You might think you already know all about the myriad benefits of juicing. It is, after all, widely heralded as one of the best things that you can do for your health, from reducing your risk of cancer, chronic disease, heart disease and stroke.
Not to mention, helping you lose weight and stay mentally focused. It’s simply a very easy, fool-proof way to ingest a lot of active and concentrated nutrients in one fell swoop.
But weight loss, focus and overall health is just the tip of the iceberg. Check out these more underrated benefits of juicing to see exactly what you’re getting with every sip!
What are the Benefits of Juicing?
For all the conveniences and comforts of modern life, there’s no denying that we’re also seeing a steady increase in obesity as well as various other health conditions. Luckily, many of us are becoming more and more aware of our bodily health and how we can use what we have at our disposal to keep ourselves fit, happy, and healthy.
Juicing is an awesome way of using one of the creature comforts we now have easy access to in a positive way – to easily give ourselves a huge boost of quality nutrients with minimal effort and time.
Even if you’re not an avid juicer already, you’ve probably heard the rave reviews from those who are. Maybe that’s why you’ve ended up on this site.
Well, in case you aren’t completely convinced yet, here are some benefits of juicing to introduce you to the wonderful world of juicing. If these don’t get you juiced up, we don’t know what will!
Benefits of Juicing #1: Quick and Easy Digestion
Many people struggle with a slow digestion at least once in their lives. According to Web MD, nearly 40% of older adults have one or more age-related digestive symptoms each year.
These bouts of indigestion are caused by various factors, including medications, inactivity, dehydration, and even just plain old aging.
The truth is as we get older, so do our colons, digestion tract, and even the processes of our digestive systems, making digestion a more tedious process than it used to be.
A huge advantage of the fresh juices you put into your system from juicing is that they hardly require any digestion.
When you juice, you use more fresh fruits and vegetables than you could actually eat. And all the dense nutrients – vitamins, minerals, and plant-based nutrients – are jam packed in the juice and able to enter your system rapidly, bypassing any traffic jams of your digestion system.
No constipation, just nutrients. Heaps of them.
Benefits of Juicing #2. Natural Boost of Energy
Everyone has felt the afternoon slump. After working all morning and most of the afternoon, most people feel extreme fatigue in the afternoon and evenings.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could remove this slump from your daily routine?
With juicing, you can! Fresh juices give you a natural energy boost and unlike coffee or energy drinks, they don’t result in a crash. They deliver high concentrations of nutrients to your body, which can keep your body active and alert all day long.
Benefits of Juicing #3: Anti-Aging
One of the primary causes of aging is oxidation. Think of oxidation as you would the rust that develops on a bicycle or what happens to a freshly sliced apple when it is left out for a few minutes.
Aging in our faces and bodies happens in a similar manner.
Our bodies come into contact with free radicals both from our environment (cigarette smoke, pollution, radiation) and from our bodies’ own metabolic processes.
These free radicals can be understood as needy little thieves who really, really want an electron so they go and attack the nearest stable molecule and “steal” its electron.
The attacked molecule, in losing its electron, then becomes a free radical itself and needing an electron, goes and attacks another stable molecule. Once this process is started, it can easily cascade, resulting in the destruction of a living cell.
This is where the importance of antioxidants comes in – without antioxidants to neutralize the free radicals, the free radical production can become excessive and damage can occur. Want juice recipes chock full of antioxidants?
Benefits of Juicing #4: Improves Heart Health
Your cardiovascular system is simply your heart and the many crucial blood vessels that pump blood to it. As you probably already know, it’s important to have unclogged, freely-flowing arteries that allow your blood easy transit.
Juicing is an incredibly efficient way to provide your body with much-needed nutrients from foods that you may not have the time to prepare and make to eat.
Some of these nutrients are antioxidants such as vitamins C and E – both of which prevent the damaging effect of free radicals in your body, in particular your artery walls.
These antioxidants prevents your blood from sticking, clotting, or becoming toxic while simultaneously lowering triglyceride levels. Triglycerides are the most common type of fat in the body and are linked with heart disease, diabetes, and the buildup of fatty deposits in artery walls.
