LIVING

There was a time when juicing was restricted to the confines of health-food stores but now with juice bars in vogue, the trend is fast sweeping into households too with the activity becoming a part of the daily ritual of optimal healthy living.

Many of us don't eat enough fruits and vegetables to reap the benefits they offer. But with juicing, not only can it be fun, but it is a great way great way to get your recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables. You can either juice with fresh fruit or vegetables, or combine the two. A key to good health, vegetable juicing is an important source of raw food. Although fruit juicing is certainly beneficial, it has one disadvantage over vegetable juicing in that it increases insulin levels when consumed. Vegetable juice does not raise insulin levels, like fruit juice, however the only exception would be carrot or beet juice (and most underground vegetables) which function similarly to fruit juice.

By incorporating vegetable juicing into your diet, you will easily be able to reach the one pound of raw vegetables per fifty pounds of body weight that you should eat every day. Many of us have compromised intestines as a result of less than optimal food choices over many years. Subsequently this limits the body's ability to absorb all the nutrients from vegetables. But juicing allows you to eat more vegetables than you would normally.

Fruit and vegetables are good sources of the traditional nutrients. Citrus fruits such as oranges and grapefruits provide healthy portions of vitamin C, while carrot juice contains large quantities of vitamin A, in the form of beta carotene. Green juices are a good source of vitamin E, and fruit juices are a good source of essential minerals including iron, copper, potassium, sodium, iodine and magnesium.

Moreover, since the process removes the indigestible fibre, nutrients are available to the body in much larger quantities than if the piece of fruit or vegetable was eaten whole. For example, because many of the nutrients are trapped in the fibre, when you eat a raw carrot, you are only able to assimilate about one per cent of the available beta carotene. But when a carrot is juiced, removing the fibre allows for almost 100 per cent of the beta carotene to be assimilated.

Nowadays there are many juice extractors on the market. But if you are new to juicing, it's best to start off with an inexpensive juicer. At least that way if you decide juicing's not for you, you are not hugely out of pocket.

TIPS FOR JUICING:

• Eat the pulp

Juicing produces pulp. It's advisable to mix the pulp in with the juice and consume it. By adding the pulp fibre back into the juice, serves as a fertiliser for the good bacteria in the colon.

• Add spirulina

Rich in beta carotene and phytonutrients, spirulina - a type of blue-green algae - is considered a complete protein because more than half of it consists of amino acids.

• Add chlorella

Chlorella is a form of algae which is a powerful detoxification for breaking down heavy metals in the blood such as mercury. Add one teaspoon.

• Add essential oil

Choose from fish oil (EPA), flaxseed oil, cod liver oil or evening primrose oil. Cod liver oil is highly recommended over the winter months, while fish oils is beneficial for the summer months. Vegetable juice is a great breakfast when balanced with some essential oils and some chlorella.

• Add seeds

Try adding freshly ground raw seeds to the pulp. The seeds are full of protein and essential fatty acids. Use pumpkin and flax seeds. Grind the seeds in a coffee grinder.

• Try to avoid too much carrots and beets

Although these are popular vegetables for juicing, frequently appearing on menus at juice bars, they are full of sugar and can increase your insulin levels.

• Juice vegetables at room temperature

Leave vegetables out overnight, or for at least one hour before preparing to juice.

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