One of the best ways to get your suggested minimum five daily servings of fruits and veggies is to drink fresh juice. Fresh juice is not purchased in cartons at the store. It is not canned, cooked, flash-pasteurized, colored, sweetened, filtered or preserved. Fresh juice comes directly from fresh fruits and vegetables and is best when consumed immediately (within minutes of juicing) to get the maximum nutritional value, as it loses its potency rapidly once removed from its parent source.

Juicing extracts most of the nutrients and living enzymes from the fruit or veggie while leaving the pulp out. Basically, this translates into an easily digestible drink that is packed full of the good nutrition your body needs. Drinking your food eases the burden on the digestive system by eliminating all of the solid matter that requires additional digestion and elimination. By drinking fresh juice, you go straight to the source and bypass the carrier.

I have been juicing regularly for over two decades. Although it is somewhat of a part-time job, it has become a habit and part of my daily and weekly routine. I drink several types of juice regularly – wheatgrass, carrot, apple and tomato. I will occasionally add spinach, kale, celery or ginger to these juices for added nutrition and flavor.

Juicing requires work – shopping regularly for fresh produce, cleaning, cutting and preparing the produce and then cleaning and maintaining the juicer. Juicing is well worth the work involved because the benefits pay high dividends in your health. Drinking a 16-ounce glass of carrot juice is the equivalent of eating about 6 to 8 large carrots. That’s a lot of chewing that you don’t have to do and a lot of solid waste (pulp) that your body doesn’t have to process.

Some personal benefits I can directly attribute to juicing are:

Seasonal allergies are almost non-existent now.

My genetic hair loss and receding hairline has slowed down significantly.

My fingernails grow super strong at an incredible speed.

I have never had a tooth cavity or broken bone in my life.

My skin stays healthy and more resistant to sunburn, acne and wrinkles.

I have a high energy level but operate on less sleep.

My focus, concentration and motivation get better every year.

I get sick less often, and when I do, I recover in a day or so when friends stay sick with the same illness for days or weeks.

I’ve maintained good eyesight while many peers my age have been wearing glasses for years.

These benefits began to become evident within the first year or two of implementing juicing and a vegetarian diet. The effects of juicing continue to improve and maintain my health due to the cumulative effects of ingesting vital nutrition on a daily basis.

For juicing tips and recipes, email me at Sean@SeanDon.com.