The Benefits of Juicing

The Benefits of Juicing 

Most people do not eat their daily amount of recommended fruits and vegetables. Products like V8 have grown in popularity because many of those same people are realizing that in order to improve their health and avoid common illnesses or disorders, they must improve their diet. V8 provides a convenient way to add essential fruits and vegetables to your diet between meals. But why spend money on a product that is filled with unhealthy preservatives when you can juice your own produce at home and modify your juicing recipes to match your personal preferences?

 

Consuming fresh juices of fruits and vegetables has many benefits.

 

Fruits and vegetables are filled with essential vitamins and minerals that are vital to curing or fighting many common disorders. Recently, it was discovered that cabbage juice helps to treat peptic ulcers. And keracyanin, which is the pigment found in cherries, can help ease gout attacks and increases the movement in both fingers and toes.

 

Citrus fruits also play a major role in treating certain afflictions. Many can attest to the healing power of cranberry juice and its effect in preventing kidney stones and urinary tract infections. Plus, the healing power of grape juice is also widely well know. Grape juice contains a compound called trans-resveratol, which is believed to help reduce the risk of atherosclerosis.

 

By drinking at least three glasses of grape juice a day, you can prevent heart attacks just as effectively as taking an aspirin on a daily basis. But what most people do not know is that the pit of the grape contains powerful antioxidants called proanthocyanidins, which are considered even more potent antioxidants than vitamin C or vitamin E. Juicing grapes gives you the opportunity to consume these healthy benefits because when you juice grapes, you put them into the juicer with their seeds and all.

 

So why not just buy bottled juices? It’s simple. Bottled juices do not give you the healthy benefits that juicing fresh fruits and vegetables give you.

 

When you go through this blog, I never recommend packaged juices.  Why?  Because they are made from fruit concentrates and not whole fruit juices. Plus, packaged juice has to be pasteurized before it can be sold. Part of the pasteurizing process includes boiling the juice to stop the growth of bacteria and other various organisms. However, boiling the juice also destroys the natural vitamins and minerals within the juice, therefore decreasing its nutritional value. The major benefit of juicing at home is that you can avoid all of this and take full advantage of the total nutritional value of your fresh fruits and vegetables.

 

Juicing does not have to take up a lot of your time. It’s easy and quick to throw a few pieces of produce into your juicer and enjoy a fresh glass of juice within minutes. Juicing does not have to consume your life, and drinking even one glass of fresh juice every day will boost your vitality and your health in ways that you won’t expect.

 

For more benefits of juicing, click here.

Great Juice Recipes for Juicers

I have often heard of people starting out juicing by using their blender. I’m here to tell you that this is a huge mistake. A blender and a juicer are two separate appliances and they perform two different functions. 

A juicer’s purpose is to separate the liquid juice from the pulp. With a juicer, you can place your produce into it in manageable pieces -- peels, stems, and all. The juicer extracts the juice and disposes of its pulp. A blender, on the other hand, will not separate the pulp from the juice. Plus, a blender is not capable of giving you the kind of juice quality that you are looking for with juicing. If you were to toss stringy or hard vegetables like carrots, beets, or celery into a blender, the mixture would come out gritty instead of being like juice. 

Now that you are fully committed to using a juicer rather than a blender, feel free to create your own delicious juice recipes. 

Many people do not know where to start when doing this. They might be taking this task too seriously. The best part of creating your own juice recipes is using your imagination. You already know the taste of the fruits and vegetables that you desire to juice. You just have to think about which ones will taste good together. 

If you are looking to juice a vegetable that might not taste so good, consider mixing with it a fruit that has a strong taste. Lemons are great for this purpose. Some other fruits that you might want to try for this task are strawberries and citrus fruits such as oranges. You should also limit juice from green vegetables to 2 ounces per glass, or else you may experience some gastric discomfort. 

If you are a beginner at juicing, there are a few things that you need to know. First, avoid juicing bananas and avocados. They are very soft and can clog your juicer. Leave the juicing of those fruits to the pros for now. 

Another thing you should know is that most fruits and vegetables can be juiced as a whole in manageable pieces, but you should remove the rind of citrus fruits like grapefruit, tangerines, and oranges. Keep as much of the white pith as you can with these fruits, because that’s where many of the nutrients come from. Lemons and limes can be juiced whole with their peels. 

