Juice Cleanse/Fast

We all know how great apples are for you, but they are even better for you  when they are juiced. Apples can help detox your body, support a healthy heart, aid in digestion and are naturally sweet.

 I am a firm believer in juicing and the incredible health benefits that it provides.

“With a juicer you are separating out fiber so the nutrients are absorbed into your bloodstream and it passes into your stomach and gives your liver and kidneys a rest. And you are flushing your cells with nutrients.”  ( Judy Creighton, The Canadian Press)

Juicing allows you to take in more vegetables at one time than you would by eating raw or cooked vegetables. The concentrated vegetable mass in liquid form is easily assimilated, thus making juicing daily ideal for health problems.

The body is more able to metabolize nutrients into the body's cells, especially since uncooked vegetables retain their enzymes. Raw vegetables provide all the enzymes you need for optimum assimilation. (natural news)

Carrots are a typical base for juicing and there is good reason for this. The two obvious nutrients most are aware of are vitamin A and beta carotenes.
 Beta-carotene is also a major antioxidant. The vitamin A and beta-carotene help maintain vision along with the carrots' fair share of lutein. Beta-carotene also maintains epithelial tissue, the tissue surrounding internal organs. Epithelial tissues are susceptible to cancerous growths.

Carrots are also rich in poly-acetylene anti-oxidant falcarinol. Research at the University of Newcastle has shown carrot falcarinol destroys pre-cancerous cells in tumors. Carrots do help keep cancer away.

Carrots are deep soil root vegetables, and this enables them to absorb an abundant array of minerals. They are also rich in other vitamins, including the B vitamins and folates. Folate is the natural and safe provider of folic acid.
Drinking carrot juice cleanses and restores the liver. The liver is our body's master cleanser - without which we would die from internal toxic buildups while detoxing all those external toxic sources we've taken in. Carrot juice has been called the golden juice of healing. (natural news)

Lemons or limes are amazing at eliminating the bitter taste of the dark deep leafy green vegetables that provide most of the benefits of juicing. In addition, Health benefits of lemon are due to many nourishing elements like vitamin  vitamin B, phosphorus, proteins, and carbohydrates present in it. Lemon is a fruit that contains flavonoid, a composite that holds antioxidant and anti-cancer properties.

We have done many juice cleanses/fast around here ourselves.  We try and make it a practice to do one at least twice a year. We have done it for one week and we have done it for two weeks before as well. If you don't think you are up for a whole week, try it for a few days first. Some is better than none. However, I feel like you need at least a full week to really fully benefit from it. I am no expert by any means at all, but from my own experience and research, the longer you are able to go, the better your body will detox and the better you will feel. Those first couple of days can be rough on someone who has never done a cleanse/fast like this before or even on someone who has if it has been a while. Once you get past the feeling of being hungry and tired (which for me is usually half way into the second day) then you start to feel really great; lighter and energized!

 As you can see from our large amounts of apples and carrots, we are about to begin our first juice cleanse of 2013.  My husband and I will be doing this together, beginning tomorrow. We will drink only fresh vegetable/fruit juice and water for one week. We may occasionally allow a cup of hot green tea.

I get really excited about these because I love how it makes me feel and I know how great it is for my health.  After the first whole day of no coffee/caffeine, I usually start feeling pretty wonderful!
And not to mention, the juices are delicious! My children love them as well. They obviously do not fast with us but they do get to enjoy fresh juice throughout.

Here is a great basic recipe if you would like to try it out.

Carrot Apple Juice

5-6 organic carrots
3 organic apples
1/2 lemon

Green Juice

3 green apples
stalk of celery
bunch of Kale
1/2 lemon  

Juicing can get pretty expensive. As you can see, you use a lot of fruits and vegetables when juicing which is also great because you are taking in all of the nutrients from them. We would juice a lot more and on a daily basis if it weren't for the expense. However, when we schedule a juice cleanse, we order our base fruits and veggies (apples and carrots) in bulk here. They are organic and priced wonderfully!

Do you have a favorite juice? Share with me! Do you have questions about juicing? I would love to try and help.
-Jenny