Drinking juices is not an unfamiliar habit to most of us. It is the next best thing to a mother’s milk, considering that these fluids extracted from fruits and vegetables are our first foods. If not milk or water, a fresh glass of juice is what we drink for breakfast, be it an orange or grapefruit extract. However, what kind of juice do you exactly drink? Do you drink those juices that can be bought at the shelf of grocery stores or do you prefer juicing and making smoothies from your own selection of fresh fruits and vegetables at home?
There is a very wide difference between the benefits that you can get from drinking commercially prepared juices and juices that you make at home. These commercially prepared juices may offer you instant refreshment with just paying for them from their shelves, but you do not know what you are missing. Fruits and vegetable juices that are freshly squeezed at home with the use of a juice machine give you a wonderful abundance of nutrients such vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, enzymes, amino acids, chlorophyll as well as phytochemicals that are plant chemicals that have a good effect on our body.
Fresh fruit and vegetable juices are good sources of vitamins that are important in achieving good health. A dozen and more major vitamins are found in these fresh juices which, in cooperation with minerals and enzymes, take part in the body’s various chemical reactions. An example includes the participation of vitamin C in the production of collagen which is the main type of protein in the body. These fresh juices are good sources of water-soluble as well as fat-soluble vitamins that are beneficial to our body functions. Minerals, along with vitamins, are components of enzymes. They also constitute part of the body’s bones and tissues as well as help in maintaining the cell’s normal functions.
Minerals are also found in the soils but they are inorganic in form. When the plant absorbs these minerals, however, the minerals get combined with the organic molecules of the plant, making them into forms that are easily absorbable by the body.This makes plants are very good source of dietary minerals. Furthermore, juicing provides a better mineral absorption than eating the fruits and vegetable whole. This is because juicing makes these nutrients into an even more absorbable form.
Proteins one of the most plentiful components in the body as proteins are used to form muscles, tendons, ligaments, nails, hair, and skin. This nutrient is also important for the creation of enzymes which are responsible for the various chemical reactions of the body. While proteins are less found in fruits in vegetables than in high-protein meat or dairy products, these fruit and vegetable juices contain a concentrated abundance of amino acids which are the building blocks of protein. Drinking these fruit and vegetable juices are a good protein supplement for vegetarians.
Carbohydrates provide the body with the energy that it needs for its various body functions such as movement, chemical reaction, and heat production. Carbohydrates are locked in the plant’s energy that it receives from the sun and when the body burns this plant food as fuel, the energy is released. Simple sugars are found in fruit juice so it is more ideal to drink vegetable juice if you have a problem with sugar metabolism. Essential fatty acids are the kind of fats that fruit and vegetable juices contain which are also important to our health. Such nutrients that are found in these fresh juices function as components of cellular membranes, nerve cells as well as are required for the production of energy.
Enzymes are nutrients that boost the human body’s functions and these are abundant in fruit and vegetable juices. The enzymes that are found in fresh juices help the body in breaking down food especially in the digestive tract, an act in which spares the digestive system from too much work. Because of this, the energy that the body supposed gives for digestion will be shifted to other functions. Drinking juices are also ideal because it requires little energy for digestion. Furthermore, enzymes are only found in raw fruits and vegetables and are destroyed when cooked or processed.
Plants also contain phytochemicals which are substances that help protect them from injury, disease, and pollution. These are also responsible for giving the plant its color, odor as well as flavor. Fruits and vegetables are the best sources of these phytochemicals. More importantly, studies show that those who eat fruits and vegetables have a low incidence of getting cancer or other diseases. Drinking fruits and vegetables give us the opportunity to consume these important phytochemicals in concentrated form.
Finally, chlorophyll is the pigment that is responsible for the green color of plants. Because of its similarity to our blood’s make-up, drinking fruit and vegetable juices that are rich in chlorophyll actually, helps in a lot of ways to our circulatory functions. Chlorophyll cleanses the blood by removing its carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide content. It also reduces the ability of the carcinogens to bind with DNA, therefore decreasing the risk to cancer. Chlorophyll also contains properties for anti-inflammation, anti-oxidants, and for healing wounds.
Because of these nutrients, drinking fresh fruit and vegetable juices allow you an abundant concentration of health-boosting properties that you cannot consume in such the shortest possible time with any food available. You only need to have a juicer machine or a juicer extractor which separates the juice from the pulp, giving you a refreshing beverage for everyday consumption. But what about fiber?
While fiber is an important substance to be taken in the body once in a while, it is not necessarily healthy when consumed in large quantities. Moreover, extracting the juice from the fiber gives you the opportunity to consume nutrients in greater proportions, as opposed to eating them whole and being full within a matter of servings. Eating a fruit or vegetable will take about hours before it is completely digested and absorbed by the body. A fruit or vegetable juice drank, on the other hand, only takes a matter of fifteen minutes for the body to absorb it completely. This gives our body less energy for digestion while providing us with a boost of energy within a short span of time.
So start pulling out those dusty juice extractor machines from your cabinets or plan to purchase one now. Juice extracting equipment is found in a lot of department stores but if you wish to have a wider selection of models and prices, try health grocers or online health stores. Drinking fresh fruit and vegetable juices in a smoothie is the fastest way to a healthier living style.
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