JUICING TIPS

Carrot Juice

by Alfredo Alvarez

(AUSTIN, TX) - Proud students and allumni of the University of Texas often remark that they bleed orange for their home school, whose home color is a shimmering orange. This vivid description might also apply to someone who drinks a lot of freshly juiced carrots, as the color of the juice is a shimmering brighr orange.

Anyone looking to immediately improve their general health, or treat specific maladies should look first to that delightful bright orange drink made by a juicer. Vegetables are themselves a vital part of any diet. One of the most vitamin rich of these is the lowly carrot.

Naturally, fresh carrot juice has become one of the first and often used components of a specific health regimen. There are numerous reasons for this. As a general rule, a pound of carrots yields a pint of juice. What vitamins does this yield?

First off, a pint of carrot juice contains 60,000 IU of vitamin A. (Compare this to the recommended daily allowance of 5000 IU for adults) Vitamin A is an anti-oxidant which is key to the growth and repair of tissues. The vitamin helps keep eyes healthy, and also helps alleviate night blindness. The vitamin helps the body fight infections. It helps nourish epithelial tissues in the lungs, as well all of the skin.

Vitamin A also works with calcium to form teeth and bones. Have brittle nails or split ends? If so, you may have a vitamin A deficiency.

Obviously the vitamin is helpful in many different ways, both to people who are ill but also to those who seek to maintain a high level of health. The finest source of vitamin A, although not the only source, is from carrots. The vitamin also is prominent in green, leafy vegetables, but not in such easy to consume quantities.

Doctor Norman Walker maintained that people should drink a pint of fresh carrot juice daily, simply as a general health maintainer. Interestingly, a carrot juice, mixed with another vegetable like celery or parsley or apple, certainly makes for a very effective multi-vitamin. And delivered to the body in the form of fresh juice allows the body to easily assimilate and absorb its vitamins and minerals.

Carrots also contain a significant supply of calcium, potassium and phosphorus. Mixed with celery, which is our favorite combination of the juice, it creates a high content of sodium, an essential element that many people are deficient in.

Drinking carrot juice regularly is a great way to confront the issues of aging. The vitamins relieve such symptoms as bone pain, backaches, insomnia, brittle cavity-prone teeth and tremors of the fingers. As always with juicing, we want to emphasize that taking vitamins will not yield immediate effects like taking a happy pill.

One glass of carrot juice will not be a magic elixir. The benefits of vitamins and minerals only appear after regular, routine use. This is similar to exercising. Going to the gym off-and-on haphazardly yields little real benefit. However exercising regularly dramatically improves results. The important thing is to keep your juicer in sight on the counter and not far back in a cupboard.

Vegetable juices like carrot are best ingested in the afternoon. Evenings are okay, but keep in mind that they will give you a burst of energy, so try not to wait too late. If it is getting close to bedtime, and you still want to get your juicing in for the day, make a Waldorf.

Common Questions:

I don't have a juicer, or I don't have time to make a pint of carrot juice everyday. Are there any quicker ways to get this?
Unlike fruit juices, which contain mostly vitamin C, carrot juice stores longer without its vitamins evaporating. A great time to drink that daily pint is just after lunch. Many people are at work now, so going through a big juicing production is asking a lot. You can make a couple days worth of juice at night, and keep them refrigerated. If you don't have a juicer, it is now easier then ever to find supermarkets that sell it. It isn't completely fresh, but that's okay.

Whole Foods supermarkets have juice bars. You can go there on your lunch hour and buy a freshly made glass as well.

Can I drink carrot juice in the morning?
I've never liked it. The best thing is to eat fruit in the morning, or yogurt. A concentrated vegetable juice is really better later in the day. The theories of the body's circadian rhythms state that fruits are for the morning, and vegetables are for after noon. Personally, I found it not the right way to take off in the morning. Drinking a glass of carrot juice will give you a nice burst of energy. Try fitting this in during an afternoon, or after working out.