> Holistic Healing > Juice Therapy

Our bodies are living organisms. From the moment life begins until it ceases, we depend on the "life element" in living food. The less live food we eat the faster we age. Cooking, baking, pasteurizing–in short, all heat treatment of food–destroy this "life element."

Enzymes from raw fruits and vegetables are required for proper food metabolism and strengthening of the immune system. Unfortunately, these enzymes are destroyed when they are heated above 50°C. Nowadays nutrition scientists unanimously agree that more than one half of our food calories should come from raw vegetables, fresh fruit, raw or sprouted seeds; unpasteurized raw milk products, like raw-milk cheese, yogurt and kefir; as well as fermented foods such as sauerkraut and miso.

Fruits and vegetables are loaded with nutritional substances, vitamins, minerals, trace elements, bioflavonoids, chlorophyll and pigments. The red pigment in red beets is proven to be extremely beneficial in the treatment of cancer. The yellow pigment, especially abundant in wild herbs, has two important tasks: it regulates the permeability of cell membranes and assists in the process of mineral transmutation for example, by changing silica into a mineral that the body lacks, like iron or calcium.

Many different nutrients that are contained in a plant’s juices are "locked up" in its cellulose fibres. In order to benefit from these nutrients the body must break down the fibrous cells. This is a major chore for some digestive systems, particularly for the elderly, whose problems may be further complicated by faulty teeth or dentures which make the proper chewing of fibrous foods more difficult.

Juices As Medicine

Juicing fruits and vegetables allows us to consume large amounts of concentrated nutrients. We can drink far more juice than we can comfortably eat whole vegetables. In the form of freshly pressed juices our food truly has great healing powers. As Hippocrates (470-377 BC), the father of medicine, recommended, "Let food be your medicine."

Dr Anne Wigmore became world famous by using freshly pressed wheatgrass juice as medicine in the treatment of cancer patients. Likewise, Rudolf Breuss, an Austrian naturopath, used juice therapies successfully for thousands of his patients with so-called incurable diseases like cancer, and leukemia.

While the consumption of animal protein causes the body to become acidic, fruit and vegetable juices are alkaline–cancer cannot flourish in an alkaline environment. That is probably the reason why the Gerson Institute, the Hippocrates Institute, Dr Malkmus of Hallelujah Acres and many others are teaching sick people to go on a raw foods diet, which includes plenty of freshly pressed juices from wheat and barley grass, cabbage leaves and herbs. The results are phenomenal. People do get healed.

When to Juice?

When should we drink fruit and vegetable juices and in what quantities? Before we consider these questions we need to know that juices should be consumed as fresh as possible. Not only does exposure to air and continuous storage encourage nutrient loss, but fresh juices are more palatable. Compare canned, bottled or reconstituted juice from concentrate with freshly pressed juices and you will never go back.

Recently the natural health industry introduced a new generation of juicers to the market to answer the high demand for living juice.

These new juicers have a powerful motor which operates at a very slow speed, thereby avoiding contact with oxygen as much as possible. The juicers either work with twin gears or a mill-stone-like screw. Juices pressed this way are more stable and do not oxidize as quickly, while juices pressed with centrifugal juicers have to be consumed immediately. Living juice can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two days.

In comparison to the centrifugal variety, these new juicers such as the GreenPower, GreenLife and Teldon Juice & Food Processor, are versatile kitchen machines. As well as juicing all hard fruits and vegetables, you can juice leafy greens, wheatgrass–even rosemary and pine needles. Berries, grapes and soft tomatoes pose no problem and you will get better juice than with any other juicer.

These machines are able to make nut butters, pasta, dried fruit leather as well as sauces, sorbets and baby food. A real innovation is the special attachment that comes with the Teldon Juicer/Food processor. Amazingly it can cold-press the best tasting fresh sesame or flax oil. Very exciting! But by no means are these new generation juicers inexpensive. Prices range from Ca $600-$900. If you consider having a healthy kitchen, changing to a healthier diet and living a healthier lifestyle, the purchase price can be easily justified. Better health will pay off the investment in no time when you consider the income loss of one or two days sick leave as well as the significant savings on food. It’s a lot more economical to drink home-made juices than store-bought ones.

So help get the day off to a good start: drink a large glass of freshly made apple or orange juice before breakfast. Then have a large glass of vegetable juice either at midday or before the evening meal, and again as a nightcap. There is nothing finer than a drink of fresh-pressed juice before retiring. Keep this up for a couple of weeks and you’ll feel like a new person, healthy and energized.

Siegfried Gursche, publisher of alive Magazine and Canada’s Healthy Living Guide, has also written two books: Healing with Herbal Juices and Juicing for the Health of it. They are available in health food stores everywhere.

Source: alive #216, October 2000