Would it be beneficial to add green juices to your daily routine in order to improve your health?
What Are Green Juices and What Makes Them Special?
Greens juices are drinks made from greens. While vegetables are typically eaten raw, in a salad, or as part of a meal, greens have become a popular ingredient for juicing.
Although green juice cannot replace a healthy diet, it does provide many of the same health benefits as eating more fruits and vegetables.
Green vegetables and their juices are packed with nutrients like vitamins, minerals, and plant compounds. For example, Swiss chard and kale are high in vitamins A and K, while wheatgrass is high in vitamins C and iron.
Chlorophyll Goodness
People are recently interested in drinking chlorophyll because it is supposed to have many benefits, such as preventing body odor and acne and helping to reduce fine lines and wrinkles. Chlorophyll is a pigment found in plants that helps them convert sunlight into energy.
Chlorophyll is the green pigment in vegetables that helps them absorb the sun’s rays and is used in photosynthesis. The more chlorophyll a vegetable has, the greener it is.
Although liquid chlorophyll is available, it is not 100% pure chlorophyll. The chlorophyll degrades quickly and is replaced by chlorophyllin, which is a combination of sodium-copper salts.
The best way to get the most effects of chlorophyll is to juice your own greens. Chlorophyll offers a number of benefits to our bodies, including:
- Improves Skin Condition After Damage
Are you also dealing with scabs from wounds that seem to take forever to heal? You may want to give chlorophyll a try.
An ointment containing chlorophyllin may be more successful in healing wounds than a saline solution, according to a study from a while back. This is encouraging, but because the ointment was made up of several different substances, more research is needed to determine the dosage and benefits.
A 2015 study showed that chlorophyllin can help reduce sun damage on women’s faces. The study was short, and more research needs to be done to see if it will work for everyone.
- Minimize Fine Lines and Wrinkles
There are ways to prevent fine lines from appearing on your skin as you age, other than Botox and laser treatments. Chlorophyll is a natural way to keep your skin looking young.
Sodium copper chlorophyllin can improve the skin’s texture when applied directly, according to a 2016 study. Four women who used chlorophyllin gel on their skin saw an improvement in the texture of their skin, comparable to the results seen with tretinoin, a retinoid.
This is a small amount of research compared to other areas. Although there is not a lot of scientific research available, people who have tried it say that using chlorophyllin topically or drinking a mix of chlorophyllin and water can make your skin healthier.
- Helps Prevent Body Odor
If you want to avoid smelling bad, you should drink green juices that are rich in chlorophyll. Chlorophyll has been shown to be effective in removing body odor, and this is the most loved effect that people have noticed while drinking it.
Nobody likes having bad body odor, so instead of using deodorants with chemicals in them, try using chlorophyll instead!
Green juice benefits
Green juices provide many benefits that the modern diet may not be able to provide fully. This includes vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and enzymes. Green juices are especially beneficial for those who don’t consume enough fruits and vegetables daily.
There are many benefits to drinking green juice every day. It is a natural way to get extra vitamins and minerals. It is better than taking synthetic supplements because they often contain extra ingredients that you do not need. Also, these supplements are not as easily absorbed by your body.
This extra nutrition you feed your body comes with many health benefits – it will help your organs function better and your skin and hair will look better too. Here are more details about all the benefits green juice brings:
Green juice is good for your digestive system
Green juice made with enzymes from healthy vegetables can help improve your digestion naturally. Your digestive system benefits from the enzymes, which can also help boost your immune system.
Add the following ingredients to your green juice to stimulate your digestive system:
- Ginger – a known digestive aid that helps to both prevent and eliminate gas. Scientific research1 shows that ginger accelerates the movement of food from the stomach to the small intestine.
- Celery – has anti-inflammatory properties that may help with leaky gut and other stomach disorders.
- Mint – a popular natural remedy used for all kinds of stomach issues, including upset tummy, flatulence, gas, and indigestion. To reap its full benefits use a blender to blend it together with the rest of the green juice.
If you choose a high-quality green powder with added probiotics, the balance of bacteria in your gut will improve, leading to better digestion.
Green juice improves the health of your liver
Green juice can help improve the health of your liver by making it more efficient at eliminating toxins from your body.
The ingredients you should use for your green juice if you want to focus on liver health:
- Dandelion – is well known for its benefits to the liver. It’s been used for medicinal purposes for centuries in traditional herbal medicine. Leaves and roots can both be used to prevent liver injury.
- Celery – it helps to regulate elevated liver enzymes and can balance cholesterol in the blood in combination with chicory leaves and barley grains.
- Ginger – it helps to decrease inflammation and improves the liver enzyme profile.
- Spinach, kale, and other leafy greens – Leafy greens, in general, promote liver health.
Green juice benefits your heart
Drinking green juices can help reduce the risk of heart disease by reducing inflammation in the body. Reducing inflammation helps keep the heart healthy, so this is a great benefit of green juices.
Green juice is great for your body because it is full of nutrients, including chlorophyll, which is also known as liquid sunshine. Chlorophyll helps keep your immune system strong, controls inflammation, and increases the production of red blood cells in your body. This also means that your cells are better able to carry oxygen.
An unhealthy diet that is highly processed and lacks important nutrients and antioxidants is a risk factor for heart disease.
You need to eat enough vegetables and fruits every day to maintain heart health. This will provide your body with essential nutrients and anti-inflammatory compounds that will help reduce inflammation in your body – another risk factor for heart disease.
