetables are the most often juiced items, making it a practice that is sure to increase your overall health and happiness.
However, many of the benefits that are claimed when it comes to juicing come from manufacturers of juicers as part of the sales pitch to buy their juicer. This makes it hard to know whether you are really getting as much benefit from juicing as what is suggested.
But there are several benefits to juicing that can’t be ignored, and we’re presenting them to you so you can make an educated decision on whether juicing is right for you.
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1. Gets You Consuming More Fruits and Vegetables
If you make juicing a part of your everyday life, you’ll consume far more fruits and vegetables than you would if you had to eat them in whole form.
Juicing provides a sort of novelty, and makes getting your recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables so much easier. If you had to chew up a few stalks of celery and eat them with pile of spinach and then eat an apple, it would be quite daunting. But a green smoothie made from juicing those same ingredients can be drunk in a few minutes.
Juicing takes all of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables and gives them to you in a much easier to consumer format.
Why Juicing Is Key: Someone that juices is far more likely to meet their daily recommended consumption of fruits and vegetables than someone who does not.
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2. Easier to Digest
When you juice you’re getting the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables, but you’re getting them in liquid form. This makes it much easier to digest them, and absorb the nutrients they contain.
Mastication (chewing) is the first step of digestion, and juicing is a way of skipping that step. Many times we don’t chew our food enough, which leads to indigestion. This is especially true for raw fruits and vegetables which require a lot of chewing to get them broken down.
This means that by the time the juice reaches your stomach and starts being digested, you’ve already got a head start on the process. It won’t have to work as hard to break down the food and pull out the nutrients it needs, and more of these fruits and vegetables will be use than if you had eaten them whole.
Why Juicing Is Key: Juicing essentially skips the chewing process, meaning fruits and vegetables reach your digestive system in a more easily digestible form.
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3. Provides More Energy
You’ll naturally have more energy from juicing because you’ll be juicing foods that are full of vitamins and nutrients that give you real energy.
Rather than settle for the phony “energy” found in energy drinks loaded with caffeine and sugar, it’s much better for you to get real energy from juicing fruits and vegetables. These foods have absorbed the power of the sun, and they relay that energy to you, while at the same time helping nearly every system in the body.
These fruits and vegetables also contain antioxidants which will help limit the amount of oxidative stress placed on the body, and help fuel you for hours on end. Best of all, no crash later.
Why Juicing Is Key: Juicing fruits and vegetables is a great way to get an instant rush of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to help power you through your day with natural, real energy.
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4. Detoxifies the Body
You’ll often hear juicing brought up in the same discussion as detoxing, because it does such a great job of providing the body with a flood of nutrients it can use to help rid itself of toxic waste.
Any good detoxing program will simultaneously be providing the body with plenty of nutrients, which is why juice fasting has become so popular in recent years. It’s the process of cutting out all food except for juices made with fruits and vegetables specifically chosen to help cleanse key organs of the body.
The most popular organ for detoxing is the liver, which is why you’ll see juices made with lemon, grapefruit, or garlic, as these have been shown to help the liver purge itself of toxins and function as it should.
Why Juicing Is Key: Juicing provides essential minerals and nutrients that the body needs to help effectively get rid of toxins in the liver, colon, and other organs.
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5. Helps You Stay Hydrated
Juicing works best with fruits and vegetables that naturally contain a good amount of water. Juicing them releases the water they contain, and therefore you’re getting plenty of hydration along with the vitamins and minerals contained in the fruits and vegetables.
If you find it hard to drink water throughout the day because you forget, or because you wish it had more of a taste to it, juicing a few times a day will help you correct any dehydration issues you may be having.
While there is great debate over how much water is needed per day by the average person, there seems to be a general consensus that most Americans are not getting enough water each day, and are in a dehydrated state, with only a difference in the severity.
Why Juicing Is Key: Juicing helps you meet your daily requirement of water, helping to hydrate internal organs so they function on all cylinders.
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6. Natural Stress Buster
One of the best things about juicing is how versatile it is. You can tailor your juices to a desired effect, juicing up certain fruits and vegetables depending on how you want to feel. Just as some concoctions can help you have more energy, others can help you deal with stress and calm you down.
