By Dr. Michael Wald
Juicing has the potential of being one of the most powerful ways to have healthy diet for the treatment and/or reduction of chronic disease occurrence. The benefits of juicing are extreme ranging from improved detoxification, enhancing cellular energetic, reducing inflammation, immune modulation, supplying dense and live nutrition and more.
Use pesticide free veggies. It is wise to choose organic whenever possible. However, some vegetables are worse than others. Below are the vegetables that are not most loaded with pesticides according to the Environmental Working Group. It would be wise to only purchase these vegetables if they are organically grown. The worst ones are listed first:
• Celery
• Spinach
• Kale
• Collard Greens
• Lettuce
• Carrots
• Cucumber (not bad if you peel the skin)
If you are new to juicing, start out with these vegetables, as they are the easiest to digest and tolerate:
• Celery
• Fennel (anise)
• Cucumbers
These three aren’t as nutrient dense as the dark green vegetables. Once you get used to the 3 vegetables listed above, you can start adding the more nutritionally valuable, but less palatable, vegetables into your juice:
• Red leaf lettuce
• Green Leaf lettuce
• Romaine lettuce
• Endive
• Escarole
• Spinach
After you’re used to these, go to the next step:
• Cabbage
• Chinese Cabbage
• Bok Choy
When you’re ready, move on to adding herbs to your juicing. Herbs also make wonderful combinations, and here are two that work exceptionally well:
• Parsley
• Cilantro
Note: You need to be cautious with cilantro, as many cannot tolerate it well. If you are new to juicing, hold off on the cilantro. These are more challenging to consume, but they are highly beneficial.
Only use one or two of these leaves, as they are very bitter:
• Kale
• Collard Greens
• Dandelion Greens
• Mustard Greens (bitter)
Stay tuned for part 2 of this article shortly…..
– Dr. Michael Wald, aka The Blood Detective, is the director of nutritional services at Integrated Medicine of Mount Kisco, located in Westchester New York. He has appeared on ABC World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer, Channel 11 PIX, Channel 12 News, CNN, The Food Network and other media outlets. Dr. Wald earned the name Blood Detective for his reputation to find problems that are often missed by other doctors. He earned an MD degree, is a doctor of chiropractic and a certified dietician-nutritionist. He is also double-board certified in nutrition. He has published over a dozen books with three additional titles due for release late 2013 including: Frankenfoods – Genetically Modified Foods: Controversies, Lies & Your Health and Gluten-A-Holic: How to Live Gluten Free and the Blood Detective’s Longevity Secrets. Dr. Wald can be reached at: www.intmedny.com or www.blooddetective.com or by calling: 914-242-8844.