Bring The Power Of Plants Into Your Body theres nothing like freshly made Juices to nurture your hundred trillion cells.

                                                           Jay Kordich, A Beautiful Truth.

Right so Juicing, so any one who knows me, or that has seen me recently would know that I’ve started juicing. Its probably not a surprise to my friends and family because I have always been on some kind of diet, Atkins, Tim Ferris, Herbal life, Diet pills, Patches, Hypnosis, you name it I’ve done it!

However the problem here is no matter the program the word diet has always been in the forefront of my mind restricting me, putting me in the attitude of lack.

Now I am so close to my target weight, I have decided to shift my mind set from losing weight to being healthy, because what do you do if you lose something? You spend all your time and energy looking for it. So it’s about time I start to change my thinking and concentrate on what’s inside of my body, the mechanics that keep me going strong. I want my goals to be health.

I want to be Strong, Healthy and Happy.

I’ve struggled for so long, it’s been a battle between good food and bad food, but what’s I’ve realisUned is that the ‘bad food’ isn’t nice and it doesn’t make me feel good. I am now starting to crave fresh, non-processed food .

The ‘bad food’ sweets, chocolate, white refined sugar, fizzy drinks, bleached white rice, are so processed and man made that I am starting to become really Un interested. All these products have no nutritional value to them what’s so ever! You might as well be eating cardboard, the body has to spend lots of time and energy digesting it to find that there is little to no nutrients. These type of food, will also cause your blood sugar levels to sky rocket, the body will be forced to produce insulin, which will convert the sugar (Glucose) in to Glycogen which will be stored in the in muscles and liver, for the body to access and use as energy. The trouble is that the muscles can only hold up to 400 g and the liver only 100 g of glycogen, so when they are full the rest gets stored in fat cells, and the bad news is that fats cells can swell to 1000 times their size and then split into two! This is our amazing body’s way of looking after us incase there is no food. It makes it easy for the body to live off its storage, however it’s very rare in the western world that we have that trouble. This is something that I am very grateful for everyday, however it does mean we must make sure to have this in mind and know that it’s only our body’s way of looking after us.

Its taken me a while to realise the effect that these foods actually have on my body, I’ve always thought that’s its fine & it will cope, with a bit of a binge, but I find myself wondering why I am eating this stuff, its because sugar, bread etc (refined man made food) is addictive. Some of these foods can be so damaging to our bodies and our minds. They have been linked to destructive diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cancers and digestive diseases; the list of diseases is literally endless.

So I want to move away from all that and start to respect my body and give it the fuel it deserves. I started researching and have gained a real interest in my food and where it comes from. For a while now I have become aware of processed foods and they’re damaging effect on the body, so I do my best to stop eating them wherever possible.

If it has an advert or more than a handful of ingredients you shouldn’t be eating it.

The real thing that I have realized from all the research is that as humans we are part of the earth, as much as we try and disconnect our selves from it. We are designed to eat a plant-based diet, plants are life forces and so are we, the more you consume the more life force and vitality you have. Uncooked Vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts & seeds are alive with enzymes and nutrients that you wont get from cooked, dead food. Without these specific enzymes and nutrients our bodies can become deficient and not work properly. After I acquired this knowledge I thought ‘Wow!’ but how am I going to consume so many vegetables? Well, the trick is juicing as you can introduce huge amounts of plant based nutrients into your diet without the hassle of sitting down and eating a large plate of veggies, with every meal!

Juicing has received some bad rep lately because people have started to use it as a DIET! It is not a diet, think of your juice as an elixir, a tool that you have to help nourish you and your immune system, and if weight loss and glowing skin is a side effect then excellent!

Jason Vale is the man of the moment when it comes to juicing, he has just released a film called Super Juice Me, where he invited 8 people to his health retreat ‘The Juicy Oasis’ in Portugal, they embark on a program of 4 healthy juices a day with exercise. Jason vale explains how it is possible to live off juices and why to is so important to counter balance the damage we causes to our bodies on a daily basis living a modern lifestyle. During the film you watch as the juicers weight decreases and their skin starts to glow. Each member of the super juice me challenge had a specific medical problem all of which started to just melt away, a great film, very interesting and inspiring.

What Are the Benefits of Juicing??

Well, Jason vale explains it in a very good way using an example of a fish in a fish bowl. If the fish lives in a clean environment in clean fresh water, the chances are that it will live a long, disease free life. Now if you add toxic chemicals to the water such as additives, refined sugar and flour, colourings, caffeine, alcohol and flavourings etc, and the fish continues to live in this environment, it will start to suffer in some way shape of form.