Allow yourself to be creative and don’t worry about making mistakes. Experiment with the flavors you like. Start off using just two or three different fruits and vegetables. Once you get the hang of juicing, you can broaden your skills and add a little bit more to your recipes. Juicing offers your body a huge amount of benefits. Vegetables are responsible for healthy muscle, tissue, glands, and organs, but it is only through juicing that you are able to consume one-hundred percent of their available nutrients. So, take full advantage of juicing and the healthy options that it offers you. 

Click here for more Great Juice Recipes for Juicers.

Juicing Information

 Juicing Information 

As my fasting weight loss success all began with a 6-day juice fasting, hence I’ve developed this blog.  Since then juicing has become an important part of my diet.  For those who are afraid of the word ‘fasting’ and for those who are afraid of getting hungry, juicing is an ideal solution.  I’ve researched the topic and pulled together some juicing information to share with you.  Here’s the first article, and a few more to follow. 

Juicing Information 

Many people are taking their nutrition and health seriously. They have turned to juicing to improve their health, increase their energy, and reduce their chances of developing the common health problems that face society today. 

Juicing involves pureeing fresh fruits and vegetables to make a juice or a smoothie. There are several benefits to juicing your daily serving of fruits and vegetables rather then eating them as whole foods. 

By drinking fresh juice, your body is able to quickly absorb the many vitamins, minerals, and overall nutritional value that fruits and vegetables contain by bypassing the digestion process that is necessary for whole foods. The nourishment of the fruits and vegetables are easily delivered across the intestinal walls and into the blood, where your body can use them right away. 

As a matter of tradition, we cook vegetables before eating without realizing that fruits and vegetables are healthier if they are eaten raw. Enzymes that play a key role in your metabolism are mainly found in raw foods. Enzymes convert the food you eat into body tissue and energy, increasing your metabolic rate. In turn, this helps you to burn more calories and leads to weight loss. 

In addition to an increased amount of energy and assistance in weight loss, juicing can also delay the effects of aging and promote longevity. Juicing gives you access to the essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids, and enzymes that raw fruits and vegetables contain. 

The nutritional makeup of these foods is stripped due to cooking, preserving, etc.  More importantly, fresh fruits and vegetables contain compounds known as antioxidants. These antioxidants neutralize the free radicals in your system. These free radicals are responsible for many degenerative diseases such as cataracts, high blood pressure, and even cancer.

Juicing can also help combat diabetes. Type 2 diabetes means your body has become resistant to the insulin produced by your pancreas. Recent research has shown that raw produce is the best super food for diabetics. It nourishes your body and stabilizes your blood sugar levels in ways that cooked produce cannot. 

In the past, experts have cautioned people with diabetes to stay away from sugars, even the ones found in fruits. Recently that opinion has changed, and we have found that specific nutrients such as vitamins A, B, and E, iron, potassium, etc. found in fresh fruits and vegetables aid in managing the disease naturally. Specifically, the vitamin B7 which is found in mangoes, nectarines, and peaches aids your digestive process and activates your enzymes. Diabetes is controlled by food intake and results from the inability to process sugars, making digestive health a priority for diabetics. Plus, manganese -- which is found in carrots, celery, cruciferous vegetables, garlic, beet greens, parsley, and spinach -- helps to reduce insulin resistance overall and improve the metabolism your glucose. 

Juicing is a simple and great way to optimize your health and energy. The best thing about juicing is that you can change the recipes and create ones that are specific to your needs and tastes. By simply learning about the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that will benefit and treat your specific disorder, disease, or condition, you can create your own scrumptious recipes and power juices to improve your health. 

Click here for more juicing information.

Starvation Mode vs Intermittent Fasting

Starvation Mode - What It Is and Why it Will Probably Never Happen to You 

If you are trying to lose weight, then most likely you have heard the term “starvation mode”. It is the idea that if you skip meals or don’t eat enough protein your body will go “catabolic” and eat your muscle, consequently slowing down your metabolic rate.  

It is true that your body will feed off of its own muscle when it is truly starving. But getting your body to that point is extremely difficult and simply cannot happen to the average person who skips a few meals or doesn’t eat enough protein – which most of us do on a weekly or even daily basis! Despite what you have read and heard, our bodies are made to use our body fat (not muscle) in the absence of food. 

