REFINED FRUIT JUICE

I was discussing the merits of using fruits to sweeten porridge when a client let it slip that he was adding fruit from a packaged container as opposed to fresh fruit. This led to a long discussion of fresh vs processed and thought I would share with you some findings.
Firstly I had to go to the supermarket to access the ingredients found in packaged fruits as this information is not readily available on their websites. I will not mention names here as all manufacturers seemed to do the same thing. There are too many varieties out there anyway. I ventured off to the supermarket thinking this would be easy. Read the ingredients, make my assessment of the ingredients and move on. The reality was that nothing is what it seems.  I have been working on this all morning very little information gained. Let me explain.
Sample one: Ingredients was 58% fruit, with refined fruit juice and ascorbic acid. This had me baffled. The product came in a plastic container so I could see the fruit packed inside. If there was 58% fruit, what was the other 42%? And then there was the Refined Fruit Juice!! Do you know that I could not find any information on what exactly Refined Fruit Juice (RFJ) meant?? I was unable to see if this was simply the juice from the fruit that occurs naturally or what it meant. Of course it is not natural juice or else this would be written in capital letters for all to see. No refined fruit juice could simply mean the water the fruit was cleaned in, washed in perhaps, who knows?
I decided the best way to compare fresh fruit and packaged fruit is to do a side by side nutritional chart. The results were quite amazing and here they are:

	Peaches Packaged in RFJ	Whole peach
	140gm	175gm
FAT	0.1GM	0
CHO	20.6GM	17
SUGARS	16.0GM	15
FIBRE	1.3GM	3
PROT	1.1GM	2
SODIUM	8MG	0
Kj	354	275

What do the results tell you?? The 8gm of sodium is due to the preservative factor. There is double the fibre found in fresh peaches vs packaged making me ask have the fruits been tampered with? How can there be less fibre??  The fruit in packaged products is certainly slimier and softer, has this evolved due to consumer demand? Have the manufacturers decided to get rid of the firmness and fibre because people are now too lazy to chew?

Next time you use processed over fresh, you are not really adding one of your five a day. You are more adding just another processed product the body has to work twice as hard to digest it, which can be difficult for those under a lot of stress, but that is for another blog.

bye for now

Julie Dargan RN, ND, BHSc

3 Day Raw Food/Juice Detox

For those of you who are interested in doing a 3 day detox in beautiful surroundings with like minded people then read on.
Julie Dargan is hosting two retreats, one in Daylesford, Victoria and another in Port Douglas, Queensland.
Julie is a qualified nurse, Naturopath and Natural Juice Therapist. All juices and raw foods will be supplied with lots of information and demonstrations throughout the day.

Group sizes will be limited to 16 so be quick to inquire and make your booking.
 For more information email Julie at juicemaster47@gmail.com

What's This Rash?

This article is going to incorporate a story in relation to my 11 year old son. It is an interesting story that I felt had an important message behind it.
Living in Melbourne we ventured like so many Victorians to the Melbourne Show. This is a great show that has something for everyone to enjoy. What the children were most interested in were the showbags. This is the first year my children have been to the show (living in Ireland there is nothing like the Show at all) so it was a great experience for them. Showbags were limited and one favourite was the XBox bag. Inside this bag was some LYNX Fever body wash as well as some other products used to entice our children, urging them to leave their childhood behind and become MEN!!

To those of you who know me, I was not impressed with these goodies. We use organic, gentle ingredients for not only what we put into our body but also cleaning products, shampoos etc. This is not very exciting for young boys. There are no MAN ads associated with Natural Products. As much as we are role models for our children, we also have to take a step back sometimes and let them discover things there own way and hope that they will make the right choices. My son knew how I felt about the LYNX products, but I let him try it out as a "treat". It took pride and place in the bathroom and we were all warned that it was his personal product (no chance of anyone else using this product in the bath!).

Move forward one week later and I hear a scream from the bathroom. I run in to see his torso covered in an ugly raised red rash. He also said how he could not stop scratching in class. He had a bath full of LYNX flavoured water but refused to believe it was the LYNX due to the fact that the rash was no where else and that he had been using it for a week with no other problems.

