Food is given to us as a blessing, to serve both as nourishment and as medicine. If you are using various foods as nourishment only, you will obviously miss an important aspect that promotes your general health. Here is where the juices have to come in. They fulfill both of these purposes with ease.

Speaking about the healthy juices, there is a popular misconception. It says that juices are a type of concentrated food. Is this true?

Fortunately, this view is not very accurate. Usually what we consider a concentrated food is something that has been dehydrated, deprived of its water content, much like what happens with powdered or evaporated milk.

Clearly, juices don’t belong to this line of products. They naturally contain water, which is organic and very beneficial. The cells of your body are actually starving for this type of enlivened water.

Comparing Concentrations

In reality, fruit and vegetable juices are probably some of the least concentrated foods, although their potential nourishing benefit is amongst the greatest. Let us see how vegetable and fruit juices compare to other foods:

• soy bean flour is 8.7 times more concentrated than carrot juice and 9.4 times more concentrated than celery juice
• popcorn is 21 times more concentrated than carrot juice and 23 times more concentrated than celery juice
• white sugar is 42 times more concentrated than carrot juice and 46 times more than celery juice.

Think about it. White sugar is obtained after a complicated process that involves purification and refining. It is refined and concentrated and far from its natural state. In contrast, juices are as natural a type of food as one can get.

Consuming such highly concentrated foods certainly has an impact on the body chemistry. This includes the acidity generated in the organism after consuming similar products to those mentioned above.

Carrot Juice vs Cow’s Milk

With regards to the concentration, freshly squeezed carrot juices, for example, contains as much water content as the undiluted cow’s milk. Knowing that the content of water present in the material is a measure of concentration, the situation is very clear. Both liquids are far from being concentrated foods. Some juices can be found in a concentrated form, but if you make them by juicing they are certainly not. It is worth mentioning, however, cow’s milk is not as healthy as carrot juice. This has to do with the fact that cow’s milk is highly slimy (muscous).

Drinking raw fruit and vegetable juice is essential for maintaining good health, but the quality of the extracted juice has to be satisfactory. If the fibers are not properly triturated, a lot of vital nutrients won’t be extracted from the pulp and they won’t find their way to the final product. That is, if the juice is partially extracted, it will be rich in vital water content, but the concentration of minerals, vitamins, and enzymes will be low. The remaining pulp will then usually be abundant in organic minerals – instead of the juice itself. Juicers like Hamilton Beach Big Mouth are capable of properly separating the living essence out of the pulp.

Where exactly do these organic components play their role?

The truth is that your everyday activities consume your bodily system on a cellular level. Here I’m not talking only about your physical activities. Your mental, emotional and psychic life also takes its toll. Your cells are constantly being damaged and they need to be rebuilt or replaced. In order for this repair process to be successful, your body needs vital element – nutrients of organic origin.

Not just minerals or vitamins taken in their inorganic form (various supplements, or pills).

Let us take an example from the plant world. The bio-dynamic approach to agriculture, a system based on the teachings of Dr. Rudolf Steiner, discourages using artificial fertilizers as plant nourishment. Why? Because the plants will get the needed minerals, but they will not be organic, they will miss the living, etheric, life principle contained in the natural fertilizers. This will reflect itself in the increased plants’ susceptibility to various pests and diseases. Likewise is with people. Taking inorganic minerals will provide you with the necessary components, but we will miss the vital organic force of the natural fruits and vegetables.

There is no doubt. Continue to eat whatever you eat, but include raw fruit juices and raw vegetable juices. This is one of the best ways to refill the body with the components it misses.