I was introduced to the idea of juicing as a nutrition therapy after watching Beautiful Truth and was fascinated with the idea that cancer cure exists.

After I saw the movie “Beautiful Truth”, I decide to investigate more into juicing. I realize that the juicing here is very different from the regular juice we drink daily. You know the ones that we told our children not to drink.

I chose to write an article about juicing because I found this therapy very fascinating.

I’ve been asked gazillion times about juicing in my career: “What do you think about juicing?” I have repeatedly told everyone the same thing: “It’s better to eat the whole fruit then to drink the juice, which is just sugar and water from the fruit. You’re missing all the good nutrients and fiber from the whole fruits or vegetables.” That was my typical response then.

Today, many people juice for health reason. There are many alternative therapies and detox programs that advocate juice fast. Interest in juicing has exploded in the last decade due to a number of books, videos that claims the extraordinary healing power of juicing or juice fast.

Documentary such as Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and Beautiful Truth have increased the awareness that many diseases can be cured by simply changing one’s dietary habits. In these cases, it is juicing.

Beautiful Truth introduced the Gerson Therapy which involves daily juicing to cure many currently considered “uncurable” diseases and illnesses, such as cancer (including end stage), fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue symptoms, etc.

The idea of juicing sound really simply for most, because many Americans consume significant amount of juice or soda daily. They’re already large volume of liquids a day, might as well be something good for the body. So the idea of “drinking juice” to promote health sounds really realistic and easy, right?

Not so soon to judge. There’s no such easy deal in life.

We’re not talking about drinking couple glass of Tropicana orange juice or Naked Green Machine juice here. The juicing we are talking about is juice freshly made from wholesome organic fruits or vegetables, which you will be making the juice daily yourself, not from a carton you pick up from the store.

If you want to see result faster, you may try a juice fast challenge. A juice fast as its name implies is a fast, which means no food. The idea is going on a diet that consists of nothing else but juice. However, these therapies only works IF the person is discipline enough to follow the fast for a whole two weeks, AND does the juice correctly.

Juicing is a nice supplement to add to anyone’s diet. It adds nutrients from the fruits or vegetables that you or your child normally wouldn’t eat and, at the same time, introduce valuable nutrients that are only found in fruits and vegetables. It can also add some variety to your child’s diet, especially if you have a very picky eater.

I’m not too comfortable at this point advising people to stop eating completely and go on a juice fast. I’m not going to talk about fasting here. That’s another topic of itself. There’s not much research out there to show that juicing is healthier or better for the body than eating the whole fruits and vegetables.

Here, the keyword is “research”. Who’s going to benefit from the result of showing that juicing helps. No one, maybe the farmers who grow all these delicious nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables. But, bottom line is no one can patent that information and turn it into a 10-year monopoly, like all these pharmaceutical companies has been doing for years with new drugs.

I still believe in the benefit of eating whole fruits and vegetables to get all the benefits. And juicing is a great way to help picky eater ease into new vegetables or fruits.

Cook books, such as Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious have recipes for basic juices, such as green juice, white juice, etc. They use the fruits and vegetables juices as ingredient in cooking some common kid’s friendly foods, such as brownie, mac n cheese, smoothie, muffins, etc.

Doesn’t it make you feel good that when your child is eating mac n cheese, they’re also eating cauliflower? Or black beans in their brownies?

Fresh fruit and vegetable juices retain most of the vitamins, minerals and plant chemicals (phytonutrients) that would be found in the whole versions of those foods. These nutrients can help protect against cardiovascular disease, cancer and various inflammatory diseases, like rheumatoid arthritis. Valuable compounds called flavonoids and anthocyanins are abundant in a variety of fruits and vegetables and guard against oxidative cellular damage, which comes from everyday cellular maintenance and is exacerbated by exposure to chemicals and pollution.

Some advocates for juicing may claim that your body absorbs more nutrients from juices than the whole fruit because the fruit’s fiber gets in the way. However, there isn’t much research out there that supports that claim. Your digestive system is designed to handle fiber and extract nutrients from a variety of foods. Plus, fiber is important for digestive function and has a multitude of health benefits.

Anyway, the juicing that’s been popularized recently as alternative therapy is not the same as buying a carton of juice from the store. The juices discussed here are freshly made raw, unpasteurized juices that retains majority of its nutrients and live enzymes. Yes, fruits and vegetables are living things with live enzymes. That’s the difference. Commercially processed fruits or vegetables are processed in factory probably about a week ago before you get it in the store. They’re pasteurized, just like milk, to kill bacteria, which also inactivates all the vital nutrients and enzymes. Not to mention the fruits and vegetables used for making processed juice are not your fancy choices. These are usually bruises and blemish produce that orchid cannot sell to stores.

So you decide where you want your juice to come from.

That’s right. The best place to get your juice from is your own home. Use organic produce as much as possible. Local farmers’ markets are great place to shop for local produce in season. You can talk to the farmers to find out about their farming practice, whether any pesticides or GMO seeds are used. And you’ll be able to buy produce in season from local market, skipping the long distance transportation. All this mean cheaper cost for you as a consumer.

Related article: Plant-based Diet Saves Lives and Environmental Toxins and ADHD