The Benefits of Juicing- taken from www.ukjuicers.com

We all know fruit and vegetables are good for us. However, we'd like to take you through a few of the arguments that show just why juicing raw fruit and vegetables is simply the best way to get maximum benefit from these foods. Notice the emphasis on raw, which means not treated by heat in any way. This is an important point distinguishing fresh juice from the varieties found packaged in stores and supermarkets.

We humans are an ingenious species. We like to think of ourselves as the most intelligent on the planet and there is no doubt that the way we have learned to manipulate our environment to our advantage shows great cleverness. It is a fact that humans and the animals in our care are the only species that consume food that has been treated with heat. This is a major issue in the argument for getting fresh juice into your diet. The best way of showing the advantages of raw fruit and vegetable juice is to take a closer look at the disadvantages of heat-treated or cooked foods. At UK Juicers we take a common sense approach to promoting health and well-being and we don't want to blind you with science. For those who would like a more in depth exploration of the topic, please refer to our books and links pages.

It's interesting to note that wild animals with access to their natural diet do not tend to suffer from disease, while humans and domestic animals consuming a mainly heat treated diet definitely do. Lets take a look at some of the important changes that happen when we apply heat to our foods: heat destroys a proportion of the vitamins in food, it makes proteins less digestible and changes the structure of amino acids (the building blocks of protein) rendering them less absorbable. Minerals are also changed by heat and become less available in the form that the body requires. Enzymes in food are damaged and less able to assist in the processes of digestion and as catalysts in the many reactions that take place in our bodies. Natural fibres are broken down and become less able to act as an "intestinal broom" sweeping the gut clean of waste products. (However, with juice we are not as concerned with fibre, this applies more to eating raw foods). Cooked produce is not only less nourishing, there is considerable evidence to support the idea that it can actually be harmful. We don't want to be alarmist though, our philosophy is the more you include raw fruit and vegetable juices (and other raw foods) in your diet, the healthier you will be.

Juicing is an extremely efficient way of obtaining large quantities of high quality nutrients in a form that the body is best equipped to utilise. By breaking down the cells of the produce we juice, we release the liquid contents and discard the fibres we don't need. Conveniently, we are also discarding the majority of any residual agrochemicals that can accumulate in the cell walls of non-organic produce, in the unused pulp. The juice obtained is rich in nutrients that are in a form the body can easily assimilate. Drinking a few pints of fresh juice a day is a delicious and easy way of obtaining an abundance of nourishment from produce that would otherwise require a great deal of time to chew!

In a typical western diet composed of mainly cooked foods the body consumes a large amount of energy in the process of digestion. Have you noticed feeling tired after a cooked meal? This is due to the body diverting its energy resources to break down what has been eaten. With juices and other raw foods this phenomenon simply doesn't occur. Juice is an excellent source of energising, cleansing and reparative nutrients and because it is in a form the body is designed to deal with, there is no accompanying loss of energy in processing it.

There is considerable evidence to support the cancer fighting and protective qualities of raw juices and foods. Therapies for treating cancer and other serious illnesses have been based on nutrition and proven successful where conventional medicine has failed (see again our books and links sections). This is of particular significance to us at UK Juicers, as this common sense approach to natural nutrition has proved extremely beneficial, both in enhancing vitality and well being and reversing the path of serious illness. Nick Ledger has succeeded in healing himself of ulcerative colitis, from which he suffered for a considerable time with little help from a conventional medical approach. He has done this through a complete transformation of his eating habits focusing on raw fruit and vegetable juices, sprouts, and other raw foods. Indeed it is our experience of the health giving properties of the juicing lifestyle that has inspired and fuelled the wish to promote what we have learned to a wider audience through the supply of quality juicing machines and other health oriented products.

Another good news aspect of introducing juice and other raw foods into the diet is the effect on ones physical appearance. The standard western diet consisting mainly of cooked foods, in which many of the essential nutrients have been destroyed by heat, often leaves us wanting in terms of health and nutrition. It is possible to enter a downward spiral here: the lack of satisfaction of the basic need for essential nourishment by cooked foods can lead to over-consumption of these "empty" heat treated calories. If your body doesn't get what it needs, it asks for more and if we try to satisfy that craving we can find our weight increases, yet we still remain short of the nourishment we seek. Because raw juice and food provides us with adequate nourishment these cravings are reduced and there can be a tendency to lose excess body fat as a consequence.

So, we increase our vitality, improve our physique, become better able to ward off disease and repair and regenerate ourselves, we put less strain on our systems in general and provide ourselves with the best life insurance money can buy. At UK juicers we are completely sold on the benefits of juicing through personal experience and the application of common sense. We hope you will join us, give your body the nourishment that it is designed for and experience those benefits yourself.