Recently, my boyfriend and I purchased a juicer. For a long time, I had wanted to purchase a juicer because I had heard about all of the various health benefits that using one could provide. But how true is it? Can owning a juicer really be life changing?
Most people who know something about health know exactly who Jack LaLanne is. You see him all the time on the infomercials late at night promoting his juicer machine. The story of his life is one that has been inspiring people to live healthier lives. After all, the man is currently pushing 96 years old and still looks fantastic and as fit as ever. But why is this? It is simply because he eats right and exercises. I find it both baffling and somewhat amusing that most people have difficulty grasping this concept. Is it really this easy? Yes, it is.
The problem that goes beyond simply purchasing a juicing machine is that doing so doesn’t automatically give you a one way ticket to being able to say that you are now officially with the healthy crowd. Instead, the health benefits of juicing come from not only juicing fruits and vegetables but from also living the rest of your personal life in a way that mimics that of someone who cares about their overall health. If you do plan to juice, you should plan on purchasing only those fruits and vegetables that are organically grown. The last thing that you want to be doing is consuming produce that has been sprayed with pesticides, etc.
Another great thing about juicing is that you control what goes into it as well as how much goes into it. For instance, I recently purchased a bottle of V8 vegetable juice right before my boyfriend came home with our juicer. When I was in the store, I had looked at the label to make sure that the sodium wasn’t too high but was shocked to find out exactly how high it was. I returned the first bottle of V8 vegetable juice o the shelf and wound up finding a bottle that was low in sodium. However, when I read the label on this one after getting home, I realized that it was still full of sodium.
I remember thinking to myself, “Why would they need to add salt to vegetable juice?” Part of this has to do with the fact that any type of vegetable or fruit juice will more than likely have a very short shelf life if it isn’t treated with some sort of a preservative. That’s part of the beauty with juicing. Last night, I made my own vegetable juice, and the only thing that was in the vegetable juice were the vegetables. In addition to juicing, you should also make regular exercise a part of your lifestyle. If you can, get up early in the morning and go for a brisk walk or a run and then come back and make yourself some juice. You will feel fantastic in no time, and your body will thank you!
