Breakfast juicing is even better than coffee. Seriously, it’s the easiest, healthiest ways to ramp up your energy levels in the mornings. Bold statement, you say. But we can back it up. You see, juices from fresh fruits and veggies give your body a huge nutrition boost while using up very little digestive energy. The result? A boost of jitter-free energy that actually lasts well into the afternoon. Juicing for breakfast for weight loss is also a common strategy.
Which is why the loveliest way to start off your day is with a glass or two of fresh juice. Here are all the perks you get with every sip of that juice!
4 Big Benefits of Juicing for Breakfast
We said it before and we’ll say it again: breakfast juicing is one of the best things you can do to prep for a happy, productive day. Here’s why.
You Get a Huge Head Start
Fresh fruits and veggies are key to a healthy body. But how much of them does the average person consume in a day? Not much at all. According to the CDC, it’s only about 10% of us who are getting the recommended intake of a measly 5 servings a day.
And here is where breakfast juicing comes in. It simply makes it so super easy to include more fresh vegetables in your diet. Let’s face it – even if we do eat vegetables every day, most of it has been cooked. And whereas there are some vegetables that are better cooked – in many cases, the heat used while cooking can damage or destroy some of the most valuable nutrients and enzymes found in fresh produce.
And a lot of these produce, you wouldn’t be able to (nor want to) eat raw. But you can juice them.
Which means that by the time breakfast is over, you have already consumed more fruits and veggies than most people around you.
A Huge Dose of Bioavailable Nutrients
Drinking fresh juice first thing in the morning – when your stomach is as empty as it’ll get all day – makes it easy for your body to quickly and efficiently absorb all the nutritional power from that juice. The vitamins and minerals in your fresh juice can go straight to your bloodstream since there are no other food parts getting in the way.
This is why juicing is particularly great in helping those with weaker digestive tracts get the full benefits of raw vegetables. If you’ve ever experienced gas or bloating after eating a bunch of veggies, you know what I’m talking about. As healthy as vegetables are, the fact is that not all of us can easily digest them.
Veggies are high in fiber – both soluble and insoluble – and while soluble fiber can be soothing for the gut, large amounts of insoluble fiber can prove troublesome, especially if your digestive tract is not in tip-top condition.
Juicing removes the fiber and indigestible cellulose out of these vegetables, making digestion unnecessary so you can reap the benefits of nutritious vegetables without putting undue pressure on your digestive system.
Worried about the wasted pulp? Researchers for the Department of Agriculture found that 90 percent of the nutrients and antioxidants are found in the juice, rather than the fiber. Plus, there’s a bevy of things you can do with the leftover pulp.
No Afternoon Crash
Unlike what popular misconception leads us to believe, a large breakfast is neither necessary nor useful.
Eating a huge breakfast might be yummy, but the energy that’s required to digest all of that has to come from somewhere, which is why people tend to feel so tired after a heavy meal – your body just did a lot of work to digest all that!
Fresh juice, on the other hand, gives your body a huge nutrition boost while using up very little digestive energy to do so, which is important since your digestive energy is the lowest in the early mornings (as well as just before bed).
This is exactly why breakfast juicing is one of the easiest, healthiest ways to ramp up your energy levels in the mornings – yup, even better than coffee.
Prevents Overeating
A really great thing that happens when you receive a huge load of nutrients straight into your system is that your body becomes quite satiated. The result? Less cravings.
Yup, one of the big perks of breakfast juicing is that it helps us from overeating in the mornings and throughout the day.
Tips for Breakfast Juicing
Breakfast juicing is great for you but can you make it better? Here are some tips to get the most out of every cup of morning juice you make!
Breakfast Juicing is the Best Time for Fruit
I don’t generally recommend drinking a lot of fruit juice because of their high sugar content, but if you really enjoy fruit juices (who doesn’t?), drink yours in the morning, up until around noon since this is when your digestive energy is the lowest.
You see, fruit juice basically digests itself – it is just fructose and your body needs very little energy to transform fructose to glucose, which it can immediately use for energy. That way, you can have your fruit juice and a burst of energy to get you going in the mornings.
Keep it Light for More Energy
If one of the main reasons you are juicing is for more energy, try drinking only a glass or two of fresh juice in the morning, accompanied by something light like a cup of yogurt or a bowl of fruit. You’ll be amazed at how much more natural, crash-free energy you have to keep you going throughout the day.
Chew Your Juice
While chewing your juice may seem a bit kooky, it’s actually good for digestion. When you chew your food, your saliva releases digestive enzymes that aid in breaking down your food so that your body can absorbs its nutrients. The same goes for juice.
Simply swish each drink of juice around your mouth for a few seconds to activate the digestive enzymes in your saliva. In doing so, you’ll have an even easier time digesting and absorbing all of the wonderful nutrients in your juice.
Use the Freshest Produce
The quality of your breakfast juice is only as good as the ingredients you’re using. Which is why it just makes sense to use the freshest produce, especially since this is the first thing you’re giving your body in the morning!
But alas, most of us don’t have the time to go grocery shopping every morning and it can be a while ’til you get to your stash of not-so-fresh-anymore veggies sitting in your fridge.
I used to do this a lot. I’d buy a huge stash of leafy greens and by the time I finally got around to using the whole bag, I’d be left with a pile of really gross, mushy, deteriorated leaves at the bottom of the bag. Not yummy and really time consuming to try to separate the still-good leaves from the moldy ones. Especially when you’ve got a job to get to.
Which is why I really recommend investing in some storage containers to store your fruits and vegetables in. I love these containers especially for veggies – and they’ve got some great ones for berries as well.
Store Your Juice Properly
Fresh juice is always best consumed as fresh as possible – within 20 minutes of making it. But who has the time to be constantly making fresh juice in the mornings? Not I. And probably not you.
Which is where storing your juice properly comes into play.
A big part of drinking the freshest juice comes down to the juicer you’re using. If you’re lucky enough to have a slow masticating juicer, twin gear juicer, or a hydraulic press, you’ll be able to store your juice for up to 72 hours – but even so, the fresh-est juice is always the best-est juice.
