All nutritionists recommend consuming five servings of vegetables per day, including fresh fruits. However, it can sometimes be a bit difficult to reach that goal. Is this your case? So turning vegetables into refreshing, easy-to-drink drinks can be a solution. Next, we will tell you all the benefits of consuming natural juices and how to prepare them.
Benefits of consuming natural juices:
Fresh fruits and vegetables have great nutritional and healthy properties. For starters, they are high in water and fibre, two essential components for health. In addition, they are rich in nutrients such as vitamins and minerals. Also their low fat and sugar content, makes them ideal allies of diets to lose weight.
However, sometimes it is not so easy to incorporate them into the daily menu. Because many people are not used to eating fresh vegetables. Thus, the recommended daily allowance of 5 servings or 500 grams becomes an elusive goal.
Although natural juices lose some of the properties of whole vegetables, the pleasure and ease of consuming them can partially compensate for these losses. In addition, they have other benefits of consuming natural juices:
- They make it easier to reach the daily quota of fresh vegetables: One or two glasses are equivalent to approximately half of the daily requirements.
- They provide vitamins, minerals and antioxidants: Juicing does not alter the content of micronutrients, which are more vulnerable to heat. A glass of fresh juice covers a good part of the recommended daily amount of vitamins and minerals. The combination of different vegetables provides a greater amount of antioxidants.
- They hydrate without adding sugar or calories: Natural juices are drinks full of colour and flavour to hydrate us. In turn, they replace industrial soft drinks in a healthy way.
- They accelerate the intestinal transit. Thus, they favour the elimination of toxins and water.
Juices are a complement to the consumption of whole vegetables
Natural juices are very healthy, but they should not completely replace the consumption of whole vegetables. This is because when reduced to natural juices, vegetables lose a good part of their fibre content. In addition, the lack of chewing decreases the feeling of satiety.
To obtain all the benefits of consuming natural juices, we can easily made at home with the help of the best juicer, they must be supplemented with vegetables in their full form. For example, combine one or two glasses of natural juices per day with 3 servings of whole fresh vegetables.
100% fruit juices can provide too many calories and fast assimilating carbohydrates, thus raising blood sugar levels. That is why it is recommended to consume combinations of fruits and vegetables that are not usually together in the daily menu.
On the other hand, people with intestinal problems have an intolerance towards raw vegetables. Therefore, it is important to keep part of the vegetable intake, preferably cooked.
In summary:
- Drink one to two glasses per day of natural juices maximum.
- Include them in your meal or take them as a snack, without forgetting to drink all the water you need.
- Mix them with fruits and vegetables.
Tips for preparing and consuming natural juices:
If you want to enjoy all the benefits of consuming natural juices without risks, follow these tips:
- The ideal equipment is the juicer. It offers better performance than a blender and retains more nutrients, but this one can work too.
- Healthy associations are those that combine different textures and colours, always choosing seasonal vegetables, as recommended by the Paraguayan Ministry of Health.
- The recommended combination is: 30 - 40% fruits and 60 - 70% vegetables.
- They must be blended raw. Even if the skin is edible, it must be left. Of course washing it very well with safe water.
- Avoid vegetables that are not very juicy, such as bananas or avocados or those that can have a bitter taste such as citrus peel.
- Add spices that provide flavour and nutrients such as ginger, cinnamon or vanilla.
- Consume immediately or freeze just ready to enjoy later.
Healthy juice recipes:
- Detoxifier: apple and kale. Blend or extract the juice of three apples and four kale leaves.
- Slimming: apple, carrot and pineapple or pineapple. Blend 2 carrots, 1 apple and 150 grams of pineapple. Flavour with fresh grated ginger.
- Skin brightener: beets and cucumber. Blend 1 peeled and washed raw beet and 1 peeled cucumber. Aromatize with the juice of half a lemon.
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