Before
we discuss why we need to juice, we need to understand how our bodies work. Our body
is composed of over 100 trillion cells. Each cell is actively doing its function and
then it will eventually die off and be replaced with another cell. This occurs at
different rates depending upon the type and function of the cell. The cells in our
taste buds are replaced every 2 weeks, the cells in our liver - every 6 weeks, the
cells in our heart - every 8 weeks. Even the cells in our bones are replaced every
11 months. So in about one year, every cell in our body will have been replaced at
least once. The question is will our cells be healthy cells or sick cells? That all
depends on the materials we give the body to build those new replacement cells. If
we furnish our body with good building materials - live, fresh, nutrient and enzyme
rich foods, then we will have healthier cells. If, however, the materials are
sub-standard, processed, nutrient deficient, dead foods, then we will continue on a
downward spiral to a sicker more diseased body. You are deciding today what your
health will be like tomorrow. So let's see what we can do to give our body the good
materials it needs.
Living organisms made of living cells require living foods to
function properly. What are living foods? The only food classified as "living"
is a food that has live enzymes. Enzymes are the catalyst for all of our body's
functioning. Breathing, thinking, using our muscles, digesting our food - they all
require enzymes in order to occur. Our body produces a certain amount of enzymes to
take care of these basic needs; however, there are limits to how much it can
produce. That is where consuming live, raw foods come into play. Raw foods contain
enzymes within them that assist the body with the digestion of foods, thus allowing
the body to expend the limited amounts of enzymes it produces on the metabolic
functions of the body and less on the digestive needs.
When we cook our food at
temperatures above 107 degrees F., the enzymes in that food begin to die. When the
enzymes are destroyed, the organic minerals within the food revert to an inorganic
form that is not readily usable by the body. In addition, cooking changes the
molecular structure of protein, rendering it unusable, for the most part, by the
body. Cooking also destroys about 83% of the vitamin content of food. Therefore, you
see that when we eat cooked foods, we are not nourishing the body, but in many
cases, putting a greater burden on it by requiring it to deal with a substance that
has no enzyme activity.
What does this have to do with juicing? When you juice,
you use fresh, live raw foods- foods that are loaded with nutrients (in a usable
form) and enzymes. The body doesn't have to expend any energy to digest the juice,
because there is no fiber in the juice. When you drink the juice on an empty
stomach, the nutrients from that juice are at cellular level within minutes of
ingestion, building healthy cells and helping the body to work towards the ultimate
goal - health.
When someone has a serious illness, many times their digestive
system does not function well enough to assimilate the nutrients available by
consuming just the raw foods. Generally, even the healthiest of bodies are able to
assimilate only about 33% of the nutrients available in raw foods. In a diseased
state, this can be decreased to as little as 1% to 5% assimilation. You can see that
this is not sufficient to allow the body to get the materials together to move
toward a state of health.
When you juice, depending on the juicer used, one can
have access to 33% - 95% of the nutrients available in that food. It is important to
note here that juice purchased in a store is not live. It is heated, pasteurized,
etc. so that it can have a long shelf life but the nutrients are destroyed. It is
not a source of good building supplies. Juicing the produce yourself is the only way
to get the nutrients that you want and need.
For example, the juicer that we use,
the Green Star Juicer, enables us to access about 95% of the nutrients available in
our produce. If we drink four of the 8 oz. glasses of carrot / apple juice, we have
consumed at least 3 times the nutrients that we could have received if we had eaten
that produce. Generally, it takes about 2 lb. of organic carrots and three medium
sized granny smith apples to make 32 oz. of juice. That means in order to get the
same amount of nutrients that I get from the juice, I would have to eat 6 lb. of
carrots and about nine apples every day, in addition to eating my other foods! It is
much easier to drink four glasses of juice. It allows us to inundate our body with
nutrients to build healthier cells and get us that much closer to good health.
We
want to stress that we are not promoting an all juice diet. We need to consume the
raw foods in their whole state in order to obtain the fiber needed to keep our colon
healthy. If we don't consume enough fiber, the normal waste products are unable to
move as they should through the body to be eliminated, resulting in toxic substances
being reabsorbed and polluting our body. Juicing is just one part of the lifestyle
we call, Total Health Plan.
Of course, we need to realize that the raw foods and
juices themselves do not heal. They simply provide us with concentrated building
materials so that our body can heal itself. The first part of our body that will
restore, when given proper nutrients, is the immune system. As the immune system
restores, then it will seek out the trouble spots (on its own priority basis)
throughout the body and start the healing process. The use of nutrients to enhance
our God-given capability of self-healing has proven to be an extremely effective
means of helping our body to prevent a decline in health or to encourage the body in
its move toward an increase in health.
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