Juicing

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.