I am a heavy drinker. I mean a heavy drinker of water, green juices, green tea and kombucha. I always find myself with something to drink in my hand. I am not sure if I subconsciously do this to avoid overeating, but it works for me. Therefore, when I stumbled upon the health benefits of juicing, I was hooked!

I can remember a time when I was the queen of green tea sweetened with aspartame and the diet cola. I knew they were unhealthy and I knew I shouldn’t be consuming them, but I lived in my comfortable bubble of denial for many years.

The decision to ditch the artificially sweetened drinks was a no brainer when I found out I was pregnant, and that’s when I decided to pop my denial bubble. I knew I needed to nourish my body with healthy drinks and foods for my little one. Out went the artificially sweetened beverages and in with the healthy alternatives.

My current drink of choice is either a green juice or smoothie. Not necessarily for its taste though, but for the health benefits associated with it.

Health Benefits of Juicing

1. Juices are a great source of nutrients. They provide loads of anti-oxidants which helps improve the function of the body’s immune system. Juicing helps fill the gap for people that may be deficient in certain nutrients they are not getting from foods.
2. The nutrients from juices are easily absorbed by the body. When we consume the fresh juice it requires little digestion, which means all its nutritional goodness gets rapidly absorbed into your system.
3. When you’re detoxing, it’s good to keep your body clean of everything, so it’s worth looking for a detox center near me so that you can juice successfully.
4. Juicing allows you to consume a larger portion of vegetables and fruit in an efficient manner in one day. Let's be honest most people do not eat enough fresh fruits and vegetables and juicing would solve this problem.
5. By juicing, you are able to add a variety of vegetables and fruit to your diet. Most people tend to eat the same fruits and veggies every day, but by juicing you can have all the health benefits of Kale without the taste (that is if you are like me and do not like the taste of kale).
6. Juices help build your immune system. Juicing different veggies and fruit can provide tremendous support to the immune system especially during the cold and flu season. Seeing as nutrition plays an important role in protecting us from those nasty seasonal viruses, there is no better way to help support and strengthen our immunity than by extracting delicious and nutritious nourishment from your favorite vegetables and fruits.

Most of the juices we find in our local grocery store are pasteurized which means most of the vital enzymes, vitamins and minerals have been lost during the heating process. Pasteurization also extends the shelf life of the juice in the stores.

Seeing as a large portion of the nutrients are stripped away, you are mostly left with sugar. Fructose which is naturally occurring and found in fruit and vegetables is fine in moderation when consumed raw. This is because the live enzymes and nutrients that chaperon the sugar, offer the body much-needed nourishment, and help the body to break down and assimilate itself, all the while, nourishing the body.

Instead of drinking juices lacking in all the nutrients we need, especially our growing children why not try a green juice. If you do not have a juicer (where to buy), you could always make a delicious and nutritious smoothie in the mean time.

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