Next day I kept him home from school as I could not let him go while he had the rash. He stayed with me reading and watching TV for the day, while we both waited to see if a temperature would materialize to justify the rash. He was fine and the rash disappeared after a day or two. We were going to experiment with the LYNX again on the weekend. He wanted to prove me wrong while I wanted to prove to him that I was right. Two days later he put a small amount on the LYNX onto his hands, and we were both astonished at the results!! Rash on the torso within 30 minutes. We both agreed, LYNX was put into the bin!!

This scenario made me think of so many of my clients over the years. Coming to see me with  a constant rash that just seemed to come and go all the time. Steroid cream was always prescribed by the doctor but it kept coming back again. I would always ask what they were washing themselves with, or washing their clothes in, but would usually say the same thing that had always used and nothing new so it could not be the products.

If a rash develops it is one of two (or more) things.
1. A viral or bacterial infection
2. Our body is trying to get rid of a toxin it does not want in the system.

Perhaps this happens to everyone when they use such body washes. Over time we get used to the rash and decide that it is something that we will always have. I know for me, I always think, what could be causing this? Getting to the core of the issue, rather than just treating the symptoms. At least LYNX was half right with the name of FEVER on their product. Although in my son's case it created the rash without the fever!

To anyone that has a rash, itch, etc. Try and think twice before putting on a cream and see if maybe it is the body trying to say "WARNING TOXIC SUBSTANCE NEEDS REMOVING!"
Products that I would recommend:

Miessence

Click on the above link for more information.

POWERS OF JUICING

This article is a rather long one but one that I think many people should read.
Let me know what you think?

POWERS OF JUICING

BY JULIE DARGAN RN, ND, BHSc, JUICE THERAPIST

WHY SHOULD WE JUICE?

Many people ask me the question, “Why do I promote Juicing”. Why do I recommend juicing rather than promoting to eat more fruit and vegetables? The answer to this question is simple. In the ten years that I have been a Naturopath and trying to get people to eat more fruit and vegetables, very few people actually did change their diet. The majority of people found it too difficult, taste was a big issue, recipes, availability, and the list was endless. Then I discovered how easy and tasting juicing fruit and vegetables could be, as well as the positive changes in so many of my clients once they introduced juicing into their diet.

Juicing is all about extracting the nutrients from the fibre found in fruits and vegetables. It is in the juice where all the goodness comes from. By juicing, you are removing the indigestible fibre (but still retaining soluble fibre) and making the nutrients more readily available to the body in much larger quantities that if you was to eat the fruits and vegetables whole. The nutrients I am talking about here are not only vitamins and minerals, but also an array of enzymes, antioxidants and soluble fibre, all bursting with goodness and vitality, into order to nourish our cells and keeping us alive. Many people are not aware of the importance of eating foods with the enzymes intact. This is so important in helping the body to break down the nutrients in the foods we are eating.

When people think of juicing, they immediately think of fruit juices. At Juice Master, we incorporate many green vegetables into our juices as well as avocado, wheatgrass, spirulina, probiotics and yoghurt. By incorporating greens into the juices this promotes an alkalising formula and will help protect your body against disease and illness. Most diets create an acidic environment which increases the risk of disease and illness within the body.

At Juice Master we like to add avocado to our juices.  Avocado is a wonderful fruit. They are rich in fibre and healthy fats while naturally low in sugar and sodium. Within an avocado the majority of fat is the healthy kind: 60% monounsaturated fat and 12% polyunsaturated fat. Half an avocado contains 18g of the beneficial monounsaturated fat. They also have a strong antioxidant capacity to help prevent the healthy fats in avocados going rancid too quickly. Avocados contain not only antioxidant vitamins and minerals but also other natural antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds. Avocados are also a great protein source. Avocados provide all of the essential amino acids (those that must be provided by our diet), with 18 amino acids in all, plus 7 fatty acids, including Omega 3 and 6. Avocados contain more protein than cow’s milk, about 2% per edible portion.

