If you are on a mission to improve your digestive system and immune system more naturally, paying attention to what goes into your body is going to make the biggest difference.
After you transition to clean eating from the standard American diet, one way you can seriously level up your health is by ensuring you have enough vitamins and minerals. An easy way to do this is by juicing regularly.
Why Does Juicing Improve Digestion?
Today, digestive issues having become far too common, whether it’s constipation, gas, cramps, nausea or other digestive upset.
For some, a clear solution might seem out of reach. But there is growing evidence to suggest that these issues can be alleviated through natural means. In order for your body to have efficient digestion, there needs to a presence of the healthy gut flora, also known as gut microbiota.
Vegetable and fruit juices provide polyphenols, oligosaccharides, fiber and nitrate (beet juice), which may induce a prebiotic-like effect. This study found that drinking a juice diet induced significant positive changes in the intestinal microbiota—and as a bonus, resulted in an increase in Bacteroides. Bacteroides help our digestive systems break down diverse plant fiber and complex polysaccharides, including pectin and xylans from fruit and vegetables.
Why is this such a good thing?
Well, a previous study showed an increase in Bacteroides was associated with a decrease in markers of metabolic syndrome—the markers associated with cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes like cholesterol, blood pressure, etc.—and decrease in weight.
So now that we know why getting high doses of nutrients from vegetable and fruit juices, let’s look at some simple recipes!
Easy Juicing Recipes for Gut Health
Try incorporating some of these juicing recipes to level up the health of your digestive system.
Pear and Celery with Ginger
Eating the right things for your digestive health can be difficult if you’re flying blind, but this recipe is simple and doesn’t take much time. Pears and celery are high fiber plants. So to get the benefit of these foods, you will want to leave some of the pulp within the juice, or add it after you have finishing juicing. When you drink this juice, the fiber works through your system and helps to remove artery clogging plaque. The ginger in the juice will help to reduce inflammation, giving you relief from digestive upset.
Ingredients:
1 large pear
2 celery stalks
2 cm piece of ginger
Green Machine
One recurring theme that you will see with these recipes is that they all contain some kind of fibrous plant material. Fiber is essential for a clean digestive tract because it binds to cholesterol-rich bile acids which are then removed as waste. Two more positive benefits of this recipe come from the omega 3 fatty acids that are also contained in kale, and the enzymes in apples which help the body break down foods.
Ingredients:
1 green apple
1 small bunch kale
1 cucumber
1 lemon
Pineapple and Cucumber Smash
This mild, but interesting drink has a lot going on in a deceptively simple recipe. Cucumber, pineapple and Swiss chard contain nutrients that are powerful antioxidants. Pineapples are another great source for enzymes that help the body break down foods as well.
Ingredients:
5 Swiss chard leaves
1 cup of cubed pineapple
1 cucumber
Tips for Improving the Health of Your Juice
Few understand what it takes to make juice balanced enough to be healthy. Juice is a concentrated form of a food source, so it’s easy to slip into creating juices that are high in sugar and low in nutrients. However, armed with a small amount of knowledge, you can become better acquainted with the methods that can bring balance to your juices.
Limit Sweet Juices
One of the major things that people neglect to consider is the amount of sugar that is contained in the sweeter fruits. These kinds of fruits could diminish progress if your goal is weight loss. This is due to the high insulin response, which triggers fat storage. To keep that from happening, choose fruit with less sugar, like green apples or kiwis. Just be sure that they aren’t the only thing in your juice. I recommend that you pair them with some kind of vegetable.
Cook Some Veggies
Cruciferous like cabbage, kale, broccoli, and bok choy have a lot of major health benefits, but many of these benefits are best absorbed after the vegetables has been cooked. If you ingest a large amount of these types of vegetable juices raw, you could run the risk of reduced thyroid function. These effects are caused by chemicals called goitrogens, which are generally destroyed during the cooking process. For this reason, people with thyroid issues should stay away from juicing high amounts of these types of vegetables unless they are cooked.
Veggies You Should Juice
Finally, here is a list of ORGANIC veggies that are completely safe and hugely beneficial for you to juice.
- Celery is one of the best vegetables to juice because it has major anti-inflammatory properties that can help you to deal with many different symptoms.
- Beets are great at helping to stimulate liver functionality and provide a good source of iron.
- Various types of peppers are a great source of vitamin C that can rival the most potent of the citrus fruits.
- Wheatgrass is great for stimulating cleansing function in the body, and can reduce acidity in parts of the body.
Do you like to juice? Tell me your favorite recipe in the comments!