Positive Health Online

Fresh fruit and vegetable juices are nature's power foods. They are very useful in the quest for health, and work together for your well-being. Fruit juices stir up and flush out accumulated toxins. Their concentrated natural sugars bring you vital energy and speed up the eliminative process. Vegetable juices provide the important elements for rebuilding healthy blood, bones and tissues.

Fruit and Fruit Juices

Whenever possible, consume nothing but fruit juice or fresh fruit in the morning. Although you have been led to believe that a large breakfast is necessary for energy in the morning, common sense must tell you that the energy to digest that large breakfast has to come from somewhere. It comes from the not unlimited supply of vital energy that you have at your disposal. That is why two hours after people consume breakfast, they are 'dying' for a cup of coffee to keep them going. They have dissipated all their energy in digestion. Fruit juice and fruit, on the other hand, supply your body with real energy. During digestion, everything eaten must be transformed into glucose. Fruit juice is fructose, and the transformation process from fructose to glucose requires very little energy from your body. That is why we say that fruit juice supplies you with real energy – instant natural sugar that your body can put to immediate use.

If you drink nothing but fruit juice in the morning, you relieve your body of the work required to digest a heavier breakfast. This frees up vital energy for other important activities. (Even a so-called 'light' breakfast of only toast and coffee saps much of your body energy for digestion. Coffee is extremely heavy, and only one cup takes 24 hours to pass through the kidneys.) If you wish to eat something heavier than juice in the morning, let it be only fruit. Once you have made the transition from your usual breakfast to a juice or fruit breakfast, you will be amazed at how much more energy you will have at your disposal in the morning. You will also find that you begin to lose the excess weight you have been wrestling with for so long. During the mornings when you consume only juice or fruit, your body can expend energy on eliminating excess weight, since it does not have to work on digestion. If it is at all possible, acquire one of the many fruit and vegetable juicers on the market. Considering the health benefits you will receive from the juices they provide, these wonderful machines are comparatively inexpensive.

You cannot compare any of the bottled varieties to fresh-squeezed juice. The shelf life for juice is limited. The longer it stands, the more it loses its vital elements. For maximum benefits, you should consume your juice immediately after preparing it. Avoid the consumption of pasteurized juices, which are denatured through heating and are acid-forming as a result.

Any of the following fruits make energizing and cleansing juices:

• Apple – It is not necessary to peel the apples but it is important to core them;
• Grapefruit – You can peel the grapefruits and put them through a vegetable juicer, which results in a thick, frothy juice. Or you can cut the grapefruits in half and juice them on a citrus juicer;
• Orange – Prepare the same way as grapefruit juice;
• Cantaloupe – Remove the rind and the seeds and put chunks of cantaloupe through a juicer;
• Honeydew Melon – Prepare the same way as cantaloupe juice;
• Grape – Put any type of grape through the juicer. The seeds will be collected with the pulp. Grape juice is particularly concentrated, so you may want to use half grape and half apple;
• Pineapple – Cut the skin from the pineapple and put large chunks through a juicer. You do not have to remove the core;
• Watermelon – Remove the rind and put chunks of watermelon through a juicer. This is an extremely cleansing and refreshing juice.

There are also many possible fruit juice combinations:

Apple-grape; Orange-grapefruit; Pineapple-orange; Watermelon-cantaloupe-honeydew melon. If ever you crave a heavier juice, try apple-banana or pineapple-banana. Put a banana through a juicer and then put the more juicy fruit through to wash out the thick banana juice. This is an extremely satisfying drink in the morning.

There is one rule that is important to remember regarding juices: Always consume fruit juices ON AN EMPTY STOMACH. They serve to wash or cleanse the system, in addition to supplying immediate vital energy. If they are poured into a stomach full of food, they cannot pass through and they ferment. In addition, the digestive process is immediately aborted as the digestive enzymes are diluted. This rule applies to both fruit and vegetable juices. You must allow at least two hours after a meal before drinking juice.

If you have been accustomed to drinking alcoholic beverages before meals, substitute a glass of fresh fruit or fresh vegetable juice. This opens up the digestive passages and aids in the digestion of the meal. Alcohol has an ageing effect because of the acid and fermentation it causes in the system. Fresh fruit and vegetable juices are rejuvenating in that they are cleansing and the suppliers of the important elements for rebuilding body tissues.
Vegetable Juices

Here are examples of some excellent vegetable juices:

• Carrot – This is perhaps the most important of all the vegetable juices. It is the basis for all other vegetable juices that I personally recommend. You do not need to scrape the carrots. Simply wash them well and remove the stems. Do not heed the misinformed who tell you that carrot juice will turn you orange. If there is a slight yellowing of the palms when you start to drink large quantities of carrot juice, it is due to the cleansing of the excess bile from your liver. The bile causes the temporary discolouration until it is washed away by the bloodstream. The slight discolouration has nothing to do with the carotene in the carrots and is actually a sign of returning or increasing health;

• Carrot-celery – If you are preparing 12 ounces of juice, three ounces should be celery and the remaining nine ounces should be carrot. This is an extremely important juice for your transition diet. The high alkalinity of the celery neutralizes the acid build-up in your body from smog, smoking, alcohol, meat, coffee, sugar and all processed foods. If you are trying to give up meat or coffee and you do have a meal that includes these, be sure to have a large carrot-celery juice on an empty stomach the next day to help neutralize the acidity. This juice is also helpful in neutralizing the acids resulting from dairy product consumption. If you are trying to give up smoking, a habit that makes your body chemistry extremely acid, drink carrot-celery juice, which will neutralize the acid condition. The less acid you are, the fewer cigarettes you will crave. If you are making the transition from a meat-eating diet to a vegetarian diet, it is recommended that you drink at least one large glass of carrot-celery juice everyday;

• Carrot-cucumber-beet – Three ounces of cucumber (peeled), one of beet and eight ounces of carrot is a good blend;

• Carrot-celery-spinach-lettuce – Three to four ounces of the green juice, eight to nine ounces of the carrot juice. This juice has strong laxative (cleansing) effects. The organic oxalic acid in the spinach facilitates the peristaltic action in the intestines. If you suffer from constipation, this juice will help you enormously. Celery is a source of natural sodium chloride and will help you to cut down on your salt intake, and if you have the occasion to spend time in an exceedingly hot climate, celery juice can help you to withstand the heat;

• Combination vegetable juice – Combine in whatever amounts are most tasteful to you any of the following vegetables: carrot, celery, tomato, spinach, parsley, green or red pepper, lettuce, cucumber or beets. No matter what diet you are following, fresh fruit and vegetable juices can become an important part of it. However, be sure to consume these juices properly: on an empty stomach, not with or immediately after meals. Begin a fresh juice culture today and you will immediately begin to feel the immense rejuvenating and energizing effects.