Part 5: Juice it

I am not yet an expert in this category and most of what I have learned is from a dear friend and melanoma survivor sister, Bailey O'Brien. I first heard her share her story at the Believe Big dinner 4 years ago about how she was facing and fighting her stage 4 cancer diagnosis. In her lifestyle changes she included Juicing. I was intrigued and with help from my some of my integrative medicine doctors we went on this adventure.

This blog on juicing is meant to:
1. Give you some informaiton on what juicing really is.
2. Educate you on different "Juices"
3. To point you in a direction on getting started adding juicing into your nutrition plan.

If you don't want to read into my research any further. Go to Baileys site. She has the best plan for juicing with some great information.

https://www.baileyobrien.com/single-post/2015/02/14/Bailey’s-Juicing-Guide








Give it a try. For me, I juice every morning. If I am really together I will do a larger batch so I have a couple days worth. My lunch then is my first meal. My diet does not contain any fruit, other than a green apple in my juice, every once in while some berries in a smoothie. I do not take greens as a supplement or powder. Some individuals do. I purchase organic produce and wash it very clean. It makes a yummy frothy goodness that I have learned to love and crave. Juicing is not my one and only way of health and healing, but again I share because it has become part of my routine in building and supporting my body and immune system.

For Juicing to be the most beneficial think about keeping your juices as green as you can. Stay light on the fruit to keep the calories and sugar intake in check. The Sugar amount in some fruits is super high.

Fruits and vegetables can change everything. 
They boost our immune system, they protect us against cancer, they help with weight management. 
However, 1 out of 3 Americans do not get the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables a day.

According to a study from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, only 2.7% of U.S. adults hit the four critical metrics of a healthy lifestyle ? avoiding smoking/drugs, eating well, exercising, and maintaining healthy body fat levels. The disheartening study continued by listing the top factors that contributes to an unhealthy lifestyle:

• Lack of time to exercise
• Not having time to cook
• Marketing of unhealthy food
• Lack of access to healthy foods

Fruits and vegetables naturally have immune boosting nutrients, but solids break down in the body at a slower pace. Transforming the goods into a liquid state allows for a faster, more efficient way for your body to absorb all of the nutrients.1 The faster the nutrients have access to your body, the faster they can start fighting disease!

Digestive enzymes, which break down our food into nutrients for the body to absorb, are stuck in the fiber matrix of whole fruits and vegetables, making it difficult for our bodies to access. In juice form, the fiber is broken up, allowing much easier access to the digestive goods.https://www.concentra.com/resource-center/articles/juicing-benefits-supplement-or-cleanse/

JUICE INFO. Whether you are buying it, or making it.. keep these marketing slogans in mind:

“Contains 100% Juice”Everything in the bottle came from fruit or vegetables, but not necessarily the ones front and center on the label. For example, a cranberry juice might have pure cranberry juice diluted with apple or pear juice. This is still considered “100% juice.”

“Raw” 
At the present time, this term is either used to refer to unpasteurized cold-pressed juice that has a shelf life of two to three days or HPP-treated cold-pressed juice with a shelf life of up to 45 days. Check the label to see if and how the juice has been pasteurized.

“Unpasteurized”A very small percentage of commercially sold cold-pressed juice in the United States is unpasteurized, though it is gaining popularity. Imagine the fresh-squeezed apple cider at a local orchard, or premium green juice blends made at popular juice bars like NYC-based Juice Press and Liquiteria. These juices have a shelf life of a mere two to three days and are usually created with organic ingredients, making them about three times more expensive than your average lunchtime juice box. 

“Pasteurized”Usually referring to thermal pasteurization, where a product is heated, pasteurization is used to prevent spoiling and to kill harmful pathogens, like E. coli. In addition to juice, milk, cheese, canned foods, wines and syrups are commonly pasteurized. Some companies use “flash pasteurization,” which supposedly maintains the color and flavor better. HPP is sometimes considered a form of pasteurization, though it does not use heat.

“From Concentrate”Many companies create a shelf-stable pasteurized juice product by extracting water from juice and creating a “concentrated” juice product. To make “reconstituted juice,” either the consumer or the manufacturer will add in water to dilute the concentrated juice before serving.

“Not From Concentrate”Used by numerous brands including Tropicana and Florida’s Natural, this phrase was coined in the 80s to distinguish pasteurized juice from juice made from concentrate. Though no water has been removed from this product, some larger producers strip the juice of oxygen, to keep juice stable while oranges are out of season, which reduces some natural flavoring. Some companies add in proprietary “flavor packs” so the product has the taste and aroma of just-squeezed juice. The FDA does not currently require that companies list flavor packs on a product’s packaging.
http://dailyburn.com/life/health/the-truth-about-hpp-juice-labels/

THE PROBLEM WITH PASTEURIZATION: WHY RAW, COLD-PRESSED JUICE IS THE WAY TO GO

Walking into my local supermarket, I was excited to see that a popular brand of cold-pressed, organic juice was now being sold there. I was glad that they had decided to branch out and sell their juice in stores besides their own. However, when I got home, I read the label and was disappointed to find that it was High Pressure Pasteurized (or HPP). The juice sold in the brand's store is not HPP, but raw and cold-pressed. To reach a larger audience, they compromised the quality of their juice. The real kicker was that the bottle of juice was smaller, and the same price as their fresh, in-store juice. So, my question to consumers is: Why settle and pay for something that will not benefit you nearly as much as a raw, cold-pressed juice? 

What is Pasteurization?

There are two types of pasteurization. One type is heat pasteurization, and the other is HPP. Heat pasteurization kills all the bacteria and microorganisms in the juice, including the good kind. This leads to the loss of vitamins, antioxidants, and phytonutrients. HPP is the "cold" version of pasteurization. Juice is already bottled and ready to go, and is then subjected to an extremely high level of pressure. This process does not kill as much bacteria and microorganisms as heat pasteurization, but the good bacteria is still effected. 

While still organic and cold-pressed, the juice at the market had an HPP label on the back, meaning it was pasteurized. 

The Problem

The problem is that many people do not understand that our bodies need bacteria to thrive and grow stronger. Introducing a variety of bacteria to our bodies helps build up our immune system, while keeping the good bacteria is essential for a healthy body. When flavonoids (antioxidants in plants) and phytonutrients (nutrients that develop in plants to protect the plant) are removed from the juice through pasteurization, our bodies do not know where to send the vitamins and nutrients that enter the body, or how to use them. Phytonutrients are used for protecting our bodies from harm, such as cell damage and inflammation. Flavonoids assist with telling the body what nutrients are used for, and where they need to go in the body to help us. When both these things are destroyed in the process of pasteurization, we are left with useless nutrients that our body will simply expel. 

The Solution

It is important to know what is in the food we are consuming, and how it was made. This is especially important with juice, because our body absorbs the nutrients right away when it is in liquid form. Many people refer to pasteurized juice as a "dead" product, because there are virtually no benefits to drinking it. In most cases, vitamins are synthetically made and added to pasteurized juices, as well as an astonishing amount of sugar and preservatives. When we drink this kind of juice, these fake and harmful ingredients are being absorbed, and they serve no purpose. We, any and all consumers, need to be more aware of what we put into our body. Check the labels of what you're purchasing, and make sure that the ingredients are serving a purpose for your body. The truth is, if the food or drink isn't in its purest, most simple form, it most likely will be more harmful for you than beneficial. https://groundingroots.com/blogs/news/the-problem-with-pasteurization-why-raw-cold-pressed-juice-is-the-way-to-go