Juicing, which was once confined to the earthy-smelling health food stores, co-ops and half-empty vegan and vegetarian restaurants, has recently penetrated into the mainstream. Juice bars popped up in hundreds and thousands of cities all over the world, offering freshly squeezed or mashed fruits and vegetables to a hip, trendy crowd.
The National Cancer Institute has started a campaign that has one simple goal-to make people eat more fruits and vegetables. And for many, it is much simpler to get their daily dose of fruits and vegetables in a bar, served in a nice glass.
Researchers are now looking for chemicals that exist in the plants and are called phytochemicals, that can provide a cure for different diseases, but especially for cancer.
The knowledge about phytochemicals has made certain fruits and vegetables more important. For example, citrus fruits help the body to expel certain substances that cause cancer, while broccoli contains substances that can not only prevent but also cure breast cancer and grapes protects cells from damage. The list of plants that are proven to contain cancer-preventing substances is long, and includes garlic, onions, leek, turnip, kale, carrots, brussels sprouts, cabbage, peppers, chives and many, many more.
The problem is that most people do not eat enough of fruits and vegetables to benefit from their disease-preventing qualities. Juicing might be a solution for this problem, especially if the trend persists.
Juices also have an advantage over other ways to eat vegetables-they are fresh. It is a known fact that heat, used in most of cooking methods, decreases the amount of beneficial substances, and in some cases it kills them off completely.
Enzymes are nutrients that suffer from the heat the most. They are critical for most metabolic processes that go on in the human body and juices are an excellent way to restore them, as they contain enzymes much more that the processed food does.
Chlorophyll is a substance that can be found only in plants. Juices offer the possibility to add this substance to the daily diet, and there has been some research in the 1940’s that indicated that humans need more chlorophyll in their diet. This is because its structure is similar to hemoglobin, responsible for oxygen transportation through the body.
Naturally, juices are important sources of traditional nutrients, like vitamins and essential minerals.
Juicing also removes the indigestible fiber, making it easier for the body to absorb the nutrients that are trapped inside.
Finally, fruit and vegetable juices provide water, which is a substance absolutely vital for good health.
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