Fruit juice has long been established as a staple in many families. A delicious addition to the breakfast table and a refreshing drink all day it`s very much the norm. More often overlooked are fresh vegetable juices, yet they too have much to offer the family table. A whole plethora of different flavours are out there to be discovered, each with their own unique combination of nutrition and health advantages.
One of your five a day, vegetable juice can be a great way to make up a healthy diet. It`s even worth trying vegetable juice for the members of the family that don`t care for many fruit juices. Many people do find it hard to eat as many portions of fresh fruit and vegetables as recommended by health experts, so drinking juice is one easy way of upping your portions and taking on the vitamins and minerals of the vegetables. Because they`re juiced raw, you`ll be taking in more of the nutrients, as none will be lost via the cooking process. Many people with digestion problems find it easier to retain nutrition in juiced form, as it causes less strain on the system.
For some people fruit juice is either too acidic or too sweet and while there are vegetable juices that are both of these things, there are also more subtle, savoury flavours available that are well worth a try. Many of us have tried tomato juice (perhaps in a Bloody Mary) and carrot juice isn`t too far out for many to have tried these days, but perhaps your taste may lie more in the way of a subtle cucumber juice, or more adventurous tastes such as fennel, dandelion greens or even lettuce. It`s possible to add herbs for flavour and extra nutrition and some people like to add garlic, both for its flavour and health benefits. It`s also worth adding some fruit if you like your drinks a little sweeter, adding further vitamins and minerals. Try adding coconut or ginger if your taste runs to them. There are an incredible number of flavours out there to try and combine.
There`s plenty of medical and scientific evidence published on the benefits of eating plenty of vegetables, but what about consuming them in drink form? People who regularly drink fresh vegetable juice, of various kinds, report benefits such as improved digestion, better sleep, benefits to skin clearness and more energy. Studies seem to back these findings up and some have shown that drinking vegetable juice regularly has the same health benefits as eating an equivalent serving of vegetables, such as a reduced risk of heart and Alzheimer`s disease.
Depending on the vegetables in question, vegetable juices are frequently low in fat and often lower in sugar than some of the most popular fruit juices, so vegetable juice can also be a lovely treat that still helps you to lose weight. Remember to leave the skins on vegetables such as carrots and cucumbers as much of the nutrition is in them and they will help keep you feeling fuller for longer. Replacing fizzy drinks with their empty calories with a vegetable juice, giving you energy and nutrition for fewer calories, could make you feel vastly better in yourself and help you to slim.
Vegetable juice, while often overlooked, can provide much needed variety to the family diet, as well as encouraging those members who don`t care for cooked vegetation to partake. Once you`ve tried all those on offer in your local supermarket and health food shop try looking further afield, to an <a href=”http://www.thehealthcounter.com/”>online chemist</a> or health food website for a fuller range of flavours and delicious mixes of vegetable juices.
Enjoy Feeling Good!
Danielle