Category: Juicing tips

A Healthy Diet Promotes Healthy Aging

What we eat earlier in life has a profound effect on long-term health and aging. Many studies confirm that eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly is essential to long-term health.

Multiple studies have found that proper nourishment can increase life expectancy. The biggest gains come from eating plenty of nuts and legumes, whole grains, fruits, vegetables. Also, indulging in less processed meat, red meat, sugar and refined carbohydrates has a significant positive effect. And, a large study showed that artificially sweetened soft drinks are associated with deaths from circulatory diseases.[1. Mullee A, Romaguera D, Pearson-Stuttard J, et al. Association Between Soft Drink Consumption and Mortality in 10 European Countries. JAMA Intern Med. 2019;179(11):1479–1490. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.2478]

Continue reading “A Healthy Diet Promotes Healthy Aging”

Nutrition for Diabetic Retinopathy

diabetic retinopathy nutrition - fruits and vegetablesDid you know that proper nutrition and exercise can help prevent diabetic retinopathy?[1. Bryl A, Mrugacz M, Falkowski M, Zorena K. (2022). The Effect of Diet and Lifestyle on the Course of Diabetic Retinopathy-A Review of the Literature. Nutrients. Mar 16;14(6):1252.]  Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a potentially blinding complication of diabetes that damages the eye’s retina; it is a leading cause of vision loss in the world. About 10% of Americans have diabetes. One in three people with diabetes has symptoms of diabetic retinopathy. Of these, a further one-third have vision-threatening DR, including diabetic macular edema. And yet, the condition can potentially be preventable. Continue reading “Nutrition for Diabetic Retinopathy”

Beet Juice Can Help Prevent Dementia, Diabetic Retinopathy, and Eye Floaters

In our practice we are great proponents of juicing and its many health benefits. One veggie that is in many of the recipes that we recommend for specific eye conditions such as diabetic retinopathy and eye floaters is the humble seeming beet.  We have known for a long time the beet helps to improve circulation and also purifies and builds up the blood.

New research finds that the nitrates found in beet juice both widen blood vessels and increase blood flow to the brain.

In a study of 14 people over age 70 published in Nitric Oxide: Biology and Chemistry, the participants who ate a high-nitrate diet featuring beet juice showed increased blood flow to the white matter of the frontal lobes of their brains.  Dementia and other related conditions are most commonly associated with the degradation of that part of the brain.

Source: WebMD

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Juicing Tips – What combinations of fruits & vegetables would be best to juice?

Overview | Enzymes | Recipes

Juicing Tips

We consider daily juicing of primarily organic vegetables and fruits to be an essential part of any long term healing program. Juicing provides a highly effective and efficient way for the body to be able to absorb essential nutrients into the blood and cells, taking a little as a few minutes for the body to start utilizing these nutrients.

Why is juicing so important?

    1. What are enzymes? The basic key to the efficacy of nourishing your body is the life present in food and of those intangible elements known as enzymes.  
    2. Why not just eat fruits and vegetables for our essential nutrients? Solid food requires many hours of digestive activity before its nourishment is finally available to the cells and tissues of the body. 
    3. Can juicing prevent disease? Many studies point out that a diet high in fruits and vegetables does in fact reduce the incidents of serious disease.
    4. Do vegetables contain protein? Although fruits and vegetables do not contain large quantities of protein, their juice can be a convenient carrier.
    5. What are phytochemicals? They are substances in plants that are linked to good health and to prevention of specific diseases. They are found only in fruits and vegetables, and juicing is a great way to get them.
    6. How much juice can be taken safely? As much as one can drink comfortably without forcing oneself. Recommended amount of juice per day is at least 1 pint per day. Some healing centers actually do 2-8 pints per day for therapeutic purposes.
    7. Can I store the juice I make? Juices should generally be drunk when prepared, since certain enzymes and vitamins break down pretty quickly in sunlight.
    8. What combinations of fruits and vegetables would be best to juice? There are many different recipes  See more info …, but in general at least 50-75% of the juicing should consist of greens (spinach, kale, chard, parsley, dandelion, watercress, broccoli, etc.)
    9. Can I still continue to eat fast food and sugar products? These should be kept to an absolute minimum as they use our precious resources to breakdown and digest, offering little in the way of healthy nutrients.
    10. Should I use only organic products? In general, yes. By juicing all non-organic products, we stand the chance of taking in concentrated amounts of pesticides used on the plants, thereby negating the value of daily juicing.
    11. What juicer should I use? There are a number of excellent juicers.  We like the pulp extracting omega juicers that juice without generating heat that can destroy some of the essential nutrients. At 80 RPM (most juicers work at 3600 RPM and higher), it essentially masticates the fruits and vegetables slowly, preserving the most nutrients possible. The disadvantage is that the process is a little slower, and cleaning takes a couple of more minutes.

