Juicing For Health

About twenty years ago I healed my gut and my life by making several lifestyle changes that I’m going to share with you below. I was suffering pretty bad and felt trapped eating six small meals a day as a fitness model. Every day was another day of trying not to upset my stomach. At one point my Crohn’s disease had me weakened down to a mere 97 pounds. Darn that Diarrhea! I didn’t leave the house other than going to the farmers market or gym. I was living in Ohio and there weren’t a lot of people who were educated on digestive issues. Like I said, I made several lifestyle changes but the number one change was, I began juicing every single day. In fact, I’ve not missed a day of juice in twenty years.

Here is what I did to heal below but first, I have a HUGE announcement! My Juicing For Beauty Book just hit 5000 sales! This was with ZERO advertising and just two mentions on Facebook! THANK YOU! Here’s a link to get your copy!

Ok, Now for the Tips and a few Juice Recipes too!

I began juicing cabbage daily. Cabbage juice is extremely healing for not just Crohn’s disease but ALL digestive disorders. I even began including small amounts of cabbage into my salads.

I started a regular yoga practice. I actually got into my yoga so much that I didn’t miss a day for two years straight!

I prayed. Yep! Sure did! I prayed to my angels and guides that my gut would heal completely.

I STOPPED stressing out about being perfect! Knowing that none of us are truly perfect, I let that “smit” go!

I stayed on my vegan diet! Of course ….I stayed on my vegan journey. I was already vegan at that time for two years. Some doctors were actually blaming my plant based lifestyle! I knew they were wrong. My intuition was SCREAMING that I was on the right path. My mother also encouraged me to stay the course.

I began taking probiotics and even created my own pro and pre-biotic called smiling gut! Today I include cabbage in my diet once or twice per week. I’ve been known to sneak it into other people’s food too. Cabbage and probiotics are key when healing digestive disorders. No pharmacy needed:)But it’s the type of pro-biotic that counts! I consider my “Smiling-Gut” pro-biotic to be the best on the market today. 

I kept things simple! It’s easy to get carried away with newby enthusiasm when you begin your health journey! You’ll be making elaborate concoctions comprising multiple fruits and vegetables! I once had a client call me and tell me that she tried to juice an avocado!

Juice as your first meal of the day

The best way to begin juicing is to replace your breakfast With a 32 ounce juice. Swish the juice around with your saliva like you’re at a wine tasting. A 32 ounce juice should take you a minimum of 15 minutes to drink. The idea is to nourish the cells into not craving the bad stuff but craving the good. Juicing first thing in the morning is like a blood transfusion to your body.

Juice in batches

One of the biggest complaints my clients make is that they don’t have the time to juice. In my opinion this is a poor excuse to not gain the healthy benefits that juicing provides. I usually do two different types of juices in one day, and store the second in a closed jar in the fridge (it can keep for up to 72 hours). Although it loses a few enzymes it doesn’t lose enough to not gain all the health full benefits. You can also freeze your juice for up to 3 months (though I use frozen juice within a week) without experiencing any significant loss of quality. Freezing juice is convenient because you can thaw frozen juice when you don’t have the time or the ingredients to make it fresh. The nutritional quality of frozen juice (especially when you freeze it immediately, use it quickly and pack it correctly) is high enough to make it worth the effort. And frozen juice trumps no juice. To freeze juice simply fill glass canning jars up and leave an inch at the top before sealing. This way they won’t burst.

Take it slow when coming from a SAD diet!

Many people turn to this lifestyle after eating a “SAD” diet (Standard American Diet). They end up attempting to juice and a week later, they’re selling the juicer on the Internet because it “didn’t work for them”.

Juicing is not a magical pill you take to heal your ailments. It takes time and you must stick with it. But over time there is no way to heal the body more than to begin juicing. It actually changes your body on a cellular level for the positive. Alkalizing you from the inside out. I often tell my clients it’s like a peeling of an onion. The best anti-aging cream does not compare with juicing.

Don’t start off fasting on juice Almost everyone who purchases their first juicer does so wanting to fast. We all try juice fasts, or replace all our food with juice eventually once we get into this lifestyle. This gives our digestive system a much needed break. While this can be great to detox, you might also burn out with all that juicing, and lose your motivation for it completely. Remember to make juicing a part of your lifestyle which means incorporating it into your day, whether it’s one juice a day or more. Slowly ease yourself into it so it becomes a habit, not a hardship.

My biggest tip for juicing is to keep it simple. Some of my favorite signature juice recipes are…

The Straight Up Sexy! 

(the benefits are profound)!

2 Large cucumbers

2 granny smith apples

one bunch celery

Run through the juicer and enjoy!

 

Charming Chocolate Milk

1 pound of carrots

1 head of Romain

a few drops of chocolate stevia (this tastes like chocolate milk)!

Run through the juicer and enjoy!

Love Thy Liver Juice (On days that I want a little liver cleansing)

2 green apples (less sugar)
8 pieces of flat leaf kale
1 small lemon rind included
1 half inch piece of ginger (any more will kill the juice)
2 cucumbers
1 medium beet

This is a delicious combination that gently detoxes the liver once you add the beet.

Good luck on your juicing journey!

My favorite detox green juice recipe is my Green Goddess

Ingredients

1 bunch Celery
1 Cucumber
1/2 inch of ginger
A handful of parsley
1 Apple (I prefer green)
Instructions

Put everything through a juicer and enjoy.
TIP: This can be done by blender. You will just need to strain the pulp for it to be a juice. It is okay to just drink as is after blending. It’s a great source of fiber.

Copyright © Andrea Cox

I love you
I Only want the best for you
Please love yourself
And drink your juice
Andrea