True “starvation mode” negatively affects the body’s hormone levels and is brought on by an extreme combination of factors. To support this point, consider Karl Friedl’s 8 week military starvation experiment (1) using soldiers that had an average body fat level of 14%. The goal of this experiment was to beat the soldiers down and try to get them into starvation mode. The soldiers were fed a diet between 1,000 and 1,200 calories while at the same time being deprived of sleep and physically pushed to exert more than 6,000 calories per day. This means that there was a daily caloric deficit of 3,000 to 4,000 calories.

You might think that these soldiers would start breaking down and losing lots of muscle right away.  But actually, it wasn’t until around the 6 to 8 week mark that the soldiers had finally reached such low body fat levels, around the 5%-6% range, that their bodies had no choice but to start using their muscle as fuel.  

This experiment shows why it is so easy to lose fat at the beginning of your diet and exercise routine and why “those last 10 pounds” are often so hard to lose. Contrary to popular belief, this does not mean that your metabolism has slowed down. The less fat you have to lose, the slower your body will burn it for fuel.   

The key is to find a diet, or way of eating, that helps you to regularly and effortlessly tap into your fat stores. The best way to do this is through intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting, or IF, is quickly gaining popularity among the fitness community for its ease, convenience, and fantastic results it produces. Those who follow this type of diet will alternate periods of fasting with non-fasting.  A great example of this type of fasting is the Eat Stop Eat program written by Brad Pilon.  

As you can see, there is no reason to constantly worry about starvation mode or losing your hard-earned muscle. You can relax and do what feels right for your body.  Just remember to eat a reasonable amount of lean protein, choose healthy foods, and most importantly, don’t stress about your diet!

Intermittent Fasting - The Easiest Way to Calorie Restriction

One of the FAQs in this blog is ‘how to resist food’.  I must say food is irresistible in many cases. Don’t resist if you have to eat.  When I have to eat, I eat happily.  When I have to fast, I fast happily. I’ve mentioned in my previous posts that I’m much disciplined on weekdays and not much disciplined on weekends and holidays.  Fact is we need a way to regulate between eat and don’t eat. I’m not the one who says this. It’s been in the press lately about a 5:2 diet, meaning a little fasting (2 days) and a lot of feasting (5 days) weekly.  

For those who enjoy going out on the weekend to eat or drink with friends, they generally find it nearly impossible to have a good balance between social life and weight loss. 

But what if there is a way to eat what you want part of the time while still staying on your diet and losing weight? 

Try Intermittent Fasting 

Intermittent Fasting, or IF, is simply alternating periods of eating with non-eating. For example, a person may fast every other day of the week, or only one to two days per week. Doing this allows you to create a weekly caloric deficit rather than a daily caloric deficit.  

You see, most people try to eat the same amount of calories per day. So for example, let’s say that you have figured out that you need to eat 1,700 calories per day in order to lose weight.  So Monday through Thursday, you do a fantastic job of sticking to your diet.  But Friday night you get invited to go to happy hour with a friend and you end up eating and drinking 1,700 calories in one sitting!  

Well, if you had been following an intermittent fasting schedule you would have figured out how many calories you were allowed for the entire week, and then divided it up according to your schedule. This would allow you to eat a lower amount of calories on the weekdays thus saving up some extra calories for the weekend. With intermittent fasting, you make your diet work for you, not the other way around.  

But Is Intermittent Fasting Healthy? 

You might be surprised to know that intermittent fasting has many other benefits besides just weight loss. Studies have shown that it increases insulin sensitivity and lowers cholesterol. It also reduces blood pressure and inflammation, which is responsible for many chronic diseases.  

Intermittent fasting also teaches you how to develop self control and manage your hunger.  It helps you learn the difference between real hunger and eating just because it’s time to eat. This is very powerful in changing your behavior so that the resulting weight loss is long term. 

What Is The Best Way to Begin Intermittent Fasting? 

Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat is the best way to begin a fasting regimen.  This is not just his ideas on what he thinks works well. His book is filled with solid research and science to back up his claims.  Once you download his book, you can begin the diet as soon as tomorrow.  You don’t have to stock up on expensive supplements or special foods. You don’t have to feel deprived because you can still enjoy your favorite foods. All you need is a little will power and the desire to make it happen.  

