Juicing to Boost Immunity

Fresh juice is delicious and satisfying – and to your body, it’s the gift that keeps on giving, providing benefits long after you’ve drained your glass. Juicing captures the vital nutrients in fruits and vegetables in quantities you wouldn’t get by simply eating them (you probably wouldn’t eat three apples, three carrots and an orange all at once, for example, but you could drink their juices in one sitting). And when it comes to protecting the body from illness, certain fruits and veggies have the power to strengthen your immune system. Here’s what to run through your juicer, in any combination, for the best (and tastiest!) immune-boosting concoctions:

• Carotene-rich foods. The body converts beta-carotene into vitamin A, and its high antioxidant content fights off cell-damaging free radicals. Try carrots, bell peppers, pumpkin, cantaloupe, mangos, and butternut squash. Tip: the brighter a fruit or vegetable’s color, the higher its beta-carotene content.

• Vitamin C-rich foods. Vitamin C stimulates the production of antibodies and white blood cells, which fight infection and protect the body against bacteria. Try cantaloupe, grapefruit, lemons, mangos, oranges, papaya, pineapples, and strawberries – or go veggie and use asparagus, avocados, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, bell peppers, radishes, and tomatoes.

• Greens. Mom always said you needed “something green” on your plate, and she was right – greens are loaded with vitamins (B’s, C and E, especially) and beneficial antioxidants. Try beet greens, collards, kale, mustard greens, Swiss chard, parsley, turnip greens, spinach, and watercress.

Keep your body protected: raise a toast with a delicious and nutritious glass of juice. Bottoms up!

Do you have a Vitamin B deficiency?

The symptoms may not be immediately visible to the naked eye, but if left unchecked, they can cause a whole range of behind-the-scenes problems. Even mild deficiency has been associated with depression, anemia, diminished mental capacity, and a higher risk for heart attacks and strokes. More serious deficiencies can cause irreversible neurological (nerve and brain) damage, marked by numbness or tingling of the limbs and difficulty walking. It’s a problem that all too often goes undetected until irreparable damage is done.

So how do you know if you’re at risk for a vitamin B deficiency? Your crucial vitamin B stores can be depleted by many common lifestyle factors, including …
• Stress, either physical or emotional
• Too many processed foods and refined sugars
• A strictly vegetarian diet
• Toxins such as alcohol and tobacco

If you suspect that you’re low on vitamin B, speak to your doctor. In the meantime, there are ways to ensure that your body is receiving a more adequate supply:
• Reduce stress in as many ways as possible, whether through cutting back activities or using meditation and other relaxation techniques
• Lessen your intake of processed and sugary foods
• Eat foods rich in vitamin B, such as whole grains, wild crafted fish and seafood, free-range poultry and meats, dairy products, free-range eggs, leafy greens, and peas (if you’re a vegetarian, peanut butter, tofu, and B-fortified cereals are good sources)
• Avoid excessive alcohol intake

B vitamins (B1, B2, B6, B12, niacin, folic acid, biotin, and pantothenic acid) assist the body in many essential functions, such as making red blood cells and performing metabolic duties (breaking down fats, proteins, and carbohydrates for energy). They’re extremely important for your wellbeing, so do your body a big favor by inviting in more of these “busy Bs.”

Sprouted Foods: a Nutritional Powerhouse

Sprouts may look tiny and unassuming, but these little plant powerhouses pack a big nutritional punch! They’re a reliable year-round source of essential vitamins, they’re easy to grow, versatile, and inexpensive, and they’re a fabulous way to incorporate raw foods into your diet.

The science behind it is simple: dry grains, beans and seeds, though rich in protein, are not very high in vitamin content and not as easy for the body to digest. But sprouting turns them into living foods, increasing their vitamin content exponentially and making them more easily digestible. Sprouted foods are at their peak nutritionally, and contain valuable enzymes, minerals, and antioxidants in addition to their abundant vitamins. Even people with food sensitivities – such as wheat – tend to find that their digestive systems are able to handle the offending food when it’s in sprouted form. Sprouts are full of fiber and help to keep you full, and their balance of protein and carbohydrate content helps to keep your blood sugar stabilized, so they’re a great dietary tool for the maintenance of healthy weight.

Sprouts can add a surprisingly delicious twist to your food, or can be eaten all by themselves. There are an abundance of varieties available, each with its own distinct texture and flavor, all nutritionally complete – alfalfa, mung bean, quinoa, sunflower, broccoli, wheat … the list goes on and on. They’re simple, fun, and quick to grow, whether you use a pot of dirt or an inexpensive sprouter (specially designed containers made to grow larger amounts of sprouts). And when it’s wintertime and the produce at your local grocery store leaves much to be desired, you’ll have all the whole food energy you need – right in your own home.

Dangers of Processed and Refined Foods

Fast food. Pre-packaged meals. Grab-and-go snacks. Our society is so hurried, so obsessed with doing everything as quickly as possible, that unhealthy convenience foods have become the norm, while a healthy, natural diet has become unorthodox. But while we may be saving time in the kitchen, we’re actually shaving time off our lives by filling our bodies with dangerous preservatives, additives, trans fats, and excess sugar. Along with convenience, we’re getting food that’s been bleached, stabilized, softened, sweetened, texturized, emulsified, preserved, or colored – or all of the above. Valuable nutritional content is leached out and unsafe chemicals are poured in.

Our bodies are not biologically designed to effectively deal with the artificial ingredients that are so common in today’s typical diet – and they respond by letting us know in the form of various health problems. All sorts of unpleasant maladies can be linked to our ingestion of processed and refined foods, from acne, tooth decay, and water retention to highly serious consequences such as obesity, heart attacks, cancer and diabetes.

Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has compiled a comprehensive, user-friendly guide to food additives (http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm); it lets consumers known which are safe and which to avoid. But whenever possible, you can ensure you’re cutting down on harmful additives by choosing foods that aren’t bagged, boxed, canned, or jarred, and buying certified organic. And if you must purchase processed food, read the ingredient list: if it’s hard to pronounce, don’t put it in your body!