Juicing seems to be an important component for many people who are able to live with or beat cancer, and everyone I read about drinks at least 1 juice a day. The main benefit is that juicing allows produce to be more bioavailable than if you were to eat the same items, and this lets your body to quickly absorb the nutrients. It also offers another way to eat your veggies if you’ve been told to reduce your fiber intake.
I began juicing for my husband because he could not have any fibre due to a very large intestinal tumour. The fibre limitation meant very few vegetables, and what he could have would have to be cooked to the consistency of mush. That didn’t sound very nutritious to me so we decided juicing would have to suffice until he could eat fibrous foods.
Initially I was not very good at juicing as I included lots of fruit and very few vegetables, which meant the juice was very high in sugar. I experimented with vegetables and discovered that broccoli stalks, zucchini and swiss chard help to mask flavours from some stronger tasting vegetables like watercress and arugula. Also, a green apple offered enough sweetness to offset some bitter flavours from foods such as dandelion, radish leaves and radicchio.
Shortly after I started juicing I noticed my husband’s energy improved which allowed him to do more activities. Once he started to consistently drink green juices we noticed his hair became thicker, his nails grew quickly and he no longer required his medication for asthma which he had used daily for over 30 years. For me, the best part of juicing was that I felt like I was doing more, much more than simply attending appointments and being his companion during chemo treatments.
Wendy’s Wellness Connection 