It is probably difficult to find a person who, on the eve of the first summer day, would not give himself the most severe vow: when summer comes, I will definitely take care of myself! After all, this time of the year provides so many opportunities for self-improvement: active recreation somewhere outside the city, and swimming, and the possibility of fruit and vegetable diets. But day after day goes by, and the list of planned events usually remains a list…
And then we turn our attention to what seems to us the simplest, not requiring much effort and expense, but promising impressive results. This, of course, is about juice diets that have been invariably fashionable over the past years.
Passion for freshly squeezed natural juices has several quite objective reasons. Firstly, it is a concentrated content of a mass of vitamins and microelements. Secondly, with the availability and abundance of various household appliances, a family with almost any income can afford a decent juicer, and therefore, mechanize the process. Thirdly, it is somehow incredibly aristocratic and secular – to start your morning with a glass of freshly squeezed natural juice.
Modern science knows more than three dozen different vitamins, which in essence are catalysts for all chemical processes occurring in the body. Most of them enter our body with animal and plant foods. However, the problem is that to get their daily norm, we would have to eat a huge amount of food – their concentration is so small. Moreover, scientists state that the use of chemicals and genetic modifications leads, oddly enough, to a drop in the content of vitamins in vegetables and fruits. In particular, the amount of vitamin A in agricultural products has fallen by almost 20 percent.
There are few ways to solve this problem. You can ask your therapist to pick up a complex of synthetic vitamins or become an ardent fan of juice diets. After all, juices are concentrated vegetables or fruits, and, accordingly, the content of useful substances in them increases many times over in comparison with the fruits themselves (however, at the same time, say, the sugar content increases many times, which is similar to death for diabetics).
Useful properties of certain fruits have been known for a long time. For example, so popular in recent years fresh orange juice remarkably affects the processes of digestion, eliminates constipation, is used to prevent hypertension, atherosclerosis, gout. BUT grapefruit juice indeed, it can have a certain preventive effect against oncological diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, since it clears it of the so-called nitrosamines that provoke the development of cancer.
A real panacea can be the juice of a well-known and widespread carrot. Due to the high concentration of vitamin A carrot juice can be used in the treatment and prevention of various diseases such as hepatitis, impotence, anemia, low thyroid function.
It has the same universal effect and tomato juice. It has long been known that regular consumption of tomatoes and the natural juice made from them (always without salt!) reduces the risk of cancer by about 37-40 percent. The secret, according to scientists, lies in the substance lycopene, which is a powerful antioxidant.
Scientists have proven that some juices (especially vegetable ones) generally have a much stronger effect on the body than even special medications. For example, fresh juice of carrots, cabbage, cucumbers, beets stimulates the secretory and acid-forming functions of the stomach better than many drugs. Their influence on the work of the body is so great that experts recommend very carefully, downright scrupulously treat doses. Suffice it to say that concentrated natural vegetable juices inhibit the function of the pancreas, and diluted with water increase it.
So fresh natural juices are far from a panacea for all ills. Using them uncontrollably and in unlimited quantities is a big mistake that will quickly backfire on you with a complete disorder of the body. Pediatricians in the United States have long been concerned about this problem, because in a country obsessed with a healthy lifestyle (and at the same time overeating monstrously unhealthy fast food!), Freshly squeezed juices have been elevated to a cult. As a result, it was found that a large amount of natural juices in children leads to obesity, caries, and gastric disorders. An overdose of, say, the same very useful carrot juice in children leads to vomiting, fever, drowsiness, and in combination with tomato juice causes severe diarrhea.
First, try to prepare juices in small portions and drink them immediately, because the vitamins and enzymes contained in them are destroyed very quickly under the influence of oxygen, and after a while your freshly squeezed juice becomes just a pleasant drink to quench your thirst.
Secondly, only in rare cases is it worth removing the skin from fruits and vegetables, since it is in the “subcutaneous” layer that the largest amount of vitamins is concentrated.
Thirdly, fresh juices should be drunk in very small sips, slowly, trying to mix them with saliva, which allows maximum absorption of nutrients through the mucous membranes.
Stas KOZLOVSKY,
doctor – gastroenterologist
