The Juice Pharmacy
Juicing is an easy way to replenish necessary vitamins and minerals without growing your own organic farm or taking fistfuls of supplements every day.
During the juicing process, the cell walls of fruits and vegetables are sliced open to release nutrients, including amino acids, chlorophyll, enzymes, minerals, and vitamins, all of which are quickly absorbed by the body once the juice is consumed.
A-to-Z Nutrients
If you're looking for something nutritious to consume, it doesn't get much better than fresh squeezed juice, an easy, delicious, and convenient way to get your fruits and vegetables. Here are just a few of the many nutrients you can get in a single glass of juice.
Amino Acids
The building blocks of protein, amino acids comprise more than half of your body's non-water weight. If you don't have enough, your body can't provide the many functions necessary for health
Antioxidants
The latest and trendiest heroes of the nutrition world, antioxidants are substances that protect your cells against the effects of free radicals. Free radicals are molecules that are produced when your body breaks down food or when you are exposed to environmental toxins like tobacco smoke, radiation, and pollution. Free radicals can damage cells and may play a role in heart disease, cancer, and multiple other diseases.
Medical science is only beginning to identify the hundreds of thousands of different antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables. A few of the more common antioxidants include beta-carotene, lutein, and lycopene, although many vitamins, including vitamins A, C, and E, also contain antioxidants. New research indicates that antioxidants help promote endurance, slow aging, and improve mental functions.
Carbohydrates
Fruits are high in both simple and complex carbohydrates, quickly absorbed molecules that provide you with a ready source of energy.
Complex carbohydrates, found in root vegetables and potatoes, are broken down more slowly than the simple carbohydrates found in sweeter fruits like apples, oranges, and cherries. By releasing a more gradual supply of sugar, complex carbs help maintain steady glucose levels, which is especially important for diabetics.
Chlorophyll helps the body maintain a proper acid-alkaline balance. This is especially important today because most Americans eat a diet that is extremely high in acids and low in alkaline foods. Studies show that a high-acid environment in the body may predispose it to cancer.
Chlorophyll
Chlorophyll helps your body's organs (especially your liver) eliminate toxins by improving cellular and organ detoxification. Chlorophyll also has anti-cancer properties and can prevent carcinogens from binding to the DNA in your body's cells. It also protects against the formation of calcium stones in the kidneys and helps break them down and eliminate them.
Juicing dark, leafy green vegetables is one of the best ways to consume an adequate amount of chlorophyll, especially chard, collard greens, romaine lettuce, kale, parsley, and wheatgrass. Cabbage, celery, cucumbers, green pepper, spinach, turnip greens, and watercress are also high in chlorophyll, and can be mixed and matched to create delicious and energizing juices.
A deficiency in just one amino acid can cause accelerated aging, hormonal imbalances, sleep problems, impaired brain function, allergies, and gastrointestinal problems, and lessen your body's ability to repair and regenerate itself. Juices, especially those made with dark, leafy greens and sprouts, provide the body with a wide range of amino acids that are easily digested and absorbed.
Essential Amino Acids
These essential eight acids are not manufactured by the body and can only be supplied from the food you eat. Amino acids are responsible for thousands of bodily functions, including repairing and building muscle, blood, and organs; manufacturing hormones; and maintaining a healthy immune system, mental functions, circulation, sleep, memory, and physical and mental energy.
Enzymes
These biochemicals act as catalysts to trigger a wide variety of functions in your body, including regenerating and maintaining fluids, cells, tissues, and organs. Researchers have identified about 1,000 enzymes, many of which are found in fresh fruits and vegetables. Enzymes are destroyed by heat — another reason why raw fruits, vegetables, and juices are so healthy. Without enzymes, your body can't carry out necessary functions or make the most of nutrients found in other foods.
Fats
While fat is often vilified, you actually couldn't live without a little bit of the good type of fat. Unsaturated fat is found in vegetables like avocados, olives, nuts and seeds, and heart-healthy oils and butters derived from olives, almonds, walnuts, safflowers, sunflowers, and others.
Fiber
Fiber is a type of carbohydrate found in fruits and vegetables that resists your body's efforts to digest it via enzymes and acids. Soluble fiber forms a gel-like substance in your digestive track that binds cholesterol so it can't be reabsorbed. Insoluble fiber, often called nature's broom, decreases the time food spends in your intestines before it is eliminated as waste. All fruits and vegetables are loaded with fiber.
