Why is it so important to occasionally drink your food?
The whole purpose of digestion is to liquify food so that it can be easily assimilated by the body. Food is broken down into a liquid form so the phytochemicals can be absorbed more efficiently. Juicing eliminates a few of the actions that would be needed in digestion, like chewing and peristalsis (the action of moving fiber through the intestines). Drinking water doesn’t require chewing or peristalsis, the only action required is swallowing which is the same concept when drinking juice. The juice of the plant still contains all the nutrients but the only part missing is the fibrous coarse material. After the juice is swallowed it immediately absorbs into the body. The only action needed is for you to prepare of the drink.
Juicing is usually done in the beginning of the transition phase into a raw food diet(a cleanse). This helps to cleanse the body before taking in solid foods. When the body is clean it can then easily digest the stronger green veggies and still absorb the nutrients present in these foods. Usually many newcomers have a hard time digesting the raw foods because there digestive systems are not yet strong enough to break them down so juicing is the best approach in this situation. (*Note: another reason for lack of properly digesting foods is lack of beneficial bacteria from not eating fermented foods. Fermented foods are needed to help with good digestion. Read section on Ferments.) Many people who practice yearly cleanses juice meals to give there bodies a break from eating solid foods or many people have there juice while eating meals with solid foods. Either way is just fine.
Drinking the juice of the plant is a great way to give the body rest while nourishing it. A good time to drink green vegetable juice is right before bed. Eating solid foods before bed can possibly make it harder to sleep because the body is still actively working to digest the fibrous material. Juicing is a better alternative to satiate the body and still get good sleep. The other purpose of juicing is to help with time management. Lets say more time needs to be spent on other projects throughout the day and the process of eating will take up time, well juicing helps to get good daily vegetable servings and less time is spent preparing and consuming your meal.
To start juicing you’ll definitely need a juicer. I use two types of juicers. One is a low rpm Green Power Juicer and the other is a Jack Lalanne Juicer. A low rpm juicer uses two slowly rotating augers to squeeze the greens to extract the optimal amount of juice. Just type “low rpm juicer” into the google search engine and I’m certain you’ll find one. It may take a few seconds longer to juice your food with a low rpm juicer but you get the most out of your food. Another great juicer is the Jack Lalanne Juicer. The Jack Lalanne juicer was my first juicer ever. I’ve used it for many years and I love it. I use both juicers mentioned in this article. There are so many great juice recipes. You can start by searching the web, buy a book or just use your intuition to make your own juice creations. The only thing to keep in mind is to make sure that you get a good amount of green juice in for the day.
Juicing is simple, fast and easy. I hope you enjoy. Salute!