Being a fan of natural health, you’ve probably heard the terms Antioxidant and Oxidization. Some natural health “experts” have been swearing by this concept to cure pretty much anything from arthritis to cancer and heart attack.
As always, when a new “magic cure” is discovered, hundreds of ethical and unethical companies have jumped on the bandwagon promoting various Antioxidant supplements.
But is this the magical solution it’s made out to be? That’s the issue of today’s feature article. And just to not drag things out, the answer is; “yes, kindof … but not in the way you’d think.”
A controversial issue like this is no doubt going to raise some fun discussions. So please read on and make your comment below.
In this article, I’m not going to go into details of “free radicals” and “Oxidation.” We wrote a detailed article on this issue a few months ago that can be found here…
In short, Oxidation is when an oxygen molecules loses an electron, making it “unstable” or “radiant.” This is the most common form of “free-radicals” and happens naturally throughout your body thousands of times throughout the day. Your body uses free radicals as bombs to attack invadersrs such as viruses and bacterias.
The trouble begins when free-radical creation goes out of control due to external events such as pollution or bad diet. In that case, free-radicals begin attacking anything they come in contact with, including healthy tissues. This leads to all kinds of diseases such as cancer, auto-immune diseases and cardiovascular diseases just to name a few well-recorded examples.
Note that Oxidation is not caused by too much oxygen in the body. You want to have high levels of oxygen. It’s when the oxygen molecule changes, similar to having a healthy cell that changes into cancer cell. Nobody would say having too many healthy cells in the beginning was the problem of cancer.
Fortunately, our body has developed a fantastic tool to deal with Oxidation. It can soak up a molecule called “Antioxidant” from the food you eat. Those Antioxidant molecules donate an extra electron to the Oxygen molecule, stabilizing it. Bravo!
There are many types of vitamins that have been shown to have Antioxidant effects; for example, vitamins C and E. By far, the best source of all these Antioxidant molecules are various fruits, berries and vegetables.
My top ten Antioxidants in vegetables are (organic):
1. Kale
2. Spinach
3. Brussels sprouts
4. Alfalfa sprouts
5. Broccoli
6. Beets
7. Red bell peppers
8. Onions
9. Corn
10. Eggplant
And in Fruits and Berries we have:
1. Prunes
2. Raisins
3. Blueberries
4. Blackberries
5. Strawberries
6. Raspberries
7. Plums
8. Oranges
9. Red grapes
10. Cherries
Now it comes as no surprise that hundreds of studies have already determined that diets high in fruits and vegetables can drastically improve and even cure various diseases. And antioxidant molecules probably play a key role in this healing.
This has pushed hundreds of supplement manufactures to create “Antioxidant Supplements.” The problem is, however, that no big study has revealed any positive evidence of Antioxidant Supplements in tackling diseases. Some have even indicated them to possibly be making things worse.
This is, however, not 100% proof that Antioxidants are useless. Researchers in big supplement studies tend to use cheaper supplements that the body has trouble absorbing – as discussed in our previous article “Are Your Supplements Making You Sick.”
However, there is a way to absorb the antioxidant and other beneficial ingredients from fruits and vegetables on a big scale and benefit greatly.
It’s called juicing, and the process is simple: Buy a load of your favorite fruits, berries and vegetables, load them into your juicer (can be bought for less than $50) and drink 2-3 glasses per day.
Why not just eat the vegetables, you may ask? Definitely in addition to the juicing eat as many vegetables as you can. But it’s almost impossible to eat all the ingredients found in 2-3 glasses of vegetable juice in solid form.
I’ve personally experienced, and witnessed several friends, drastically improve and even completely cure various diseases (including arthritis, diabetes, cancer and MS) with extensive juicing.
The reason, I believe, it works better than factory made antioxidant supplements lies in the complete absorption of the vitamins and minerals in the fruits and vegetables. Somehow they have to work altogether to deliver the beneficial effects.
If you suffer from any type of developed disease, I suggest you take this a step farther and do a week or so of juice fasting. Don’t flip off this page immediately when I suggest this. It’s not nearly as scary or new-age as it sounds.
This kind of fast gives your body a time to “re-boot.” I know people who have done this for up to 60 days without problems. That is, however, too drastic for my liking. In my experience, 7-10 days is plenty to begin reversing most serious diseases.
One study, for example revealed that ALL type-2-diabetics who consumed an extremely low- calorie diet (mostly in the form of juicing) dropped their blood sugar down to normal in a week. And most of them had permanently reversed their type 2 diabetes in eight weeks.
Although Jodi Knapp’s type-2-diabetes guide doesn’t require juicing, she often recommends a week of juice fasting followed by the guidance in her guide for 21 days. Results are amazing.
Christian Goodman has also told me that blood pressure can be brought down to normal in as little as 1-2 days using juice fasting. Then it can be managed and permanently cured using his simple exercises. Juicing is, however, of course not by any means needed to benefit from his Blood Pressure Exercises.
Arthritis is also caused by extreme inflammation and oxidization. Many of my arthritis clients have benefited greatly from loading themselves with antioxidants by adding juicing (not strictly juice fasting) to other recommendations in my arthritis guide.