What are enzymes?

The basic key to the efficacy of nourishing your body is the life present in food and of those intangible elements known as enzymes. Enzymes are complex substances that enable us to digest food and absorb it into our blood. They are the body’s ‘working force’ that act as catalysts for many essential life functions, such as separating the nitrogen from the air we breath, so we may absorb the oxygen. They act as catalysts in probably millions of chemical reactions that take place throughout the body. They are essential for the digestion and absorption of the food we eat and drink … for conversion of food to body tissue, and for the production of energy at the cellular level.

Enzymes become sluggish at cooking temperatures above 118 degrees, and are destroyed at temperatures above 130 degrees (microwaves completely destroy enzymes in your food).
Fresh juices are a wonderful source of enzymes. Food which has been cooked at temperatures above 118 simply don’t have the properly functioning enzymes to allow you to enjoy the full benefits of their nutrients.

Why not just eat fruits and vegetables for our essential nutrients?

Solid food requires many hours of digestive activity before its nourishment is finally available to the cells and tissues of the body. While fibers in foods are essential for helping cleanse our digestive tract, the removal of fibers in the extraction of juices allows essential nutrients to be absorbed within minutes instead of hours, and with little effort by our body.

Do vegetables contain protein?

Although fruits and vegetables do not contain large quantities of protein, their juice can be a convenient carrier. Simply add some brewer’s yeast, wheat germ, or whole grains to whatever you’re juicing. These give you protein without the fat that meat contains, and protein that is quickly and easily absorbed by the body.

What to Juice?

There are many different recipes but in general at least 50-75% of the juicing should consist of greens: spinach, kale, chard, parsley, dandelion, watercress, broccoli, etc.

Sample Juicing Recipes for Specific Eye Conditions

Cataracts, Conjunctivitis
We recommend carrot, spinach, celery, endive, parsley, blueberry, apple – not too much fruit.

Glaucoma
We recommend celery, carrots, cucumber, radish, turnip, parsley, beets, cabbage, raspberries, plums, apple (not too much fruit).

Macular Degeneration
We recommend broccoli, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, apples, raspberries, leafy greens

Best’s Disease

We recommend daily juicing of vegetables and fruits (preferably organic) – some combination of the following: ginger, garlic, leeks, parsley, beets, cabbage, carrots, celery, spinach, apples, grapes, raspberries, lemon, chlorophyll, wheat grasses (not too much fruit). See the discussion of best’s disease for other points

Optic Neuritis

We recommend: ginger, parsley, beets, cabbage, carrots, endive, chlorophyll, wheat grasses, berries (all organic preferably)

Other Conditions

Peptic Ulcers – cabbage juice promotes rapid healing of patients with peptic ulcers

Urinary Tract Infections – cranberry juice is well known to help with bladder and urinary tract infections

Heart Disease – also well known is the beneficial effect of pomegranate juice. Antioxidants (compounds that limit cell damage by fighting free radicals) contained in pomegranate juice may help reduce the formation of fatty deposits on artery walls. The antioxidant level in pomegranate juice was found to be higher than that in other natural juices, such as blueberry, cranberry, and orange juices.

Resources
N.W. Walker, D.Sc. “Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices: what’s missing in your body?”
Michael T. Murray, N.D. “The Complete Book of Juicing”

Paul Pitchford, N.D. “Healing with Whole Foods”

Research on peptic ulcers & cabbage juice
Research on UTI & cranberry juice