Fresh juices also contain a variety of other nutrients – such as potassium and magnesium – which are crucial for proper heart function.
Benefits of Juicing #5: Detoxifies the Liver
The liver doesn’t get nearly enough attention, but don’t mistake its lack of celebrity status as a sign of its unimportance. The liver has hundreds of important functions, all of which are essential for optimal health.
One of the liver’s most crucial functions is cleansing your blood by removing toxins and metabolic wastes.
Considering the amount of toxins we’re exposed to on a daily basis – breathing in smog, pollution, cigarette smoke, not to mention the products we put on our hair and skin, and even some of the food we eat – it’s important that we pay proper attention to the health of our liver. We need to keep our livers clean if we want it to keep us clean.
Fresh juices full of nutrients such as antioxidants and other vitamins are incredibly helpful for the liver.
Benefits of Juicing #6: Natural Cleansing Effects
It’s not just the liver that can use a little detox boost from time to time. Environmental and chemical toxins can wreck havoc on your health. Everyday you are exposed to environmental pollution, chemicals and high amounts of sugar and salt in processed foods.
After awhile, your body will begin to feel the affects of these toxins. You may get sick easily, or have large scale health issues. Juicing can help detox your body and clean up your bloodstream to keep you healthy and focused. Most fresh juices contain high amounts of antioxidants that go to bat for you fighting the free radicals that can cause cancer, inflammation, chronic illness and even aging.
Benefits of Juicing #7: Cuts Down on Overeating
A huge cause of overeating is drops in your blood sugar. People who ingest a lot of carbs and fats often don’t have stable blood sugar levels. Whenever their blood sugar drops unexpectedly, they run to the fridge or the pantry for more carb-heavy food. Find out more about juicing for weight loss!
Juicing can help prevent overeating by stabilizing your blood sugar levels. The dense nutrients found in fresh juices can keep your blood sugar steady throughout the day and prevent you from overeating.
Benefits of Juicing #8: Healthy Skin, Hair and Nails
Did you know that the biggest cause of premature aging – i.e. wrinkles – is caused by damage from our environment, such as damage from sun exposure?
And this is where antioxidants come into play yet again. Antioxidants are immensely helpful in helping our skin to combat skin damage from free radicals, such as those caused by UV exposure.
But veggies and fruits don’t just contain antioxidants for your skin and hair – they’re chock full of phytonutrients that boost your looks. Vegetables such as kale, spinach, and asparagus are rich in riboflavin, which a deficiency in commonly causes cracked lips, hair loss, and skin problems.
A lack of vitamin A in our system is also responsible for a host of beauty problems, such as acne, dry skin, dry and coarse hair, and even dandruff.
Carotenoids, which is found in most fruits and vegetables, promote skin smoothness and combats skin problems by acting as a precursor to vitamin A (our bodies convert beta-carotene to vitamin A only to the degree that we need it) which strengthens our skin, hair, and nails. Carotenoids found in most fruits and vegetables have even been known to boost a rosy complexion.
Benefits of Juicing #9: Boost Your Immune System
Your immunity is key to keeping you healthy and going. Its a complex process in your body that is constantly working hard to remove foreign pathogens from your bloodstream and tissues. Juicing is a fantastic way to boost your immunity. It provides your body with dense nutrients and antioxidants that will work hard to keep your immune system healthy and happy.
All in all, the benefits of juicing can be hugely attributed to two main things: active enzymes and antioxidants. Juicing is a wonderful way to ingest concentrated nutrients and digestive enzymes. Fresh juices contain active enzymes from fruits, veggies and herbs that will help regulate your digestive system and keep your body active.
As for antioxidants, you already know these are crucial for warding off toxins and damage to your cells. They are absolutely key to keeping your body running smoothly and juicing allows your body to ingest them in large doses so they can can help reduce free radical damage in your body, reduce your inflammation levels and prevent disease, ultimately keeping you healthy and strong.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published way back in 2012. It’s been completely updated in 2021 – not that the benefits of juicing needs much updating – but simply for your perusing convenience.
Great site, sooo glad it’s here!!! Lots of good info.!!!
Thanks, Howard! Glad you stopped by!