Everyday Superfoods: Veggie Juice
Vegetable and Fruit Juices a Powerhouse of Nutrients and Energy
Fruit and, especially, vegetable juices are a source of easily absorbed vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, water and enzymes, and can boost energy, health and weight loss.
It’s what you drink in the morning instead of coffee; at a party instead of alcoholic drinks; at lunch instead of soda or pop. Yet in its own right, juicing is a simple, tasty way to boost your health and energy, get vitamins and minerals missing from your diet, improve digestion, lose weight and get your daily servings of fruit and vegetables.
Your Daily Fruits and Vegetables - Plus!
The Canada Food Guide recommends seven to ten servings daily of fruit and vegetables for adults. In reality, few are consuming anything like that amount. The recommended daily intake of most vitamins and minerals requires even more.
Juicing enables you to get the necessary vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and more from your fruits and veggies without having to eat a bushel of carrots or three heads of broccoli at a meal. (With some exceptions: iron in spinach, for instance, may bind to the fiber, so in most cases juicing is not the best way to use spinach.)
One concern about vitamins and other micronutrients is that many are difficult to adsorb from foods or supplements. Juices provide nutrients in a form from which they are readily absorbed by the body.
Water
Juices are also a healthy way to get the water your body needs (see water guidelines here). Vegetable juice counts toward your daily water needs.
Enzymes and Digestion
Virtually any uncooked food is rich in enzymes. Enzymes aid in metabolic processes in every living cell. We use them for dozens of functions, but they are most notable in digestion, and for their help with cleansing and weight loss.
Getting extra enzymes from your diet is like feeding your car high-octane gas. Our bodies produce hundreds of enzymes naturally; when these are supplemented through diet, it makes the digestive process easier and keeps your body eliminating more cleanly and using food more efficiently - leaving you feeling great and, probably, looking a few pounds lighter.
Fresh vs. Bottled Juices
There is no comparison: fresh juices beat out packaged or bottled juices every time. Many of the nutrients, including the enzymes, in vegetable juice break down or lose their potency within minutes after juicing.
If you can afford to buy a good juicer (one that will juice lettuce, wheatgrass, and other leafy greens), fresh homemade juice makes a great start to the day. Juices should ideally be consumed within ten minutes; if you must take them with you, make sure to use glass or high-quality plastic bottles, keep it cool, and drink the juice on the same day it was made.
Vegetables vs. Fruits
Health pros tend to recommend vegetable over fruit juices. That’s because fruits are so high in (natural) sugars. But many vegetables are equally high in sugar - root vegetables (carrots, beets, turnip, parsnip), for instance, are loaded with carbohydrates and starches. A good balance in a juice is one that is rich in nutrients and low in sugary veggies and fruits, but still tastes great.
A great juicing staple recipe starts with half a lemon, half an apple (a low-glycemic sweet), and a celery stalk, per person.
As desired, add greens like kale, chard or lettuce; additional celery; a carrot or two; a beet; or anything else.
Try it without the apple if you like your juice less sweet.