The text is saying that eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day is only a small preventive measure against heart attack and stroke.
To reduce the risk of heart disease even more, try and consume 10 servings of vegetables and fruits that are high in vitamin C, E, and beta-carotene every day.
Apart from green vegetables, try to include the following ingredients in your juices that will help prevent heart disease and improve your heart health:
- Beets – beetroot juice has been proven to lower blood pressure but it also has other heart benefits, for example, it has been shown to help patients with existing heart disease
- Berries – these are full of antioxidants and will help to protect your body from free radicals which are harmful to your heart.
- Red grapes – these contain Resveratrol, a natural polyphenol with very high antioxidant potential. This compound is beneficial for your heart in many different ways: it reduces inflammation and lowers blood pressure but it has also been shown to have a beneficial effect on heart failure.
Celery benefits heart health by reducing blood pressure and levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol in the blood.
You can make your green juices more heart-friendly by blending them with chia seeds, hemp seeds, or walnuts to get a dose of omega-3 fatty acids.
Precautions
Although green juice has many benefits, there are always precautions that need to be discussed.
- Should not be a standalone meal
Green juices are not a meal replacement and should be consumed in addition to a regular diet. While they contain vitamins and minerals necessary for our function, we need more than just green juices to be healthy.
If you only drink green juices every day, you will probably get hungry before the next hour, and your blood sugar level will drop, causing dysfunction. Once the blood sugar levels drop below normal levels, your body will try to conserve energy and scavenge for other sources, which will stress the organs involved, like the liver.
Green juices are healthy, but you shouldn’t only drink them for nutrients.
- Lack of dietary fiber may cause digestive issues
To help the digestive tract function regularly, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests eating an average of 25 grams of fiber every day. While fiber is abundant in vegetables and fruits, extracting and drinking solely the juice removes the beneficial pulp and fiber which can cause digestive issues such as bloating and constipation. Additionally, for some who are sensitive to specific types of fermentable carbohydrates present in greens like cabbage, artichokes, asparagus, and celery, high volumes of vegetable-based juice may produce difficulties like gas, bloating, and diarrhea.
- May cause kidney problems
Certain green vegetables have a lot of oxalates. Oxalates are a big part of kidney stones. People who are likely to get kidney stones, because of genetics or other factors, might want to get their health checked by a doctor before they start drinking a lot of juices with oxalates. Too many oxalates can damage the kidneys and cause kidney failure.
- Always consult your doctor
Consult your physician before partaking in any trend, even if it seems beneficial. Some trends may contain harmful compounds or allergens that you are unaware of. Simply juicing fruits and vegetables may do more harm than good.
Top 5 Best Green Juice Options and their Benefits
If you feel comfortable doing so and still want to proceed with juicing, here are my top 5 favorite greens to use!
1. Celery Juice
Health Benefits:
- Helps treat inflammatory diseases like arthritis, osteoporosis, gout, and even
- asthma (luteolin, polyacetylenes)
- Relaxes muscles inside the blood vessels(phthalide)
- Lowers blood pressure (phthalide)
- Helps reduce the effects of stress hormones (coumarins)
- Helps prevent the spread of cancer (apigenin, luteolin)
- Gives skin a healthy tone (vitamin A, vitamin C, riboflavin)
- Enhances relaxation and sleep (magnesium)
- Lowers high blood pressure and hypertension (apigenin)
2. Cabbage Juice
Health Benefits:
- A great bowel cleanser (chlorine, sulfur) Helps treat inflammation of the large intestine and colon (chlorine, sulfur). The foul gas smell after drinking the juice indicates that the remedy has started working.
- Capable of strengthening the stomach’s inner layer, making it resistant to ulcers (vitamin U, popularly known as “cabagin”)
- Helps build new blood cells (folate)
- Speeds up the healing of skin disorders like acne, pimples, and blackheads (vitamin C) Rejuvenates body tissues, making skin look fairer, softer, and more supple (vitamins A and E)
- Helps prevent anemia (folate)
- Makes hair stronger and averts hair loss (sulfur)
- Promotes hair growth by nourishing hair roots (sulfur)
3. Cucumber Juice
Health Benefits:
- Helps sharpen memory (fisetin)
- Lowers the risk of breast, uterine, ovarian, and prostate cancers (lignans)
- Helps combat stress (thiamine, pantothenic acid, biotin).
- Aids in healthy digestion (water content)
- Lends support to heart health (potassium)
4. Spinach Juice
Health Benefits:
- Aids in red blood cell production (vitamin C, iron)
- Limits the risks of neuronal brain injury, especially for patients with Alzheimer’s (vitamin C, iron, vitamin K)
- Helps prevent neural tube defects (folate)
- Increases oxygen intake in the blood (chlorophyll) Helps build stronger and healthier bones (calcium, magnesium, vitamin K)
- Helps prevent anemia (vitamin C, iron)
- Regulates blood sugar levels (magnesium) Aids in muscle contraction (potassium)
- Helps in the growth and repair of tissues (vitamin C)
5. Broccoli Juice
Health Benefits:
- Helps in blood clotting (vitamin K)
- Assists in the speedy healing of cuts and wounds (vitamin C)
- Helps form red blood cells (vitamin C)
- Lowers the risk for cataracts (lutein)
- Produces and maintains new cells (folate)