Juicing, quite simply put, is using a machine to pulverize fresh fruits and vegetables, separating the liquid from the pulp and drinking it. This method of feeding yourself falls under the banner of a raw food diet because there is no cooking involved.

Proponents of juicing tout the benefits of using only organic produce because today’s farmers use an overabundance of dangerous pesticides and chemicals on their mass produced crops. It is these chemicals and pesticides that while successful at prolonging the shelf life of food, is actually slowly killing the consumer who eats it. Organic produce is grown without the use of pesticides and chemicals and therefore doesn’t last as long as regular produce. That’s a good thing. You really don’t want to eat anything that won’t eventually die, according to most food experts.

So when juicing for health, it is best to drink your freshly made concoction first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. This will ensure quick absorption of all nutrients. Now when starting out, choose to juice the fruits that you like, maybe apples, oranges or watermelon. Once you get used to the fruits then try adding a vegetable into the mix. Juice a carrot or two with your apple juice. Later you can add other vegetables. Veggies take a bit more getting used to because of taste, as some of them are not naturally sweet and because they have a tendency to cause gas and stomach upset. This upset only lasts for a few days, until your body gets used to the change.

While many people use juicing as a means of fasting to cleanse their bodies of toxins, many others simply combine juicing with the consumption of solid foods. Replacing a cooked or prepared meal is a great way to lose weight. Replacing all solid meals with fresh fruit and vegetable juices for a week or two will cause immediate and dramatic weight loss. Care should be taken not to prolong the fast, or you can actually weaken your body sending it into malnutrition. Remember, two day out of a week or one week a month for a couple of months can produce the kind of healthy weight loss that you want without going overboard.

A good rule of thumb with veggies is that the greener the veggie, the more nutrient rich it is. So using leafy greens like spinach, cabbage or endive really do pack a nutritional wallop. The taste however, is an acquired taste. But hang with it. You can grow to like it. There is also a bit of preparation needed for your produce if you didn’t initially buy organic. You can still use regular store-bought produce. You will need to remove the pesticide and chemicals.

This is done by soaking the produce in a mixture of water and hydrogen peroxide, which can be purchased at any drugstore. Add a cap full of the hydrogen peroxide to the water and allow the produce to soak for about ten minutes, or until you can smell the water. That smell is the toxin coming off the produce. Remove the produce, dry it off, and store it in the refrigerator. You should use it within three day after purchase.

Today I am going to write about a topic that I am extremely passionate about. I believe that eating healthy and working out is a must for all of us regardless of how busy we are in our everyday lives. I am really a fan of the idea that health should come before anything else, because in the end it is really all that matters. No amount of money is going to make up for lack of health or the happiness health brings.

It is like the famous singer and son of Bob Marley says ” Why are you stressing out yourself to be wealthy? You should be thinking about yourself, that you are healthy”. I KNOW, in our world with financial crisis, stress and everything else it can be hard to get down to the gym and work out, well it shouldn’t be. I am a fan of the 80/20 rule and making things so simple that they just run automatically. Steps you can take today to make things as simple and easy flowing as possible:

1. Throw out all unhealthy foods in your house, in this way you will make sure you eat as healthy as possible since you don’t really have other choices. Plus, if you remember the case before you don’t really have time for the gym, so you won’t have time to run down and get icecream and candy neither. I mean think about it, replacing all your daily meals to healthy ones doesn’t take you extra time while giving you the added benefits immediately.

2. Start doing some exercise whenever you have the time during the day. Who said you absolutely have to go to the gym and workout for a minimum of 2 hours? Just get in 3-5 sets of push ups throughout your day, this will take you approximately 2-3 minutes each time, of course depending on your strength levels and winner mentality at the given time.

3. Change your identity. Begin viewing yourself as a machine that eats solely for fuel, you are like the Russian guy from Rocky 4, a terminator that only thinks about running optimally and being able to give his maximum effort each and every time.

The last tip of course is to have fun, if you don’t enjoy the process and constantly whine about having to eat healthy you shouldn’t even start, since you will fail. Just watch it as a lifestyle change and the celebration of the new terminator that eats solely for food, you can do this.

Most women face difficulties in eating healthy and knowing what is healthy for them during the time they are pregnant.

To make sure you pregnancy goes smoothly with the healthiest diet that you truly deserve, you just need to keep a few points in mind.

Firstly, make sure your diet consists of some variety. You should make it a point to have the essentials of vegetables, fruits and proteins in your diet so that the little one inside you gets benefited from them all, without being deprived of any.

Don’t think too much while eating any of your favorite dishes. Just do not overeat. This has to be done on a regular basis for all the meals that you are taking, so that there is nothing that you are missing out on. You should have sufficient vitamins, whole grains and proteins to keep yourself healthy.

Once you get pregnant, stop dieting if you have been doing so earlier. This is important, because during the period of those nine months, you and your baby would be needing calories and a nutritious diet.

While a woman is pregnant, the fact that she may have gained some weight is not considered unacceptable. If you try to work on it, so that you don’t gain weight, it could create problems for yourself and the baby.

If you get tired of eating the same food, and start experiencing that you feel sick after eating it, you may want to try some new foods. In addition, food aversions may make you get sick of food that you were very fond of earlier, and wanting those that you would never even think of eating previously.

Do not eat as if you are being forced to do so. Make it one such activity that provides the most pleasure, as it would be doing the most good to your baby and your own health, during the time you need it the most.

