Simply Cooking and Health: Juicing

Juice

Gerson Therapy was developed by Dr. Max Gerson in the 1930s. First he tried it on his own debilitating migraines. It helped and later he treated degenerative diseases such as skin tuberculosis, diabetes and cancer. The Gerson Therapy consists of large quantity of fresh, organic juices consumed every day. Fresh juices effectively treat a wide range of different ailments by restoring the body’s natural ability to heal. Medication usually treats only the symptoms of a particular disease. Organic fruit and vegetable juices treat the root causes of most degenerative diseases. Toxicity and nutritional deficiency are usually the root causes of many diseases.. Dr Gerson adopted Norwalk juicer to produce the juices for his patients. Norwalk juicer was developed by Dr. Norman W. Walker, one of the earliest raw food therapy experts.

Gerson Therapy lives on till today through The Gerson Institute providing treatment for many forms of cancer, heart disease, auto-immune disorders, diabetes, arthritis and many other ailments.

After this development fresh juices and raw food are used under various situations for health reasons.

You can juice fresh vegetable and fruits. While fruit juices are delicious and loved by children you should go easy on them as they add too much of fructose to your body which is not good for you. Consuming fresh vegetable juices regularly will not have any undesirable side effects. You can also add some fruits to the vegetables that you juice. By doing so, you can limit the amount of your fructose intake. Adding some fruits to your juice, particularly apples, lemon, lime and orange will hide the bitterness in the dark green vegetables and make it more palatable to drink.

Juicing fruits and vegetables

Recipe summary
For
Cucumber, Spinach and Pumpkin Juice

Cucumber, Spinach and Pumpkin

Ingredients
75 grams spinach

75 grams pumpkin

75 grams cucumber

Juice all the above items. I did it in a mini blender.

Cucumber, Spinach and Pumpkin Juice is ready

You can also read about in detail about
1. Reasons for juicing
2. Storing the juice

Reasons for juicing
1. Juices help the body to assimilate all the nutrients from the vegetables and fruits. It breaks down the cellulose barriers allowing the release of powerful enzymes and other nutrients and helps to "pre-digest" the food. The nutrients are easily and fully absorbed by the body.
2. Juicing reduces the bulk and helps to absorb required amount of vegetables in an efficient manner. Health authorities advise that we consume 6-8 servings of vegetables and fruits a day. Most of us do not get even half this amount. Juicing helps you to get this target easily. When juicing you are leaving out all the fibre which add very little value to the nutrition. Of course fibre is important but you can get them from other sources.
3. You can add a wider variety of fruits and vegetables to your diet. You cannot find any recipe that can fit in so many vegetables. But with juicing you can add as many as you like. Juicing is best suited for dark greens. Chlorophyll in the greens assists in the distribution of oxygen to all parts of the body and neutralises the free radicals. Greens are alkalising and help in neutralising the acidity from carbohydrates and meat. They are also a great antioxidant.
4. Preparation is very simple and easy. Time taken is much shorter than other forms of cooking or making salads.

Vegetable and fruit juices are not balanced diet. They do not contain enough fat and protein. So juices are used to supplement your diet except when you are juice fasting or on a detoxification program.

These vegetables are suitable for juicing: apples, alfalfa, asparagus, broccoli, bitter melon, bok choy, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, capsicum, celery, cilantro, cucumber, daikon, collard greens, gai lan, garlic clove, ginger, kale, lettuce, lemon, lime, mustard, onion, pears, pumpkin, radish, spinach, spring onion, scallions, shallot, peas, tomato, turnip, watercress.

Avoid combining vegetables high in oxalic acid with those vegetables that are high in calcium. This combination forms an indigestible compound.

Storing the juice

It is better to consume the juice as soon as you juice. The atmosphere contains 20% of oxygen. The oxygen in the atmosphere oxidizes the juice while it is exposed. Oxidization diminishes the nutritional values. If you absolutely have to store the juice, fill it up a jar till the top leaving as little air as possible and seal it with an air-tight lid. Put it into the fridge immediately and consume it within 24 hours. If you use a Food saver or a vacuum sealer you will be able to store the juice with very little loss in nutrition. In any case consume it within 24 hours.