Why are you Juicing your health away? Blog Entry 10/27/2014

 

Juicing has become one of the most fashionable ways to get healthy foods in the diet.  All you see in celebrity fitness magazines is juicing recipes for weight loss and other cleansing protocols.  However, we must understand what the process of juicing does to our food and the process of digestion.

 

The juicing craze has been mostly to incorporate above ground veggies such as kale to their juicing protocols instead of the traditional juicing fruits such as oranges, apples etc.

 

The health claims of juicing kale are based on the amount of vitamins and nutrients it contains, as well as the fact that kale is naturally low in calories and sugar.  Vitamins included are calcium and beta-carotene (the plant version, that can be converted in the body into Vitamin A).  

 

There are some health problems with juicing above ground vegetables such as kale.  Kale and other above ground veggies such as broccoli, spinach and other lettuces contain many toxic unsaturated fats which during the normal digestive process are harmlessly taken out of the body with the fiber during defecation.  

 

However during the juicing process you liberate these toxic unsaturated fats from the fiber in the kale.  These fats use up our antioxidants such as Vitamin C and others that we would normally get from fruits and veggies.  

 

Unsaturated fats create oxygen free radicals in the body which lead to many different inflammatory disease processes.  The free radical damage far outweighs any possible nutrients you would get from eating kale.  Also, excess beta-carotene consumption will reduce your metabolism by using up your active thyroid hormones to convert the beta-carotene into the usable form of vitamin A.

 

These toxic, unsaturated fats will depress your immune system, decrease your metabolism by shutting down the thyroid gland and overload your liver with endotoxin that is created in the small intestine when you consume them.  

 

Juicing can be beneficial, when done effectively, for some people.  It can be an effective way to get needed nutrients out of fibrous fruits, such as oranges and pineapples, making them easier to digest. This would be an effective method for individuals who are having certain digestive ailments in which fiber is not well tolerated.  

 

The best things to juice are fresh orange and pineapple due to the fact that you are avoiding the toxic unsaturated fats that are normally in kale smoothies.  

 

You don’t need to juice yourself to health in fact you can get great health by just eating real food and not listening to the latest celebrity fitness craze.

 

 

In good health,

 

Aaron Wallace