People who eat a raw food diet are often those who reverse severe health conditions, similar to Jay Kordich with his introduction to juicing. If it helped them, it can help us to at least [...]]]>  

People who eat a raw food diet are often those who reverse severe health conditions, similar to Jay Kordich with his introduction to juicing. If it helped them, it can help us to at least be aware of the power in raw foods and incorporate whatever portion we can into our diet. Even vitamins, minerals, and hormones cannot do their jobs without enzymes, but they are easily destroyed in either cold or hot extremes of temperature. Enzymes are the catalysts, the dynamic activators that give our body its ability to function at its highest level of health.

Raw food nutrition has gained popularity in various decades since the 1900’s as modern processing and cooking methods have increasingly reduced the live enzyme content in food. The solution? Raw foods – or juice. Some argue that our digestive acids destroy enzymes, while others reply that enzymatic activity is picked up by our saliva, with benefits starting in our mouth for rapid absorption before digestive acids can counteract their activity. Regardless of the science, when people have reversed serious health problems with focused food choices, it’s worth being aware of your food choices and intake of enzymes, with natural sources being superior.

Followers of a raw food diet consume 60% to 100% of their diet as uncooked and unprocessed plant-based foods. These include fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds. While our ongoing fad and fear of fats will find some people hesitant to rely on nuts as a snack food or cereal additive, nuts are one of the ‘superfoods’ that should be eaten daily –  moderation being the key, due to caloric content. Counting out 25 to 30 almonds for a snack every day will not see you gain weight and is very healthy.

Raw food followers do not heat foods above 115 degrees F (46 degrees C) in order to preserve the integrity of the enzymes associated with digestion and absorption. Juicing works on the same principle, leaving enzymes intact and available. Today, sprouted breads are commonly available in some grocery stores, ranging from Ezekiel bread to Manna bread and others that are also flourless, based instead on sprouted grains with high nutrient content.

For those with digestive difficulties, from indigestion to ulcers or irritable bowel, it is most often the digestive enzymes that are unable to do their proper function of digesting food contents. Adding enzyme supplements to your diet once at that point, will do little to completely correct a system that was encouraged to go out of balance by years of eating in a manner that weakened your digestive system. It will make a difference to instead add healing food choices and hopefully serve to encourage you to go further with detoxification and learning how to eat more healthfully for your particular system. It may be a slower process and need guidance but you will be rewarded with a healthy body without dependency on drugs.

There are many books now available on raw food diets. I personally do not feel it necessary to become an exclusive raw food follower, but juicing has been part of my lifestyle at seasonal intervals for many years, along with regular raw food intake. Ingesting aloe vera daily also provides me with many fresh enzymes and is an easy option for those with busy schedules. 

“One cup of carrot juice contains the equivalent nutrition of four cups of raw, chopped carrots. Made fresh and consumed on the spot, juices, which contain about 95% of the food value of the fruit or [...]]]>  

My introduction to juicing was from a small pocket book by Jay Kordich, called ‘The Juiceman’s Power of Juicing’… no pictures, but packed with impressive nutritional information. As a young man in the early 1940’s, he was a talented football player about to play in the Rose Bowl. But soon he was seriously ill with doctors telling him he might not survive. His book didn’t explain his illness, but today we can read that he was diagnosed with bladder cancer. It changed his life, and he left to be treated with Dr. Gerson in New York city who recommended an all-juice diet. Once in Manhattan, he began a regimen of drinking 13 glasses of carrot-apple juice every day, repeating the dosage every hour until early evening. Within 3 months, he saw a change, and in 2 ½ years, there was no sign left of bladder cancer.

Jay Kordich remained the ‘Juice Man’ for the rest of his life and was an early pioneer in  educating  people about the  power of juice  on our  health.  In his words, ‘the food we put in our system determines the health of every cell and organ in our bodies. The human body needs ‘live’ foods to build ‘live cells’, meaning uncooked fruits and vegetables. Other foods, such as nuts, grains, seeds and legumes are live foods, too. All come directly from the soil and are not first processed by another animal, as are meat, poultry and fish.“

Among all the fruits and vegetables that have important roles for good health, he pointed out that his stars were carrots and celery, along with apple that acts as a versatile juice to bridge the gap between fruits and vegetables. In fact, apple is the only fruit he recommended to mix with vegetables. Cabbage is one of my favourites because of its noticeable benefit for inflammation and arthritis, whether joints or intestinal linings. Unlike cooked or raw cabbage, there is no gas from its juice. Juicing vegetables seasonally is an excellent nutritional enhancement before winter cold and flu season arrives. An expensive juicer is not necessary, as the focus is in the juice rather than how much pulp is extracted. Inexpensive juicers in the $100 to $150 range work well to let you see the benefits of this healthy habit. For additional information on raw foods, please visit the section on Health Updates.

If juicing daily is too time consuming for today’s busy schedules, aloe vera gel might provide noticeable health benefits from its rich content of live enzymes, vitamins, minerals, all 8 essential amino acids our body cannot manufacture and its 12 natural anti-inflammatory components . Forever Living’s aloe has been tested as nearly identical to the natural plant juice and provides an excellent power food as a ready-to-drink juice.