Added: 10/05/2005 |
Therapeutic Nature of Vegetable drinkIn the early 1920s a young German physician, Dr Max Gerson, first raised the theory that the beginning of all chronic illness lies in the potassium/sodium imbalance in the body. Potassium is an important nerve conductor and acts as a catalyst for many body enzymes. It is an important alkalising agent and maintains the acid/alkaline balance in the blood and tissues.
Fresh fruit and vegetable drink are high in vitamins, minerals and enzymes. They are also alkaline in nature, which in itself is therapeutic. Juices are easily digested and assimilated, allowing maximum nutrient value to be absorbed at a faster rate without the body expending unnecessary energy. Toxins and wastes are easily and efficiently eliminated from the body.
By following a purely fresh fruit and vegetable drink -juice diet for short periods or by adding fresh vegetable juice to an already well-balanced diet, you can help accelerate and enhance the process of restoring chemically starved body tissues. In this way you will not only restore the body to good health, but possibly defer the ageing process, prevent poor health and the onset of many of our so-called modern-day degenerative diseases.
Many experts today believe that it is the enzymes found in raw foods that hold the key to our wellbeing and longevity. These enzymes are not only responsible for breaking down elements within foods to make them more digestible and nutritionally valuable, but they are also known to stimulate certain types of cancer-fighting enzymes. These 'phase two' enzymes break down cancer-causing chemicals such as car fumes or nitrites, which are present in cured, pickled and highly salted foods, and allow the body to flush them from the system before they cause cellular damage to tissue. These enzymes are destroyed when we heat and cook food.
By adding fresh vegetable drink to your diet you will automatically improve your health. Just on a day-to-day basis you will look and feel better as your skin, hair, eyes and nails begin to show the benefits of drinking fresh juice. You will also be pleasantly surprised at your new-found energy and the need for much less sleep as your body flushes toxic material from its system and replaces it with the life-giving forces of juices, which also heighten your mental awareness and ability to taste foods more definitively. Best of all, though, juices taste delicious!
The acid/alkaline factor and stress. The acid/alkaline balance in the body is central to good health. An acid environment results in a lack of energy, chronic fatigue and susceptibility to disease. If you are stressed your acid/alkaline balance is out of kilter - emotional stress can be the result of a chemical imbalance of ingredients that, in the proper proportions, can otherwise help you 'ride the storm'.
However, stress can come in many forms. A diet based on acid-forming ingredients, such as coffee, sugar, meat, white flour and processed foods, will also make you feel stressed (some of us do not recognize this state as we have never experienced an unstressed state). Hormones released by the body in a stressed state are also acid-forming. ( As all fruit and vegetables are highly alkaline, drinking fresh juice is ' the easiest way to correct an acid/alkaline imbalance. Fig juice and all green juices are particularly alkaline-forming. Watch your intake of acid-forming foods, such as oysters, fish, meat, eggs, rice and nuts, if you are prone to an acid/alkaline imbalance (note that while grains tend to be acid-forming, sprouted seeds and grains become alkaline in the sprouting process).
Enzymes. Many would argue that food enzymes are just another protein and useful amino acids from which new proteins are built by the body. However, there is another argument that suggests these food enzymes are essential for the body to break down and fully utilise the nutrients in our foods. When we heat foods we destroy these enzymes, making it difficult for the enzymes in our gut to digest them further. As a result the nutritional value can be lost.
Enzymes found in raw food are believed to be a powerful support mechanism for the body's own enzyme system. Foods in their raw state contain vitamins, minerals and trace elements, along with the right enzymes to help break down the food. When food minus its natural enzymes is eaten unnecessary stress is placed on the body's ability to produce these enzymes. To help yourself to solve this problem must be just paying some attention at vegetable drinks.
Amino acids. There are eight major amino acids that the body can only synthesise from fresh foods: lysine, leucine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, threonine, valine, methionine and isoleucine, all of which are essential for the maintenance of health. If these amino acids are not present in the diet the body is unable to rejuvenate cells properly. A deficiency of just one of these amino acids can cause ill health and premature ageing, while children need them all for growth and good health.
All fresh vegetable juices contain amino acids that are easily digested, the highest concentration being found in sprouts and leafy green vegetables.
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