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Should You Be Juicing?

Should you be juicing?

Ah, a controversial question I often get. Get ready for the pros and cons.

If you have cancer or some terminal disease, there is no doubt that juicing might save your life. Go for it. Many cancer cures involve pure juicing diets that have been worked out over the decades and they are effective. If you cannot juice, consider buying green powders and making them into drinks.

Secondly, juicing is one of the fastest ways to detox your body and give it the nutrients it needs to rebuild itself in various health situations. In How to Measure and Deepen Your Spiritual Realization I talk about how to do fasts that last for weeks, and juicing is one of the options for those fasts although water fasts during those periods are better. If you want to learn how to do a 40 day fast and what's likely to happen, or even a 100 day fast when you get to a higher stage of meditation, go see that book.

Point three -- people who juice extensively and as a way of life usually end up with beautiful skin. Ladies, the women who juice daily end up looking 10-20 years younger than their counterparts ... I kid you not. It's a consistent result of long term juicing. They say they have more energy, too.

Maybe that result is because juicing grinds up all the good stuff in vegetables and fruits ... and the fact the particles are small makes them 100% digestible and absorbable, or maybe it's due to other reasons. I don't know, but I've noticed it, Dr. Mercola has noticed it, and plenty of people have noticed that those who adopt juicing as a lifestyle look fabulous.

I kid you not.

However, like the raw food diet, I don't believe you should switch to juicing 100%. Everyone has biochemical individuality so juicing or not juicing should depend on your body, sometimes on the weather, your health and so forth.

Here's my rule of thumb -- if you have a COLD type body -- cold hands, cold feet, phlegm conditions ... juicing every day is probably not good for you because it's too cold for you and you already have a yin-type body. Don't exacerbate yin by going overboard with the juicing.

The same thing for a raw foods diet. Yes it can save your life but if you already have a cold body, switch to that type of diet and feel weak or sick because of it, get off of it! Plenty of people read "raw food is great" and then do this without regards to their body type. That's when they wind up even sicker by going overboard.

Chinese medicine warns you against this.

Now on the other hand, if you have a hot body, if you run HOT, if you're full of poisons, if you have excess energy and blood that's always pushing you here and there, if your skin has a dark or reddish color, then you need to cool down and get detoxed. Juicing will probably help you cool it down, calm it down and clean up your blood.

Go for it.

A regular person with a moderate or warm body -- neither too hot nor cold -- should have a juicer in their kitchen and use organic foods. It's a great way to detox, but go slowly.

Do I juice?

Yes, I have two juicers ... that is, one juicer now since I just gave one away to someone who needed one. Hence the letter. I love juiced carrot + apple combinations with other fruits or veggies thrown in for variety, but I hate cleaning the machines so I only do it now and then.

That's certainly not going to hurt you.

Okay, which juicer to buy? That's a personal decision.

There are all sorts of other juicers out there I've tried ... Champions (the motors burn out), cheapy plastic ones that break or are a hassle to clean, stainless steel ones (mine gets clogged with pulp). Too many to choose from. I heard Crate and Barrel has a really inexpensive plastic one, but I cannot comment on it.

Whichever one you choose is up to you.

Good luck on your juicing journey, and try the apple plus carrot combo. Sometimes I add a bit of celery in there, too, or strawberries, but in any case it's Exxxxxcelent.

One more thing...where do I buy my nutritional supplements including GREEN POWDERS when I don't want to juice? I have accounts with most manufacturers because of my clinical nutritionist's degree, but even then, I buy lots of them through iherb.com. You can search on their link below: