Organic juice - choosing a juicer

Last December I looked at some of the reasons motivating me to continue preparing fresh organic fruit and vegetable juices for my family. For those of you who are interested in making your own juice, I thought I’d take a look at the various technological options available to you.

There are many implements and appliances available for making your own juice. These range from the relatively inexpensive to the almost unbelievably overpriced. While the equipment you choose needs to suit your intended purpose, it’s also important for it to fit within the parameters of your household budget. There’s no point forking out money for equipment you’re not going to use after a few weeks. Unfortunately, people often spend good money on expensive juicing equipment only to see it gather dust at the back of their cupboards. One of the reasons many people give up on juicing is the time it takes to clean up afterwards. Therefore, ease of cleaning should be a major consideration when choosing a juicer.

To ensure you choose the most appropriate juicer for your needs, I’d encourage you to think about the following questions:

• What is the main purpose of your juicer?
• How frequently do you intend to make juice?
• How much kitchen bench space do you have?
• What sorts of juice do you want to make?
• How easily can the juicer be taken apart?
• How easy is it to reassemble the juicer?
• Is it possible to access all corners of the juicer to remove excess pulp?
• What is your budget?

Here are some of the more common options available:

Citrus juicers - Naturally enough, a citrus juicer can only be used with citrus (for example, lemons, grapefruits, limes). A simple citrus juicer is one of the least expensive and most commonly found juicing implements in any kitchen. If you intend to limit your juice making to the occasional squeeze of a few oranges and lemons, a simple citrus juicer may be all you require. However keep in mind the fact that, while citrus is a fabulous source of Vitamin C - and therefore extremely good for you - it also contains high levels of acidity. When taken in excess, the acidity in citrus juice can overwhelm the digestive system. Accordingly, if you intend to juice more frequently than say once or twice a week, I recommend moving beyond a citrus juicer.

Food Processors - Food processors are versatile. They are designed to perform a wide variety of roles in the kitchen. Although some of them can be used for making juice, they tend to be significantly less efficient than appliances specifically designed to extract juice. One thing that you’ll want to ensure is that you maximise the amount of juice you obtain from your organic produce. For this reason I do not recommend using a food processor as a juicer.

Centrifugal juicers - Centrifugal juicers work by applying the concept of centrifugal force. Centrifugal means “to move away from the center”. Centrifugal juicers spin at very high speeds. As their internal mechanism spins, pulp is separated from juice. The pulp, which is caught in a separate section of the juicer, can be used for a variety of other purposes. Centrifugal juicers are compact, widely available and relatively inexpensive. They are efficient at juicing both fruit and vegetables. Although certain brands tend to be somewhat noisy, centrifugal juicers are a fantastic option for those looking to get into some serious juicing.

Masticating juicers - Masticating juicers work by forcing fruit and vegetables through a mesh wire. The force used to push the fruit and vegetables through the juicer is immense. As a result they tend to produce large quantities of juice with little or no wastage. Masticating juicers work at lower speeds and are therefore more adept at juicing a wider range of fruit and vegetables than centrifugal juicers. They are particularly good at juicing greens such as spinach, lettuce, wheatgrass and parsley. Although masticating juicers are generally more expensive than their centrifugal counterparts, they tend to be more efficient at extracting juice than centrifugal juicers. Over time, this may save you money since by using a masticating juicer you’ll require fewer raw materials (organic fruit and vegetables) to generate similar quantities of juice than if you were using a centrifugal juicer.

What do I recommend? If you’re just getting started on your juicing odyssey and you’re on a budget, I recommend a centrifugal juicer. A good quality centrifugal juicer, although somewhat noisier and slightly more difficult to clean than a masticating juicer, is a relatively less expensive option and will enable you to make a wide range of wholesome fruit and vegetable juices. On the other hand, if you’ve decided that you’re really serious about juicing and have a little extra cash to spend, I recommend a good quality masticating juicer.

Global organic farming shows continued growth

The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) und the Foundation Ecology and Agriculture (SÖL) will present the latest statistics about organic agriculture worldwide at BioFach 2008. The results of this year’s study titled “The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Emerging Trends 2008” will be presented at the world’s largest trade fair for organic products on Friday February 22nd 2008 at 10:00 in Room Shanghai.

The study shows that 30.4 million hectares are currently certified according to organic standards (data as at the end of 2006). Australia continues to account for the largest certified organic surface area, with 12.3 million hectares, followed by China (2.3 million hectares), Argentina (2.2 million hectares) and the USA (1.6 million hectares). The greatest share of global organic surface area is in Oceania/Australia (42%), followed by Europe (24%) and Latin America (16%). In terms of certified land under organic management as a proportion of national agricultural area, the Alpine countries, such as Austria (13%, 361,487 hectares) and Switzerland (12%, 125,596 hectares), top the statistics. Compared to the adjusted data of the previous survey, the global organic area grew by approximately 1.8 million hectares during 2006. Growth was strongest in Oceania/Australia (more than 600,000 hectares) and Europe (more than 500,000 hectares). From the first figures available for 2007, Helga Willer of FiBL expects that the area under organic management has continued to grow.

The global market for organic products reached a value of 38.6 billion US Dollars in 2006, with the vast majority of products being consumed in North America and Europe, according to Organic Monitor. This constitutes a growth of five billion US Dollars compared to the 2005 data. Healthy growth rates are expected to continue in the coming years. Angela Caudle de Freitas, IFOAM Executive Director, suggests that the ever-growing demand for organic products offers attractive opportunities for producers – especially those in developing countries.

The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Emerging Trends 2008 is being presented for the ninth consecutive year at BioFach 2008. In addition to chapters reviewing organic agriculture worldwide, numerous illustrations and graphs, and completely revised reports about the emerging trends and regional development highlights on each individual continent, the study includes a comprehensive annex with the entire data set and expanded coverage of land-use data.

Performance of the global survey and production of the yearbook has been supported by NürnbergMesse since 2000. Starting in 2008, support is now also being provided by the Swiss State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO), Berne/Switzerland, within the framework of its support activities for organic production in developing countries and by the International Trade Centre (ITC), Geneva/Switzerland, which has joined the survey as a partner. The global survey on organic farming and the publication of the yearbook have been carried out jointly by IFOAM, FiBL and SÖL since 2000.

Young children most at risk from pesticide exposure

A recent Australian study has found higher than acceptable pesticide residues in strawberries from conventional farms (Choice magazine, February 2008). It has been pointed out that this highlights the potential for chemical abuse in all produce. ‘Chemical cocktail’ mixes are shown to be of particular concern for parents and growing healthy crop plants, warns Australia’s largest organic representative group, Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA).

Soil health technician and BFA spokesperson, Mr Greg Paynter, says the mixed use of pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, rodenticides, and fungicides weaken crops in the long-term when applied in un-tested combinations at the discretion of farmers.

“Excessive reside levels are a problem – but what may be more concerning and is also carried through to the end consumer, are the unknown effects of blends of different types of synthetic farming inputs. The toxic permutation that occurs as a result is unidentified and untested with regards to human or eco-health, because standard practise is to test a chemical product in isolation,” says Mr. Paynter.

Adverse affects on health from low doses of agricultural chemical combinations have been recorded in the past, with a particularly negative response from tested animals in the pairing of Atrazine – a herbicide widely used on maize and sorghum - with nitrate fertilizer.

Mr. Paynter said chemical mixes damage a crop’s ability to respond naturally to growth obstacles, and often lead to changes in plant metabolism, physiology, chemical composition and nutritional patterns.

“Plants which take up one particular pesticide will then inevitably be exposed to other environmental problems with a weakened natural defence system. A farmer who began using one type of pesticide may be forced to apply an additional herbicide, and then another type of pesticide to compensate for a vulnerable crop (for example),” he says.

“Organic growers, in comparison, tend to utilise the design of ecosystem services to replace the use of synthetic inputs in their farming practice.”

There are around 8,700 registered agricultural and veterinary products used in Australia, a number subject to fluctuation daily.

Children are the other party most susceptible to high toxicity levels from chemical blends, according to BFA Nutritionist Shane Heaton. “Children are more vulnerable to food toxins than adults – they have a larger intake of food per kilo of body weight than adults, and immature organs and detoxification and immune systems,” he says.

According to the 20th Australian total diet survey in 2003, dietary exposure to pesticide residues is highest for the toddler age group. Mr. Heaton said pesticides had proven effects on developing cognitive systems.

Adding to this he says “A study in South America showed impaired cognitive ability in children (aged four and five) from a village that routinely used farm pesticides – they had a lower capacity for things like hand-eye co-ordination and short term memory, and less ability for play-based learning tasks like drawing a recognisable person, or catching a ball,”.

Mr Heaton said concerned parents could opt for organic to reduce their child’s exposure to chemicals - children eating a predominantly organic diet have been proven to have less (one-sixth) the level of pesticide metabolite in their urine than those who don’t.

“At the end of the day it’s about peace of mind in parenting – organic choices reduce transferred chemical risk from ‘uncertain’ to negligible,” he says.

IFOAM World Congress Unites the Organic World in Modena, Italy

One of the great unifying events for the global organic movement, the Sixteenth IFOAM Organic World Congress, will be held in Modena from 16th to 20th June. Evo Morales, Vandana Shiva, Serge Latouche, Carlo Petrini and Wolfgang Sachs are among the delegates to have confirmed their attendance. Over 750 papers have been sent in from all over the world. Registration opens on 20th February.

If names and numbers are anything to go by, the Sixteenth IFOAM Organic World Congress promises to be one of the most noteworthy and top level organic sector conferences ever.

This June, Modena will play host not just to the Indian Vandana Shiva and the Ethiopian scientist Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, both winners of the Right Livelihood Award but also to the Bolivian President Juan Evo Morales, former trade union leader of the “cocaleros”. The food and wine connoisseur Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food movement and recently featured in the authoritative columns of The Guardian as “one of the 50 people who could save the planet” will partake as well in this global event. Also the agro ecologist Miguel Altieri, from the University of Berkeley (California), the doctor and obstetrician Michel Odent, pioneer of natural childbirth, and the American Frances Moore Lappé, author of the book “Diet for a Small Planet” will show presence.

The sociologist Wolfgang Sachs, Scientific Director of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, has already confirmed his attendance, as have the agronomist and geneticist Howard-Yana Shapiro, who has been one of the major exponents of organic agriculture for the past 35 years or more, the Director General of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) Achim Steiner, the anthropologist and economist Serge Latouche, one of the greatest advocates of downscaling society and localism, and the Indonesian obstetrician and environmentalist Ibu Robin Lim.

The Conference is being organized by IFOAM and ModenaBio, a consortium created by the Province of Modena and AIAB Emilia-Romagna, and is expected to bring together about 2000 participants. It will run for five days and will provide a platform on which the latest developments in scientific research will be expounded and it will act as a catalyst for the strategies and instruments needed to preserve diversity and to disseminate ecologically and economically sustainable methods of production. 757 papers have actually been submitted by as many researchers and activists from all five continents; they will be screened by a team of 100 scientists and experts who will then select the most innovative and ground-breaking ones.

Two main threads will drive the discussions: information (Systems Values Track) regarding the presentation and exchange of practical experiences, and science (Scientific Research Track), which will illustrate the most outstanding on-going research projects. In over 100 sessions, scientists, producers, consumers and activists from all over the world will debate themes ranging from nutritional safety to the role of women in organic agriculture, international cooperation in renewable energy, market access and the importance of widespread health education, from GM products to the right to food, the protection of biodiversity to the very real contribution that Organic can make towards mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change. Wine and viticulture, textiles, organic cosmetics, aquaculture and fruit farming will be dealt with in specialized pre-conferences and modules.

Registrations for the IFOAM Organic World Congress will be accepted from 20th February onwards. Bookings can be made either online or by sending in the completed application form downloadable from the following Internet sites: www.ifoam.org.

For any further information and program updates, details of those attending and the cultural events that will be held as part of the IFOAM Congress, please log on to www.ifoam.org or www.modenabio2008.org (latter in Italian language).

Anyone for battery-farmed chicken?

As most of you are no doubt aware, British celebrity chef - Jamie Oliver - has been stirring things up again. And he’s good at it! His documentary series entitled “Jamie’s Fowl Dinners”, which recently aired in the United Kingdom, featured graphic scenes of battery hens being slaughtered. Although the scenes depicting the awful conditions and miserable existence of birds awaiting slaughter would come as no surprise to anyone that’s had anything to do with the commercial poultry industry, apparently many scenes shocked viewers.

According to a recent article published in The Telegraph, sales of organic and free-range chickens have soared following airing of the show. This sudden increase in demand for organic and free-range chooks suggests to me that many consumers are either unaware of, or at least sufficiently divorced from, the realities of modern food production.

Here are some of the realities of commercial chicken meat production:

• Birds are slaughtered after about 40 days.
• Birds are reared in cramped “battery” conditions.
• To ensure birds gain weight they are routinely fed the rendered down fat from livestock discard.
• Routine debeaking, a process involving the removal of part of a bird’s beak, is used to prevent agitated birds from pecking each other to death.
• Disease outbreaks, which are commonplace, are controlled with the routine administration of antibiotics.
• To ensure they are sufficiently large at slaughter, hormonal treatments are applied to the grain and supplemental feed given to developing birds.
• Due to them being caged and unable to roam freely, birds tend to develop abnormally large bodies that are unable to be supported by their underdeveloped legs.

Birds raised according to organic principles experience an entirely different existence. These birds have the capacity to forage for food on farms rather than being caged and force-fed in factory sheds. Unlike battery-farmed chickens, which often receive protein and fat supplements in the form of rendered down livestock discard, organic birds have the opportunity to supplement their grain diet with worms and other insects. Organically reared birds are treated humanely throughout their lives and are not permitted to receive either antibiotic or hormone treatments.

More often than not, efficiency gains come at a cost. Whether it’s food quality, safety, hygiene or animal welfare, something generally has to give. While these additional costs might not be immediately evident, they are real and they have the capacity to catch up with us. Just ask anyone with a family member or friend that was exposed to BSE during the 1990s! In our never-ending quest to squeeze more out of less, we’ve reduced food production standards to an accounting number. Unit cost - an accounting concept - has become the surrogate barometer with which we gauge the acceptability or otherwise of our food production standards. Clearly, this needs to change!

Should organic wine be sealed with cork stoppers?

So far this year, I have purchased approximately nine dozen bottles of organic wine. The number of those secured with traditional cork stoppers amount to only seven. That’s less than five percent, with the remainder sealed beneath screw cap devices. The move away from cork has caused some consternation among organic consumers who tend to prefer natural materials as opposed to plastic and manufactured components. On the other hand, there are experts who believe that new sealing technologies provide a safer and more dependable option for consumers.

Despite careful selection and quality controls, natural cork is associated with the risk of structural weakness and mould contamination. Most wine consumers appreciate that cork stoppered bottles can be adversely affected by oxidation or chemical reaction. Structural faults in cork tend to influence its permeability to oxygen and other atmospheric gases. Under some storage conditions, there is a risk that oxygen will penetrate the hollow fissures of a structurally impaired cork. Depending on the extent of oxidation, the affected wine will usually taste flatter and less appealing than it otherwise should.

When a bottle of wine is described as ‘corked’, mould contamination is generally the most significant contributing cause. Depending on the severity of contamination, corked wine is experienced as lacklustre on the palate with a sensation of musty dullness or worse. Despite evidence that clean and structurally sound cork provides an effective seal for many decades, the potential for contamination or oxidation is often used to encourage wider acceptance of the sterilised screw cap devices.

Screw cap devices ensure that bottled wine remains consistently fresh and impervious to oxygen. They slow down the ageing process which is not necessarily beneficial for red wine with a high tannin content. Of course, wine will alter its taste characteristic once exposed to the atmosphere. In most instances there is a comparatively larger taste shift noted for screw-capped bottles.

The case for growing your own sprouts

Have you ever considered growing your own sprouts? If you’re not already growing sprouts, there’s a good chance someone you know, whether a neighbour, relative or friend, is already benefiting from this wonderful activity. Here are ten reasons why rearing sprouts is becoming an increasingly popular activity for organic consumers and others who take their health seriously:

Sprouts are an excellent source of vitamins and minerals - During sprouting, the vitamin content of some seeds increases from 100% to 1000%. Minerals become available to the body in a form capable of being readily assimilated.

Sprouts can be grown anywhere and at any time of year - It doesn’t matter where you’re living, whether in Australia, Canada or Ireland, sprouts can provide you with a healthy food source irrespective of geographic location or external seasonal conditions.

Sprouts provide a great learning opportunity for young children - Sprouts are a living food source. Growing them provides an opportunity to talk with young children about nature, health, and the importance of providing our bodies with high quality, nutritious food. And given that sprouts grow quickly, even young children can take part and see almost instant results. If that wasn’t enough, rearing sprouts also helps children develop a sense of responsibility.

Sprouts can help if you’re on a tight budget - Each serve of sprouts costs only a matter of cents. Given the high quality nutrition provided by sprouts they represent excellent value for money.

Sprouts contain no chemical pollutants - Because you are in control of the growing conditions of your sprouts you can be certain that no chemical sprays or additives have been used in bringing them to life.

Sprouts provide a powerful source of antioxidants – Antioxidants protect the body from free radical damage. The vitamins, minerals and enzymes present in sprouts contain significant levels of antioxidants.

Sprouts are a brilliant source of essential fatty acids – Sprouts contain significant quantities of Essential Fatty Acids (EFA). EFAs are necessary to sustain life. They play an important role in enabling many important bodily functions to occur.

Sprouts are tightly packed with living enzymes – Living enzymes are found in living foods. Because sprouts are eaten shortly after picking, they are rich in nutrients and living enzymes.

Sprouts have an alkalising impact on the body – To achieve optimal health, our bodies need to achieve an alkaline state. Sprouts are alkaline. They help strengthen our immune system.

Spouts don’t require much space to grow – Sprouts can easily be grown in apartments, on kitchen windowsills, and in many other places. This means that sprouts can provide a valuable food source for anyone.

Sprouts are a wonderful food source. Growing them is easy and good fun. Why not give growing your own sprouts a go?

Organic blog review - December 2007

I like to keep an eye out for new and/or interesting sites that provide information and advice on leading an organic lifestyle. Many of these sites, often presented in the form of blogs, deserve to be shared with others. So to keep you up-to-date with what’s available, today we begin the first in a series of monthly organic blog reviews. In these posts, we’ll check out what’s being said and - where appropriate - why it’s being said, and who’s saying it. Without further ado, let’s check out the top five organic and organic-related blog posts during December 2007:

Tree Hugging Family - Upon returning from the end of year vacation period, many people choose to begin the New Year with a new job. With rising business and consumer interest in all things green and environmental, it may well be possible to snag an eco-friendly position. If that sounds like a bit of you, check out Jennifer Chait’s post from Tree Hugging Family on finding the perfect eco job for 2008.

Enviroblog - Most of us are pretty keen to know when a substance is likely, or at least has the potential, to cause us harm. Bisphenol A is one of those nasties that people really should be made aware of. Amanda Hanley from enviroblog brought to our attention the fact that California may, under the State’s Proposition 65 law, require Bisphenol A to be included in an annual list of chemical substances known to cause cancer or reproductive harm.

Green Right Now - There were a lot of green Christmas tips floating around the blogosphere during December 2007. Deck the Halls and Leave a Lighter Footprint by Shermakaye Bass of Green Right Now was the one that stood out for me. Lighting the way for Santa’s sleigh and making homemade gift wrap are good fun and won’t break the bank.

Organic Mania - For some, it isn’t really Christmas until the lights come on. In her post Green, Tacky, Tacky, Lynn from Organic Mania proves that when you’re from New Jersey, you need some serious lighting to enjoy the holiday season. Lynn shares what has to be done when this also creates an eco-dilemma.

Organic Picks - Saving money and the environment are two topics dear to my heart. And there’s no reason why, with a little imagination and ingenuity, it’s not possible to achieve both during the gift giving season. Cindy from Organic Picks shares her family tradition of sharing a gift-less vacation with extended family. Sounds like a great family tradition to me and certainly beats exchanging store-bought gifts with family members!

Food price inflation and the role of organic agriculture

The unfortunate reality of food price inflation, as pointed out in a recent article appearing in The Independent, is that those on fixed incomes – the unemployed, disability beneficiaries, and retirees – tend to be the hardest hit. At least that’s the case in most developed nations. But as the latest report from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) points out, high grain prices are hitting, and will continue to hit, developing countries the hardest. In some countries, such as in Mexico, Morocco, Yemen and Senegal, rioting has erupted due to the rising price of cereal based food staples.

According to The Independent’s Michael Savage, there are essentially three factors underpinning spiralling global food costs. These are:

• Higher oil costs;
• Increased demand driven largely by China’s increasingly voracious appetite for global resources, including foodstuffs; and
• The diversion of much of the world’s cereal crops away from food production to biofuel production.

With the UN suggesting that the world’s population will exceed nine billion by 2050, the current disquiet in relation to spiralling food costs may be nothing more than a prelude to more significant unrest.

While Michael’s article focuses on increases in global grain and cereal crops, the most dramatic food price increases, which many developed countries have yet to factor in, will relate to sources of animal protein.

Most animals reared for human consumption are fed grain. The conversion of grain into a source of animal protein fit for human consumption is not an efficient one. It is estimated that for every pound of lean beef produced approximately 20 pounds of grain is required. Accordingly, any increase in grain prices will also impact cattle, pig and poultry farmers.

Additionally, the as yet unaccounted for impacts of climate change, the costs of which will be far higher for animal protein production than grain production, means that the developed world is not currently paying anything close to the real price for animal protein. As social pressure and political will turns into legislative imperative, the real costs associated with animal protein consumption will inevitably be passed on to consumers.

Add to this the fact that China’s appetite for global protein sources is predicted to increase dramatically in the coming years and there exists the potential for many consumers who currently enjoy animal protein to be priced out of the market altogether.

Unfortunately, it seems inevitable that competition for sources of animal protein between those living high on the food chain and those on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder will become more pronounced.

Does organic agriculture have a role to play?

It is often argued by many that farmers applying organic agricultural principles are less efficient than their conventional counterparts. This argument, when put to the test, is often found wanting. Indeed, many scientific studies have shown that organic agricultural practices, when applied to both grain and animal protein production, are more efficient and cost-effective than so-called conventional techniques.

Additionally, there is a strong push within the organic movement toward sourcing food locally. This decreases, at least to an extent, the impact that higher oil costs have on food production.

Accordingly, while organic agriculture is by no means the panacea to all of the challenges and issues facing the world, it certainly has an important role to play.

Organic juice - Why prepare your own organic juice?

Making your own juice from fresh organic ingredients has to be one of the healthiest lifestyle decisions anyone can make. I’ve been making fresh juice for about 20 years now. Initially, I started my routine morning juicing ritual as a means of ensuring my two children, who weren’t great eaters at the time, had access to the all-important vitamin and mineral nutrition contained in organically-reared plant matter. Although the eating habits of my children are no longer the primary motivation for the time I spend each morning preparing fresh juice, there are still some wonderful benefits that encourage me to continue making and enjoying fresh organic juice.

For those of you who’ve never made fresh juice I invite you to consider the many benefits that regular consumption of juice made from fresh organic vegetables and fruit might bring to your life.

Perhaps the starting point for anyone considering juicing as a means of achieving optimal health is to ask why conventionally-reared vegetables and fruits are best avoided. The answer is simple. Given that many of the important vitamins, minerals, and enzymes, which we aim to extract during the juicing process, reside either within or just below the skin surface of many vegetable and fruit varieties, and in view of the fact that conventionally-reared produce is routinely sprayed with significant quantities of chemical pesticides, starting with premium grade organic produce has the capacity to prevent you from consuming unwanted and potentially carcinogenic pesticides.

To obtain adequate vitamin and mineral intake - I’ve never been overly fond of vitamin and mineral supplements delivered in a pill or tablet form. While there are valid reasons why some people should, in consultation with an appropriately qualified medical professional, consider oral dietary supplements as a means of ensuring adequate nutritional intake, most of us should be looking to obtain our requirements from sources that are as natural as possible.

Freshly squeezed juice provides the body with a rich source of vitamins, minerals and enzymes. This is well documented. Because vitamins, minerals and enzymes delivered in the form of raw juice require very little breaking down in the digestive tract they are rapidly absorbed into the blood stream. Combine this with the fact that many recent studies have found organic vegetables and fruit to contain higher vitamin and antioxidant levels than conventional produce and the reasons for incorporating organic juicing into your lifestyle become fairly compelling.

To increase your energy levels – One of the biggest obstacles I had to overcome when I commenced regular juicing was my husband. Like many men of his generation, he was sceptical, dismissive and at times downright rude about my decision to incorporate regular juicing into our lifestyle. It’s interesting how times change. These days, more often than not, it is my husband, John, who espouses the benefits of consuming fresh organic juice.

John was raised on a beef cattle property. When we first met, his idea of a balanced meal was to include an additional serve of fried potatoes with his 800-gram rump steak. Although the thought of a breakfast comprising of a selection of freshly prepared raw organic juice didn’t sit easily with him at first, it is perhaps John who has benefited more than anyone else in my family as a result of our switch to a lifestyle emphasising raw organic juicing.

After a relatively short period of time consuming the raw juices that I prepared, John lost weight, became more active, developed healthier skin, nails and hair, and generally felt better than he had at any other stage in his life. While admittedly the increased energy levels John enjoyed following our switch to a lifestyle emphasising organic juice are anecdotal, the rationale underpinning John’s increased energy levels is anything but anecdotal. According to our General Practitioner, it’s highly likely that, as a result of John being overweight and having misused alcohol for a number of years his liver was no longer functioning optimally. By switching to a lifestyle incorporating fresh organic juice, John’s liver was better able to remove toxins from his body, process food nutrients more efficiently and regulate his metabolism. Not surprisingly, this made him feel much better.

To prevent disease - Apart from providing an overall boost to your immune system, fresh raw juice consumption can play an important role in preventing many cancers and other life threatening illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes. It’s widely recognised that a diet high in soluble fibre, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals - sourced primarily from plant material - provides the optimum platform for protecting the body against many forms of degenerative illness.

To treat minor ailments – Many fruit and vegetable juices have therapeutic properties. These can be used to treat and assist in the prevention of minor health concerns. Although I strongly encourage you to seek appropriate medical advice, by preparing specific fruit, vegetable and herb combinations, it’s possible to address many of the more common health concerns, including irritable bowel syndrome, acne, arthritis, headaches, sinusitis, and insomnia.

Whether you’re new to juice making or someone who has been making juice for many years, I hope you’ll find this series on organic juice making entertaining and informative.

« Older articles

No newer articles