However due to complex survival mechanisms the body, it will do anything it can to survive.

Survival comes first, health comes second!

At some point the fish might develop a cough or become obese or get a skin condition, or perhaps all three. It starts to become obvious that the fish isn’t coping very well in its particular environment, so what can we do to help the fish out? Well, the medical ‘industry’ would say to give the fish a pill to ease the symptoms of the coughing or a cream for the rash, and fat absorbing pill for the obesity. But Remember! That the coughing, rash and obesity were just a warning light telling you that the body is hurting in some way. If you override the warning and continue to bathe the cells in ‘Rubbish’ the body will do its best to keep cleaning and detoxify itself, however its difficult if the right nutrition cant be accessed. Sometimes even the drugs, help to pollute the system even more.

Jason vale continues to say that: Every rational person would know what to do. This is why he believes that there is only one disease. The body works in uniformity, there is synergy going on. So if you were just to clean the water obviously that would help the fish. But unfortunately most people just try and treat the symptoms, instead of the cause. By cleaning the environment where the cells bathe, you will be able to help and support the body to repair any damage from the toxic rubbish and clean the environment.

Juicing is very powerful way of cleansing and ‘Cleaning the water,’ because sometimes not only do we not eat enough nutrients thus making juicing an easier and more efficient way of consuming those nutrients. Juicing helps to repair the digestive system. Sometimes our digestive systems are packed with rubbish, as we have 30ft of intestinal tract, and unless we give it a break it wont be able to properly clean and detoxify.

But why Vegetable and Fruit Juices?

Like I said before raw fruits and vegetables are full of nutrients that are so important to the maintenance of our bodies, lots of people say why don’t you just eat them? Why do you have to juice them? Well, the thing is that we have become a species on the move, we are constantly on the run we are not going to sit down and eat a whole plate of vegetables and fruits everyday of the week. So juicing just enables to stay healthy whilst on the run or very busy. It is great for detoxifying, our digestive system is a massive biological juicer, and so juicing just gives our bodies a break. The vegetables and fruits go through the digestive system to be separated into juice and fibre, the fibre gets sent on to the colon and the capillaries in the jejunum absorb the nutrients, which is in the small intestine. The nutrients then travel directly to the lymphatic system where they will enter the blood stream via the carotid artery in the neck. Juicing basically makes this whole process quicker and it relieves the body from digesting all the fibre, giving the digestive system time to replenish and clean it self more efficiently.

It is the same principle as fasting, however with juicing you are still receiving all of the vital macro and micronutrients that keep your body working in tip top condition. Fasting has been a practice that people have done for thousands of years, is a part of many different religions and cultures. It is exactly how juicing should be practiced as a cleansing and detoxification tool, to help you reach a strong, healthy state. There is no harm in introducing juices into your diet but consideration must be taken if you are going to take the juicing further into a full juicing detox. If you are looking to lose a little weight, sleep better, or just feel better in your self than a small juicing fast 3 days or even 7 days shouldn’t cause any harm. Make sure like I said before that you use juicing as a healthy elixir, introduce it into your diet, don’t do anything extreme unless you have spoken to your doctor. If you are on medication or have a serious illness, juice will no doubt help you tremendously, however make sure you get advise from your doctor. While you are there get the doctor to check your cholesterol and blood pressure, and watch how dramatically it will naturally become normal. It’s not uncommon knowledge that fruits and vegetables are good for us, even the government recognises that we should have least 5 portions a day, however it has never become so apparent how imperative they are to our bodies and our vitality.

UTILISE THE POWER OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES INTO YOUR BODY.

Now with all that in mind with my own personal journey I have decided to go along with hundreds of people involved in Jason Vale’s 28 day Juicing Challenge. I’m going to be super Juiced!

So I have downloaded the app and I am following the program step-by-step, Juice-by-Juice. Its important to do it this way as Jason vale and team have put together this program it is tried and tested, there are combinations of fruit juices and smoothies to make sure you never feel hungry or deprived. It also means your digestive system doesn’t just go to sleep.

So here I go, I will document my journey and be honest about my feelings and give you a juice-by-juice account. Wish me luck.

 Anyone that has worries or concerns about me doing the 28-day challenge can rest assured that I’m living with a nurse who keeping a watchful eye!