Here at Blue Heron Health News, we’ve discussed thousands of different health studies throughout the years. We are often asked for more concrete advice on improving health. Sometimes we’re criticized for charging for our books and products (we wouldn’t pay for much website hosting if we didn’t).
So here is probably the most powerful advice I can give you: get a juicer, buy ton of the fruits and vegetables listed above and drink 2-3 glasses of juice every day. You’ll beam with antioxidant benefits. If you want to take it a step further (and your doctor says you’re healthy enough) try a week of juice fasting. You may feel horrible for a week but will remember this as the best thing you did for years to come.
And if you’re not into anything else, at least leave your comment below.
When you say “juicing” are you saying to extract the juice from the solids and drink or are you saying blend the fruits and veggies and consume pulp and all?
An excellent article and excellent advise. It agrees with everything I already know about anti-oxidents. But there are other products out there that claim to reverse aging as well. I would like to see an article listing
the whole lot of these.
there is absolutely no problem consuming the same foods without juicing them. All of those foods are mostly water anyway. By juicing you miss out on all the fiber and other nutrients. Juicing is a waste of time and food.
I have a champion juicer and a Vita mix. I start out with the Juicer, it is great. But I usually wind up doing the Vita mix 90% of the time. It just takes soooo much time to juice all those veggies and the leafy veggies are very hard to juice unless you mix them in with the hard items.
I also have trouble figuring out what to eat and not to eat. The carrots and beets are so loaded with sugar and they some have loads of. Sodium.
Does anyone know if the organic Sodium is supposed to be treated as Salt Sodium. I read where Celery juice helps lower BP how can it be harmful for you if it can do that. Makes no sense to me.
any thoughts on this subject will be appreciated.
It’s sound great and convincing.We should try to reap the benefits.
I agree with Tony. If you properly prepare your foods you should reap all the benefits. Stay healthy my friends.
my last was not posted .?? Maybe because I named items I use to proccess
my vegtables/ fruits.
I will ask again. Does anyone know if the Sodium in vegtables are in the same catigory as Sodium ( as in Salt) If so why will celery reduce high blood pressure (juice that is). I have personallly reduced my BP a few years ago.
Any info in the Sodium issue would be appreciated.
okbonal
That’s all good to juice tons and tons of organic fruits and vegetable, however many people cannot afford to do that. It takes a lot of fruits and vegetable to make 1 glass of juice and the price for organic produce as well as regular produce keeps going up and up. Personally, I cannot afford to buy enough to make juice. I also do not get the same feeling of satisfaction when I am not chewing the food. Thanks for the article however.
I have used the Master Cleance, of and on, for years and then I never feel better.
Now I have started doing more with juicing but that includes the pulp as well.
I know that beets are very good, but I am a little afraid for the red mess!!
I have stage 4 prostate cancer, and am thus wary of sugar consumption, which is certainly going to be increased significantly by drinking as much vegetable and fruit juice as the article suggests. I did it for a while just using carrot, beet and celery juice, which I found quite sweet, so am not doing it at this stage. William Kelley did some remarkable things in successfully combatting his own ‘incurable’ pancreatic cancer, and one of the (many) things he utilized was juicing, which apparently was beneficial to him. He also identified ten different metabolic types, ranging from being a pure vegan to one who needs red meat three times a day, with all shades of grey in between. I haven’t quite figured out where I personally fit in with this concept, but it does explain why there are so many different responses to so many different so-called cures. Also, there is the personal conformity bias that none of us can escape, which essentially says that if I try something and it works for me, it must be good for everyone else too. Maybe, maybe not.
In any case, I tend to agree with Tony when he says that you can get the same nutrients just by eating the whole fruit or vegetable, although you will certainly not get as much concentrated anti-oxidants as with juicing, but neither will you get the same sugar load…and cancer thrives on sugar. However, I don’t dispute the people who feel they have benefitted from a week-long juice fast as the article reports. If you like the idea, go ahead and try it is my view, just don’t blame anyone else if it doesn’t work. It is your own responsibility to research everything before trying it out.
I also understand where Bonny Allen and Loretta Helton are coming from in their objections to juicing in that it does take a helluva pile of veggies and fruit to get all that juice, not to mention the time it takes to clean up the juicer, etc. To me, cost is not that relevant if you actually get the hoped-for results, however.
For Bonny Allen: The sodium in celery is irrelevant to blood pressure readings. One absolutely needs salt to stay healthy, but the consumption of commercial table salt must be avoided at all costs. Like everything else that Food Inc. produces, it is a toxic product and WILL raise your blood pressure, among other things. For more information, Google David L. Brownstein, MD. There should be a reference to an article he has written on salt at his website, or go to mercola.com and enter “salt” in his search site, which will give the same info.
Cheers.
With all the information about health from scores of sources,its a wonder if people dont get stressed out trying to stay healthy.As you know stress is a health problem that can cause a lot of different illness.
Exellent article.