So what are you waiting for? You have nothing to lose but the weight!

How to End Constipation?

Constipation is a big problem in the western world. 

According to the medical community, constipation is defined as having 1 bowel movement every 2 to 3 days. But as holistic health care professionals, we know that's absolute nonsense! 

For optimal health, you should be passing 2-3 bowel movements each day! Anything less is considered constipation. If you've ever had a colon cleanse, good for you. If not, you need to read the following important information regarding constipation and colon health. 

What Causes Constipation? 

Constipation is usually a result of years of abusing your digestive system through poor food choices and not listening to your body. Chronic intake of foods that irritate your digestive and intestinal system eventually causes them to function at a sub-optimal level. For instance, non-foods like coffee, refined sugar, alcohol, and other processed foods stress your colon and digestive system and eventually hinder their function. 

For optimal colon health, the goal should be to remove these irritating foods and provide your system with nutrients that will allow it to heal and function as it should. 

Being constipated can also come about by resisting the urge to do your "business". At a very young, we simply went when we needed to go - no problem except for the clean-up our parents were subjected to. But as we age, we tend to suppress our body's natural urge to defecate. Whether it be class or work schedules or travel commitments, we've started to ignore our body's many cries to head to the toilet. 

In the end, we have instructed our body that we will have a bowel movement (or at least try to) on our terms, when we're willing and ready. However, it isn't that simple because your body knows when it needs to go. Passing a bowel movement is not a logical decision, it is a primal need your body is destined to satisfy. 

So it is our fault, our lifestyle, and our poor dietary choices that has led to being constipated. 

Why is Constipation Dangerous? 

This could quickly turn into a very lengthy discussion but we'll give you the essentials. The problem with being constipated is that your body's waste does not get to its final destination - the toilet. 

Rather, it sits in your colon, putrefying and expelling more toxins back into your body. This is called autointoxication and is a serious health concern if it persists over time. 

Think about it. If you were to let garbage pile up in your home for weeks, months, or years can you imagine the type of disgusting and toxic environment you'd be creating? 

Well, the same thing happens in your body if your "garbage" is not regularly removed. 

Over time, these endogenous toxins will be stored in your fat tissue which includes your fat cells, brain, and nervous tissue. It's no wonder there's a considerable correlation between constipation, autointoxication, and degenerative diseases! 

Natural Constipation Remedies 

The first thing is to listen to your body. If you need to go, then go! 

Second, remove the irritating foods that we spoke about above. 

Third, drink plenty of water. Constipation can also be a result of being dehydrated. Provide your body with more water and it will assist your waste removal. 

Fourth, eat more fiber. The goal (from an overall health perspective) is to hit 35 grams of fiber per day. But really, are you going to count? Probably not. Therefore, simply by eating more whole foods or even following a raw food diet will greatly assist you. 

The goal is to get both soluble and insoluble fiber. Ground flaxseeds are a great source of balanced fiber and a terrific source of omega-3 fatty acids. 

Fifth, getting more essential fatty acids (omega-3s) will provide the lubrication required to allow your colon to pass along the waste smoothly and effortlessly. If you strain to pass a movement, that's a good indication you could use some more lubrication. 

Finally, you need to follow a detox diet that will cleanse your body. If you've been constipated for some time, then you need to face facts and realize that your body is a toxic feeding ground! The only way to better your health and prevent future problems is to get the waste out of your body through regular bowel movements and other means that will detoxify your body. 

You don't have to be a prisoner to constipation any longer. Allow us to show you the light...

 

Guest Blogger - Yuri Elkaim is a renowned fitness, nutrition, and weight loss expert. He is a registered holistic nutritionist and the co-creator of the Total Wellness Cleanse - a 30-day food-based cleansing program that has helped thousands of people lose weight, cleanse their bodies of toxic overload, and restore incredible health. For information on the Total Wellness Cleanse visit TotalWellnessCleanse
 

Leaky Gut Syndrome Explained

What is Leaky Gut Syndrome? 

