| By Medea Galligan, MS Nutriton, CHHC, AADP |
By now, many of you have heard about the benefits of “juicing” but may still be wondering HOW drinking juices can REALLY help you get healthier. Believe it or not, there is some very SIMPLE SCIENCE that helps to explain this deliciously easy way to lose weight, boost your immune system, reduce inflammation, and quite literally – change your life!
To put it all in context, we need to go back several decades. The idea of making fresh vegetable juices first came from Dr. Norman Wardhaugh Walker, a British businessman, doctor and pioneer in the field of vegetable juicing and nutritional health. He advocated the drinking of fresh raw vegetable and fruit juices, both to regain and to maintain one’s health. Based on his design, the Norwalk Hydraulic Cold-Press Juicer was developed, and it proved to be superior to centrifugal and auger-type juicers in both the quantity and quality of juice extracted.
Walker also wrote at least six books on nutrition and healthy living, including the internationally famous book The Natural Way to Vibrant Health and Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices, What’s Missing in Your Body? Dr. Walker was recognized throughout the world as one of the most authoritative students of life, health and nutrition, and his work continues to influence health care practitioners today. For almost 70 years, Dr. Walker researched our ability to live a longer, healthier life. He was himself an example of vibrant health through proper thought, diet and body care.
Thousands upon thousands of people credit Dr. Walker’s live-vegetable-juice therapy for healing them of “incurable” diseases, including Jay Kordich, known to the world as “The Juiceman.” When Jay Kordich had cancer, he met and was tremendously inspired by Dr. Walker. After healing himself of cancer through The Raw-Food Diet and juice therapy, Jay worked with Dr. Walker beginning in the 1940s until Dr. Walker’s death in the mid-80’s at well over 100 years of age.
Given the amount of processed and devitalized “foods” that have become ever-present in our modern world, the need for raw, organic cold-pressed juices to meet our very basic nutritional requirements—as well as the ability to reverse modern diseases—is now greater than ever. Recently, the National Cancer Institute began a campaign to get people to do one simple thing: EAT MORE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. Specifically, the recommendation was to eat five servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables a day, and their reasoning was simple: a diet high in fruits and vegetables will prevent or cure a wide range of ailments.
Breast cancer, cancer of the colon, esophagus, stomach, lungs, ovaries, and rectum – pick an ailment these days, it seems, and researchers somewhere are searching for chemicals in plants that will prevent them, or offer a cure. These plant chemicals, known as phytochemicals, are the cutting edge of nutritional research because they hold the keys to preventing some of our deadliest diseases, such as cancer and heart disease, as well as some of our most common, like asthma, arthritis, and allergies.
In some ways, this isn’t news. For years, epidemiological studies that compare disease states and diet in large populations of people have shown the value of a diet high in fruits and vegetables. Such studies, which have been done in Africa, China, the Mediterranean, Russia, and elsewhere have shown that in cultures where the diet consists of the unrefined carbohydrates and fiber found in fruits and vegetables, a number of diseases that afflict North Americans simply don’t exist. For example, during more than 30 years of study, British researchers working in Africa didn’t find a single case of such common ailments as diverticulitis, hernia, cancer of the colon, or cancer of the prostate. The only reason that they could attribute to the lack of these diseases: differences in diet.
Researchers at the National Cancer Institute, at the department of Agriculture, and elsewhere, began to look for specific substances in foods that could provide protection against disease. In the process, they found quite a few. A tomato, along with vitamin C, vitamin A, and several minerals, also has 10,000 other chemicals in it, most which researchers are trying to isolate, identify, and study.
The phytochemicals that researchers have uncovered are changing the way we think about food, especially fruits and vegetables. For example, broccoli contains a substance that may prevent – even cure – breast cancer. Citrus fruits have substances that make it easier for your body to remove carcinogens, thus decreasing the chance of contracting cancer. Grapes contain a phytochemical that appears to protect each cell’s DNA from damage. Similarly, a number of green vegetables contain phytochemicals that appear to offer protection against cancer-causing substances. The list goes on and on: bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, rutabaga, turnip greens, red beets, peppers, garlic, onions, leeks, and chives are but a few of the vegetables that appear to have cancer-preventing phytochemicals.
The problem, though, is that most of us don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables to reap the benefits they offer. For example, although the National Cancer institute recommends five servings of vegetables and three of fruits each day, the truth is this: The average American eats only 1 1/2 servings of vegetables and, on average, no fruit on any given day. Thanks to Dr. Norman Walker, we know that juicing and drinking organic cold-pressed juices is an easy way to virtually guarantee that you will reach your daily target for vegetables and get the nutrients that your body so desperately needs, and that even the most debilitating conditions can be improved through the regular consumption of organic juices.