Minerals
Minerals are found in abundance in fresh fruits and vegetables, especially organically grown produce. Minerals like calcium and magnesium are important for building and repairing bones, teeth, hair, and nails. Potassium, sodium, chloride, and calcium are essential for regulating the body's balance of electrolytes. Trace minerals, or those the body needs in minuscule amounts, including chromium, copper, fluoride, boron, and selenium, play an important role in many bodily functions, including metabolism and hair and nail growth.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Omega-3 fatty acids are the real heroes of the fat world. They are found in fruits and vegetables and in higher concentrates in oily fish such as salmon, tuna, and mackerel. Omega-3 fatty acids decrease the risk of heart attacks by causing blood platelets to become less sticky and reducing the inflammation found in autoimmune diseases such as arthritis and colitis.
Most phytochemicals have antioxidant activity and protect cells against oxidative damage and reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer. Phytochemicals with antioxidant activity include allyl sulfides (found in onions, leeks, and garlic); carotenoids (found in fruits and carrots); flavonoids (found in fruits and vegetables); and polyphenols (found in tea and grapes).
Phytochemicals
Phytochemicals are non-nutritive plant chemicals that have protective or disease preventive properties. There are more than 1,000 known phytochemicals, although scientists believe there are thousands more yet to be discovered.
Fruits and vegetables produce phytochemicals to protect themselves from illness and attack, and recent research has demonstrated that phytochemicals can also protect humans from diseases. Some of the most well-known phytochemicals found in produce include lycopene in tomatoes, isoflavones in soy, and flavonoids in fruits.
The phytochemicals in cranberries bind to cell walls to prevent the adhesion of pathogens to human cell walls. This explains why cranberries not only prevent urinary tract infections but also improve dental health — plaque can't stick to the teeth.
Isoflavones, found in soy, imitate human estrogens and help reduce menopausal symptoms and osteoporosis. Phytochemicals such as indoles, found in cabbage, stimulate enzymes that make estrogen less effective, and may also reduce the risk of breast cancer.
Other phytochemicals that interfere with enzymes include protease inhibitors (found in soy and beans) and terpenes (found in citrus fruits and cherries). Saponins, a phytochemical found in beans, interferes with the replication of cell DNA, thereby preventing the multiplication of cancer cells. Capsaicin, which is found in hot peppers, protects DNA from carcinogens. The phytochemical allicin, found in garlic, has antibacterial properties.
Protein
Protein is found in virtually every cell in your body, from your skin and hair to your nails, as well as your bones, muscles, and cartilage. It's necessary for the manufacturing of hormones, enzymes, and other chemicals in your body. Protein is classified as a macronutrient because your body needs large amounts of it. Vitamins and minerals, on the other hand, are called micronutrients because you only need them in small amounts for health.
Because your body can't store protein, you need to consume a sufficient amount in your daily diet to replenish supplies, which means you must consume it on a regular basis. Scientists believe that vegetable sources of protein, such as beans, nuts, and whole grains, are the best choices. They offer healthy fiber, vitamins, and minerals without the unhealthy saturated fat found in animal protein sources. Tofu and other soy foods are an excellent red meat alternative, provided you don't overdo it. Two to four servings a week is considered a healthy amount.
Needed only in small amounts, the body must get vitamins from food because they are either not made in the body or made in quantities that are too small for growth, vitality and well-being. A deficiency of a particular vitamin causes disease symptoms that can only be cured by that vitamin.
Vitamins
Vitamins are substances necessary to sustain life. Fruits and vegetables provide a wide array of essential vitamins, including most of the following vitamins recognized in the United States: biotin, carotenes, folate (folic acid), vitamin A, vitamin B complex, vitamin B1 (thiamin), vitamin B12 (cobalamin), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K.
Water
Our cells are primarily composed of water, which is necessary for their proper function. Raw juice, unlike coffee, soft drinks, or alcoholic beverages, supplies the water you need to replenish lost fluids. It also provides necessary vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and phytochemicals. Juice helps the body maintain proper alkaline balance, which is necessary for immune and metabolic function.