Load up on spinach if you’re feeling stressed. It contains a number of factors that will help you feel better, including being high in tryptophan, the substance in turkey that is notorious for bringing on a sleepy state. It also contains plenty of magnesium, which will help relax the body and help you cope.
When compared to not juicing and not getting these nutrients, the difference is clear and it’s hard to argue against the benefits of juicing.
Why Juicing Is Key: Juicing provides you with a natural source of vitamins and antioxidants which will go to work immediately to help you handle the stresses life brings.
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7. Get Stronger Bones
Juicing up fruits and vegetables high in calcium is a better way to meet your calcium need than through milk and dairy products.
Toss any of these calcium rich foods into a blender and you’ll be well on your way to having a tasty beverage that is loaded with calcium to give you healthy, strong teeth and bones.
Running low on calcium is easier than you might think. Getting high quality calcium into the body each day is essential, and juicing can help with that in a big way.
Why Juicing Is Key: Juicing provides the best opportunity to get massive amounts of high-calcium vegetables and fruits into the body in the least amount of time.
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8. Have a Longer Life
Juicing has long been touted as helping with longevity and helping you live a better life in general. With more energy, more antioxidants, and more vitamins being taken it, it’s easy to see that you’ll live longer, all else being equal.
Fruits and vegetables are always making the news for their ability to help stave off cancer and heart disease, two of the top killers known to man. By constantly feeding the body the things it needs you’ll be displacing unhealthy foods and avoiding the toxic effect they have on the body.
Juicing helps all of your vital organs do their job better, so you’ll have a more vibrant life and you’ll be able to live it the way it was meant to be lived, in a body that is functioning as Mother Nature intended.
Why Juicing Is Key: Without juicing, you’re less likely to consume the required amount of fruits and vegetables needed to live a long and healthy life.
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9. Get Better Sleep
Need help getting to sleep? Juicing could be the answer. You just have to know which foods to juice up in order to induce natural sleep signals in the body.
There are foods that contain melatonin, the hormone that is naturally released in the body that gets us to start yawning at night. Try juicing cherries, tomatoes, oranges, or bananas as a digestif to your dinner and then look for natural signs of sleep when bedtime rolls around.
Listen to your body. If you start to get tired around 9pm, go to sleep, don’t fight to stay awake. Sleep from 9-5 and you can wake up at 5am and finish up whatever you couldn’t get to the night before. You’ll feel much better for it, and you’ll likely be more alert and better able to function without the need of stimulants.
Why Juicing Is Key: Juicing up a sleep inducing cocktail is a much better idea than turning to habit-forming sleeping pills.
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10. Provides Brain Power
Juicing can help you focus and be more alert during your day, something we can all appreciate. The best part is that it does so naturally, using foods that provide additional benefits to the body.
Green smoothies are perhaps the most effective way to get your brain moving. Choose any green, leafy vegetable and you’ll be surprised how great you feel after drinking it down. It may not have the same buzz that a caffeinated energy drink has, but if you try to focus you’ll see that you can, and it’s something that is sustainable without any negative side effects or long term problems.
Other great juicing choices for enhanced brain function include kale, sprouts, beets, ginger, turmeric, and coconut water.
Why Juicing Is Key: The right mix of fruits and vegetables can kick your brain into gear more effectively than any 5-Hour drink can.
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11. Helps You Stay Alkaline
Getting the body to an alkaline state and keeping it there can pay big dividends in the form of health and wellbeing. Juicing can help you consume more alkaline foods, which will help swing your body’s pH levels to the alkaline side.
Keep in mind that whether a food is acidic or alkaline depends on how it is processed by the body. That’s why some foods that seem acidic, like a lemon, can actually have an alkaline effect on the body once consumed. Always consult our list of alkaline foods for best results. It contains plenty of foods that are suitable for juicing.
To get the benefits of alkalinity from juicing make sure you are juicing plenty of green, leafy vegetables like spinach, collard greens, and Swiss chard, as these are typically some of the most alkaline foods available.
Why Juicing Is Key: Keeping your body in an alkaline state is one way to stay healthier, as many diseases and conditions form when the body is in a persistent acidic state.