Juicing & The Importance of Preserving Enzyme Activity Through The Slow-Processed Cold-Pressed Method
More recent data on the benefits of juicing has come from Michael Donaldson, Ph.D. from Cornell University, who was hired by the Hallelujah Acres Foundation, located in Shelby, NC, to determine what type of juice extractor was in fact the best. In his 1998 study titled “Comparison of Juice Extractors: Enzymes”, he states, “Living foods are about enzymes. Living foods have many beneficial properties, but what sets them apart are their active enzymes. Rather than choosing to analyze mineral and vitamin content of freshly extracted carrot juice, this study focuses on the enzymatic activity of the juice.” He also states, “enzymes are at least as sensitive to oxidation as other nutrients, so their activity should be a good indicator of the status of other nutrients as well.” When comparing juice extraction methods, from the Norwalk to the Champion to the Omega and a variety of centrifugal juicers, Dr. Donaldson looked at the effects of both heat and oxidation on enzymatic activity. What he discovered was that it wasn’t just processing at a low temperature that was important, but that juicers that were able to reduce the largest amount of oxidation produced juices that had the highest amount of enzymatic activity.
At Medea’s REAL Food Café, we have developed our own process that more closely mimics the best practices described by Dr. Donaldson. Instead of high speed shredding at thousands of revolutions per minute (rpm), or even the 1,600 rpm of the Norwalk trituration process, our process is much slower at only 190 rpm. We believe that our Slow-Processed Cold-Pressed methodology creates far less heat and oxidation than other “cold-pressed” juices. Very few bubbles are evident when we process our juices, and our juices stay in solution much longer than they did using any other process. Not only are there fewer bubbles, but the taste is clearer, fresher, and more delicious than other “cold-pressed” juices on the market today. We are proud to have created seven different great tasting low-glycemic vegetable juices that are all truly therapeutic!
Why Drinking Organic Slow-Processed Cold-Pressed Juices Is Essential to Your Health
There are 3 main reasons why doing a 3-Day Juice Detox & incorporating organic slow-processed cold-pressed juices into your daily routine is essential to better health, natural weight loss and longevity:
1) Drinking raw, organic, slow-processed cold-pressed juices allows you to absorb all the vitamins, minerals, live enzymes, antioxidants and phytochemicals directly into your bloodstream without having your body work to separate them from the plant fiber. As a result of making less-than-optimal food choices over many years, most of us have impaired digestive systems and are in many cases both over-fed and undernourished. Drinking slow-processed cold-pressed organic juices that are in a sense “pre-digested” can aid digestive, immune, and hormonal systems, helping them to work more effectively. The result is often effortless weight loss, a reduction in allergy symptoms, fewer colds, clearer skin, improved moods, and a renewed vitality.
2) Drinking raw, organic, slow-processed cold-pressed juices allows you to consume a large amount of organic produce in an incredibly efficient and convenient manner. A 16 ounce bottle of one of our delicious and organic, slow-processed cold-pressed juices can give you more than 10 times the vitamins, minerals, and live enzymes that you could eat in the course of an average American meal.
3) Drinking raw, organic, slow-processed cold-pressed juices allows you to add a wide variety of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants and phytonutrients your diet. If you do eat vegetables, most people find that they eat the same vegetables every day, which greatly reduces your likelihood of getting all the nutrients and micronutrients that you need. It also violates the principle of regular food rotation, which increases your chance of developing an allergy to certain foods.
So What Can You Expect from Our 3-Day Juice Detox Program?
Studies show juice detoxes, also referred to as “juicing” or “juice cleanses” can offer you numerous benefits, including but not limited to:
• Lose weight in a healthy, non-fad way
• Boost and rebuild your immune system
• Greatly improve your digestive system
• Increase energy, mood and mental focus
• Reduce joint pain, allergy symptoms and improve skin
• The Perfect Start to a Healthier Lifestyle
THE GOAL of our 3-Day Juice Detox Program is hydration & nutrient saturation – a true FEAST for your body. By drinking six (6) of our delicious organic, slow-processed cold-pressed juices a day for three consecutive days you will enable your body to absorb the nutrients it needs for optimal health. Your blood and tissues will become nourished by the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytonutrients in the juices, while you give your liver, gallbladder and digestive system a break from the usual combination of devitalized processed foods, stimulants, preservatives and toxins found in the Standard American Diet.
If you are looking for a quick and easy way to lose some weight and dramatically improve your health this summer, stop by Medea’s REAL Food Café, located just 1 mile east of Biltmore Park, and ask about our 3 Day Juice Detox Program – You’ll be so glad you did!