Leaky gut syndrome is the technical name for increased intestinal permeability. As its name signifies, this condition is characterizes by a gut (intestinal tract) that allows far too many substances into the bloodstream. 

Normally, the intestinal walls form a semi-permeable barrier, only allowing properly digesting nutrients into the bloodstream, while preventing the uptake of toxins and undigested food particles. Such nutrients are able to pass into the blood through pores located in the intestinal wall. 

Under ideal circumstances, these pores are small enough to prevent undigested food particles and other large toxins from escaping the intestinal tract and causing damage in the bloodstream. 

However, in the case of leaky gut syndrome, these pores widen, which allows anything and everything to pass through the (now very permeable) intestinal walls and into the blood. 

This is a big problem and is one of the biggest factors behind food allergies and auto-immune diseases. 

Why is Having a Leaky Gut Dangerous? 

Our intestinal tract is obviously semi-permeable for a reason. If is meant to keep out certain substances then there's a reason for needing to do so.

One of the problems with leaky gut is that it allows undigested food particles into the blood. When this happens, the immune system builds up antibodies against the protein in that food and mounts a full-out immune response. The immune system is simply doing its job. If it identifies a "foreign" substance in the bloodstream, then it will take the necessary action to neutralize it. 

Unfortunately, since the body has now developed an antibody army against this food, with time as you ingest this food your body will become "hypersensitive" to it. This is how food allergies develop. And the more this occurs with the foods you eat, the more hypersensitive your immune system becomes. 

As a result, you become much more susceptible to environmental allergens since your body's immune system is now in overdrive and "paranoid" about everything little thing it is exposed to. 

With time, a hypersensitive immune system can start reacting in a myriad of unpredictable ways. In many cases, it will actually begin to attack the body itself, creating an auto-immune disease such as alopecia, multiple sclerosis, celiac disease, Graves' disease, endometriosis, and many more.

A substantial proportion of the population suffers from immune diseases, which are often chronic, debilitating, and life-threatening. There are more than eighty illnesses caused by autoimmunity and about 75 percent of those affected are women. It has been estimated that autoimmune diseases are among the ten leading causes of death among women in all age groups up to 65 years. 

However, go to your doctor, allergist, or immunologist and they will NEVER even mention the possibility of leaky gut syndrome. 

According to "brillant experts" at USA Today...

"Scientists believe multiple factors such as environmental toxins, heredity, viruses, and certain drugs may play a role in causing an autoimmune disease. Stress, poor diet, lack of exercise, lack of sleep, abuse of alcohol and use of tobacco can also weaken the immune system and may play some role as well."

That's great thanks. And they can say that about pretty much every single disease as well. The fact remains that many of these "causes" are also at the root of leaky gut syndrome. 

What Causes Leaky Gut Syndrome? 

Well, as was briefly mentioned above, the substances and choices that stress your body and digestive system will have a profound effect on the health of your colon and intestinal tract. Refined sugars, processed foods, alcohol, medications, and stress will negatively impact the colon. 

All of these can worsen the balance between good and bad flora in your colon. If the bad are way out of control, then fungi, for instance, can latch onto the intestinal walls and create irritation, inflammation, and the eventually widening of the pores. 

If food sits in your colon for too long, it too will irritate the intestinal walls and predipose them to becoming more permeable. That is one of the reasons why passing regular bowel movements is so important.

Natural Leaky Gut Remedies 

First, you need to cleanse your body of the foods and substances that irritate your digestive and intestinal tract. Second, you need to spend time healing your gut with nutrients such as L-glutamine, essential fatty acids, and vitamin C. 

So if you suffer from allergies, have an autoimmune disorder, have digestive difficulties, or want to improve your overall health then you need to take action immediately. The longer you wait, the worse your condition will get. 

But there's good news! 

Now you can get the support and the time-proven system that will help heal your gut and cleanse your body of its toxins. To learn more about how the Total Wellnes Cleanse™ can help you click the link below. 

Guest Blogger - Yuri Elkaim is a renowned fitness, nutrition, and weight loss expert. He is a registered holistic nutritionist and the co-creator of the Total Wellness Cleanse - a 30-day food-based cleansing program that has helped thousands of people lose weight, cleanse their bodies of toxic overload, and restore incredible health. For information on the Total Wellness Cleanse visit TotalWellnessCleanse