I certainly agree with the fruit and vegatable idea,but also tend to believe eaten whole has more benifits than juicing. The body does need the bulk in eating whole.
However there are limits. Myself I cannot eat pineapple because of the acids.
My brother cannot eat tomatoes ,he has gout and the acids increase his problems.
A friend I knew in the Honduras loved grapefruit,and it grows all over the country,he finnaly got sick and went to a doctor and was told if he continued in eating so much pneapple he would die. He then stopped.
My e-mail getts clogged with health cures that even contradict each other,all for the sake of makeing a dollar,even though how unethical and missleading it may be.
But sick people that have not found a cure will try anything in the hope that it may work.
I have a friend that spent 14.000 dollars to find a cure for lung cancer,he found so called medication he lived on for 3 months and died.
I myself have fallen into disapointments in following up and spending money on something that was totaly worthless.
Rhis artical amazes me in its honesty .
I will not list my ailments, just thinking about them makes me cross. I found a book by Valerie Boutenko about green/raw food and it is amazing. She blends everything into green smoothies and, without rambling on, the end result is her family are now healthy. (There were a lot of health issues.) Her research is very well done and it is a great to read a well balanced book that gives food for thought and not just recipes with no background. One of my faves is cos lettuce or spinach with pineapple or banana, mint and apple. Oh, she also tells you what weeds (yes, I have done it) you can use fresh from your garden for free. You will never look at a Cobbler’s Peg the same way again. I use dock and dandelions too. My stomach loves me and my blood sugar has dropped to between 4 and 6. Good health everyone!
Fasting means not using/eating. When you use the term juice fasting are you saying don’t eat/drink juice for a period of time ?? I believe you mean to only use juice;but.I’m somewhat confused.
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study some of the articles in PubMed citing essential oils of clove oil and oregano used beneficially for Lyme’s disease.
oh yes! I have tried this a lot of times already and it has cured my hyperacidity. I eat 1 kind of fruit before mealtime and I drink pure calamansi (lemon) juice every morning before breakfast.
Well I eat 5 fruits aday and i take vitc e Omega 3 6 9
I think thats enough because to much fruits gives me Diareha
ihad a masssssss
I have tried once eating only fruits and vegatables and a lot of juicea (nothing coocked) for 2 weeks.It felt great.
On several ocations i did a 5 days juice fasting using SAMBU that can be bought in a healthfood store.This one is super.On ever Sambu juice fast i’ve lostabout 10 lb my skin became smoother,my eyes cleared up.
I’ve also tried juice fast every 3-th day: I eat 2 days juice fast the third.That was really good too.
I hope this helps.
I think this juicing of vegetables and fruits would help me a lot for my chronic constipation, diabetes and for stabilizing my blood pressure.Thanks a lot for publishing this article. God bless.
I can’t add much except to say that the foods that work, REALLY work. Thank you for all of your excellent knowledge.
sure i will take this advice,thanks for this information
Can’t wait to get to the store for a juicer and some fruit and veggies. My friend has a produce market. Still do not know if I get the kind of juicer that separates the fiber from the juice. Doesn’t matter cause I like to eat the soft fibers from the fiber filter anyway! GREAT ARTICLE
I would like to address the supplements issue .Stick to KRILL OIL AXTANTHATHIN AND COENZYME Q10NON OR NOL.Spices TURMERIC CINNAMON CAYENNE PEPPER GINGER.Herbs OREGANO THYME ROSEMARY TARRAGON.Wild stuff MUSTARD GARLIC STINGING NETTLE TEA DANDELION LEAVES before the plant produces it’s flower stalks.Use gloves to handle the nettle leave to dry in the sun make tea with the leaves using a tea ball.
To find what the benefits of each is do your own research.
2 years ago I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure so bad they didn’t even want to risk by pass surgery.They gave me a bunch of chemicals to take which I ignored and began my research .Now they tell me a by pass is not neccesary .They of course think the chemicalsa did it.
be healthy
Bonny Allen: The sugars to avoid comes from Cane sugar and HFCS. high fructose corn syrup. mainly used as a sweetener in many pre packaged foods. avoid those 2. The researchers say that the liver cannot process these two. Like buying a pound of mince and trying to make a steak out of it. ## the sugars in beets . carrots, cranberries. blackberries etc. is a good sugar that is healthy for the body in fact is beneficial. ## Celery is a diuretic.. makes you pass more water. this lowers blood pressure like the diuretic drugs. 1 stick a day is enough for your health . passing too much water lowers your blood volume so all your other things are at higher levels. blood pressure down . blood sugar is up. ?? try to eat the same
amount of celery every day if you have HBP or DIABETES. # have just read a report on BEETS. excellent for your health . “www.cancerdefeated.com” a publishing company . all health conditions are mentioned. Careful and committed to bring all treatments that are proven to effective conventional and alternative. “natural. ” Nothing gets published without scrutiny.
I’ll like to have the exact references that you used in this article. It isn’t that I don’t agree with you.
Tina
I say, don’t use a juicer. Think about all of the fiber you are
missing. However, some folks may like drinking the juice and eating the fiber.
The old saying, “to each his own.”