Those who struggle with the texture of fruits or never enjoyed eating their vegetables as a child can be drawn to juicing.
While we know that juicing doesn’t necessarily make your fruits and vegetables any more or less healthy, we do know that—for many people—squeezing in an extra drink is a whole lot easier than bringing whole fruits to work.
If you’re looking for certain properties in your juice, read on—because we’ll be breaking down which fruits and vegetables you can juice to achieve specific health and wellness goals in your life.
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Improving General Nutrition
Just because we’ve grown into adults, doesn’t mean we’re good at eating, what we need is to keep our bodies healthy. In fact, the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) has shown that only 1 in 10 American adults are getting the amount of fruits and vegetables they need on a daily basis.
For those unaware—depending on your age and gender, you’ll need to eat at least 2 cups of fruit and 2 cups of vegetables—if not 3. Missing out on these natural ingredients can result in a host of health issues—from an increased risk of chronic illnesses like diabetes or even trigger obesity from the lack of nutrition.
Juicing can be the happy medium between a picky palate and the required amount of food. If you’re in a rush in the mornings, you could try a glass of fruit like oranges and apples to get in some early nutrition. Likewise, a cup of vegetable juice in the evenings may help you to offset a substantial and fattening meal.
Getting used to the taste of these juices may even help you to move away from bad habits and start transitioning to fruits and vegetables with your lunch meal or at dinner—so there’s more than one way to approach the topic of your health.
Utilize trial and error to find the taste you desire in juice, and remember—any way you can get the required nutrition in your body is leagues better than the alternative. One beneficial hack is to add a spoonful of apple cider vinegar to your daily juice for an added health bonus, as cider vinegar is good for regulating blood pressure fluxuations. And since it’s slightly sweet and tart, you won’t even notice any change in the flavor of your juice.
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Combating Deficiencies
Since juicing in many forms is as simple as loading in the ingredients and pressing a button, you may find that juicing can help with any pre-existing conditions you may have—as well as improve vitamin deficiencies that many Americans suffer from.
Vegetable juices, in particular, tend to be high in potassium, folate, and several additional vitamins.
Of course, other more predictable benefits of vitamins can come from juicing fruits like oranges. Do you enjoy orange juice? Consider dropping the pre-squeezed bottle from your grocery list and juicing fresh oranges yourself to ensure your juice is free of artificial sweeteners or extracts.
The list of nutrients in juices is long and diverse—and can range from magnesium, folate, vitamin A, vitamin K, and many others. It’s important to look up the specific vitamins or nutrients you’re hoping to gain from juicing, to make sure your chosen fruits and vegetables will exactly provide what you need.
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Specialized Benefits
On top of improving nutrition and helping out with any deficiencies you may be experiencing, many proponents of juicing claim through various sources that juicing can do anything from reducing cancer risk to improve brain function.
It’s important to note that in many of these cases, the jury is still out on the scientific validity the claims. However, we’ve assembled the most reputable and have presented them here below.
In middle-aged to older adults, drinking daily grape juice has been shown through double-blind testing to improve memory and driving ability. In this case, the National Institutes of Health has backed up this claim—with the important distinction that the study cannot replicate in young adults and children.
If you’re an older man who’s dealing with the risk of prostate cancer, tomato juice may likewise be able to decrease risk. Also according to the National Institutes of Health, we know that tomato juice aids in the prevention of the disease.
According to this group, the exact level of effect is still in dispute, so talking with a doctor alongside trying out new juicing habits will best help those looking to prevent cancer development.
Finally, those who struggle with constipation may be able to juice fruits like persimmons, kiwifruit, and prunes to help clear up passageways and improve digestion. This study comes as well from the National Institutes of Health.
In short—there are many websites and alternative medicine gurus out there that will continue to discuss the possible health benefits of juicing. Since juicing itself is a relatively nascent fad, peer-reviewed studies will come out in due time to corroborate the claims being made.
Regardless, it’s essential to get in the fruits and vegetables you need on a daily basis, whether or not juice provides health properties beyond general nutrition. For the above cases and many others, you may also be best served trying out specific juices to accommodate your particular needs.
Final Thoughts
There’s no debating that the real thing is better while juicing is particularly helpful, for those who struggle to eat raw fruits. Going back to the Mayo Clinic’s research, we know that juicing does remove most (and in some cases, all) of the dietary fibers that occur naturally in the pulp and other sections of fruits and vegetables.
If you’re looking for a diet that’s high in fiber to improve your digestive tract or otherwise, consider leaving a fair amount of pulp in your juice—or eating the raw vegetables instead.
Likewise, talk to your doctor about prescription medication to combat your digestive problems, and utilize a prescription delivery service like Medly to get these to your door at little to no cost to you.
While serious health risks are best served in hospitals rather than in raw juice glasses, juicing remains a relatively simple and easy way to get the nutrition you need. Find the fruits and vegetables you like the most and get started on improving your health in a way that still provides a great tasting beverage.
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