The Health Benefits of Fresh Juices
Many health professionals lay claim to how beneficial fresh fruit and/or vegetable juices can be for our health, well being and longevity. Jack Lalanne, the godfather of fitness, plus many health enthusiasts and celebrities all tout how much better they feel for drinking freshly made juice recipes. So how exactly do fresh juices benefit our health?
The key health benefits of fresh juices is almost the same as the many wonderful benefits of eating fruits and vegetables, with one exception, we lose out on the health benefits of fiber in our juices. However, the sacrifice of fiber gives us in return a greater abundance of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and antioxidants from fruits and vegetables.
Many antioxidants are actually unavailable for digestion when we eat fruits and vegetables because they are ‘tied up’ deeply in tough fibers and chewing only releases a small percentage of these antioxidants. When we juice fruits and vegetables, the juicing machine blade chops up and breaks down these fibers extensively and then discards the fiber. In the process a great percentage of the antioxidants are released into the resulting fresh juice.
In addition to releasing ‘extra antioxidants’ from produce, juicing provides us with even more nutrition just by the simple fact that you need at least several fruits or vegetables to prepare one glass of fresh juice. To make an apple juice, for example, you would need about 4 apples (depending on their size). That is more apples than we would eat in one go!
So a freshly made juice benefits us by providing us with a dense concoction of natural antioxidants that is unrivaled. Research shows that antioxidants are essential for protecting us from the condition of oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is a condition in which there are more free radicals in our bodies that the antioxidant we need to combat them. Oxidative stress generates excessive cell damage that can create cancer, heart disease, arthritis, macular degeneration and other degenerative disease. Oxidative stress will also greatly speed up the rate at which the body ages.
So it is good to know that the intense amount of antioxidants in fresh juices really does help to offset the risk of developing diseases and slow down the aging process!
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