Eating healthy to lose weight is the most effective way to lose weight.. You will find that the majority of the weight you lose will come from dietary changes. If you have also taken up an exercise program, you will still need to make these changes to your diet.

You will also find an overall improvement in your health and well being that comes from making healthy dietary choices. As you can see, there are multiple benefits to a healthy diet. Weight loss, increased energy, and an improvement in your health are just a few.

I would like to cover two possible approaches to this lifestyle change, rather than simply provide you of a list of things you should eat and a list of things you shouldn’t. Either of these styles are a healthy choice. So, you can be confident in choosing either approach.

Glycogen and fat are the two type of energy that your body uses. You can teach your body to burn fat if you remove carbohydrates from your diet. You will lose weight and cut fat from your body with this approach.

You are likely to have cravings for carbohydrates when you first start out on this plan. But you can minimize these cravings if you are making the right food choices.

You need to be sure that you are getting enough fat in your diet when you cut carbohydrates out. Without the proper amount of fat, you will find that your energy is lower, your cravings are worse, and your hunger is more pronounced.

This type of diet will lower the levels of insulin in your body and in turn cause you to burn fat. This makes an increase in fat consumption acceptable.

Your body releases insulin in response to the consumption of carbohydrates. Insulin is necessary in the processing of carbs. Insulin is a hormone which is used to stockpile energy in the body. Insulin is responsible for storing the extra calories you consume as fat. It also amasses glycogen for use by your muscles, brain and other organs.

When you cut carbohydrates from your diet, you will not need to be concerned with the possibility of insulin sending extra calories to your existing fat cells.

Another option for losing weight is to burn a higher number of calories than what you consume. You will lose weight as your body turns to your fat reserves in order to get the energy it need to get through the day.

Using this approach a professor was able to shed almost 30 pound in ten weeks. This story was recently covered on CNN. This professor also reported that two thirds of the food he did eat was junk food. He lost weight even though he got most of his meals at a convenience store!

Unlike the previous approach, you will want to reduce the amount of fat you consume with this style of weight loss. Fat has many more calories than carbs or proteins do. Using this approach, you can either fast for one or two 24 hour periods each week or simply reduce your total calories each day. If you choose to fast, you must remember the most important rule. When you break your fast, you need to eat a regular sized meal. All of the work you have put in to your fasting will be for nothing if you binge directly following a fast.

I haven’t always been someone who eats healthy. I was raised in the days of TV dinners on trays, sitting in front of Gilligan’s Island in the TV room with my three siblings. Good nutrition and eating healthy may come easily to some, but for the rest of us, it may be a gradual progression of steps.

My family rarely visited or spoke during dinner. Commercials were reserved for running into the kitchen to get more milk. For variety, we would have canned SpaghettiOs, or Campbell’s soup with grilled cheese. Healthy wasn’t a concept that entered into my mind when eating. The goals were good taste and ease of preparation.

This changed when, at nineteen, I took a class on values clarification. The instructor had us assess what our values were by looking at where we were putting our time and energy, and considering what was most important to ourselves. I realized there was a huge contrast between my desire to be healthy and the food choices I was making.

Many of my peers were making their own granola, yogurt and growing vegetables to eat. The “hip” thing was to be a vegetarian. I wanted to be doing these sorts of things, but instead I was eating junk. So, at twenty I became a vegetarian… and started consuming vast amounts of dairy, wheat, and sugar. This phase was, perhaps healthier than the processed food, but it was still essentially lacking in nutrition.

This period was followed by getting married, having four children and wanting them to be as healthy as possible. I call this the tofu stage. I put tofu in almost every dish I made and packed tofu dogs in the kid’s lunches. I felt proud to be raising 4 vegetarian children in a society full of carnivores. Tofu and dairy competed for my attention. Our family favorites, after tofu, were bean and cheese burritos, and macaroni and cheese. To this day none of my four grown children will eat tofu!

I was, indeed, pretty ignorant about healthy eating. Fortunately for my family, I began teaching kindergarten at the private school that my children attended. The school was part of a spiritual yoga community that provided healthy vegetarian food. Things like, brown rice, steamed veggies, fresh salads, and homemade breads and soups were offered every day. Suddenly, my spectrum of healthy foods had many colors and textures and my kids were exposed to a new way of eating. They loved the healthy new foods and so did I.

This period was followed by divorce and the craziness of single-parenting four children. Time became limited, money was tight and priorities had to change. Once again, healthy food choices gave way to convenience and price. I rarely shopped at the local health food store and often filled in the gaps with pizzas, quesadillas, and canned beans. I assigned a night for each child to cook, and our meals were simple and filling. Flour, rice, beans, and pasta were at the top of the menu. Fresh vegetables cost too much so I bought frozen veggies sincerely thinking I was feeding the kids good food.

Fortunately, my awareness of what is genuinely healthy and nutritional food has changed. These days, my children are all grown and I am living on my own. I can afford to buy and choose what I want, and I have continued to evolve my own diet.

Three-and-a-half years ago, I gave up dairy and gluten to get rid of my eczema problem. Then, just 9 months ago, I gave up sugar and chocolate as well. I now have an awareness of the adverse effects of GMO foods on the body, and have started buying organic as much as possible. I see that I am a slow learner when it comes to health and nutrition. But, gradually over time, I have been able to incorporate improvements into my food choices. This transition is happening bit by bit and I am reaping the benefits of my improved healthier diet. My head is clearer, I have more energy, my health is excellent and I feel good about what I eat. Having moved away from processed food, I find that food in its natural state tastes even better.