Also added supplements include: Wheatgrass: a great aid to alkaline the body. Great to alleviate any sugar cravings that can occur. Spirulina: great as a cleanser, for maintaining health and energy as well as a great aid in weight loss. Yoghurt: protein source. Make sure to always look at the ingredients and that no sugar or sugar substitutes have been added to the product.

Juicing yields a high amount of easily digestible nutrients, fat burning compounds, vitamins and minerals, proteins, protective phyto-nutrients as well as healthy bacteria in order to helping you to build  stronger muscles and tissues as well as aiding your digestive processes. It is also cleansing for the kidneys and lymphatic system as well as a whole host of other nutritional values.

Most Western diets are commonly comprised of cooked and processed foods that are devoid of enzymes. Therefore our bodies must produce the enzymes needed to digest the food. When food is eaten with the enzyme intact (as occurs in raw fruit and vegetables), the breakdown of food begins in the stomach decreasing the workload placed on the pancreatic enzymes. By eating foods with the enzymes intact the body is able to focus on growth, maintenance and repair of the body rather than having to spend a great deal of time digesting food. Anyone who is ill or exhausted etc should not be putting further burden on the body. Eating foods with the enzymes intact assists the body in getting rid of wastes as well as taking stress off the pancreas. When we eat a diet mainly comprised of processed and cooked foods, the pancreas has to work harder to produce more enzymes.

Enzymes are destroyed by heat (40-45⁰C), processing methods (such as all processed foods), and microwave cooking.

Foods that contain no enzymes include high refined foods, over cooked foods etc. Preservatives are put into food to prolong their shelf life. The problem with this is that they also destroy the enzyme activity within the product (pasteurized apple juice contains no enzymes). Preservatives are also capable of destroying the enzymes naturally made by the body! You may be making yourself a wonderful green salad, but if you pour a commercial dressing over it and you may be contributing to decreasing the enzyme activity of the salad, rather than increasing it! A great salad dressing I recommend to all my clients is a mixture of Balsamic vinegar and Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Most, if not all, frozen vegetables bought in the supermarkets are flash boiled before freezing thus destroying the enzyme activity. Drinking carbonated drinks destroys enzyme activity as well as leeching calcium from the bones. If produce is picked too soon and left to ripen in transit, there is no enzyme activity available.

What many people do not understand that if you do not have sufficient enzymes to breakdown food nutrients, then the nutrient within the food is not released and delivered to the cells to be utilised. What then happens is that the cells are not nourished but starving and crying out for nutrients. You do not feel satisfied and continue to eat more food to feed the starving cells without enzymes to breakdown the foods the cells never receive the fuel that they need.

A common complaint many of the clients in my clinic have include bloating, IBS, constipation or raiding the cupboards after dinner. This is due to the fact that the lack of enzymes in the diet causes foods to be insufficiently digested. The undigested starch, sugars, carbohydrates can ferment while fats can go rancid. This also causes toxins to build up. Think of food left out on the bench on a hot day that goes rotten, smells, and gives off an odour. Well, that is happening inside the colon. No wonder the abdomen swells up like a balloon with resulting smelly gas/wind, constipation etc. You really need to try and visualise this if you really want to make a change. You need to give your body a good cleanse, just like you would give your car a grease and oil change 2-4 times a year to keep running in top condition and not break down when you least expect it. Fasting and juicing both go hand in hand in getting the body back on track, not pills!!

So to sum up, to clean out the colon- the back end of our digestive tract- you need to get the food particles broken down in the small intestine-the front end- way before it reaches the back end. A diet rich in enzymes starts getting to work straight away in the mouth, stomach and small intestine. Once in the small intestine, enzymes can heal any damage to the lining in the small intestine as well as facilitating nutrient absorption and digestion (great news for those starving cells). Nutrients then find their way to the cells rather than making an exit 24 hours later into the local sewage plants. This also helps the liver and the pancreas due to the fact of decreasing their workload.

A simple way to introduce more raw foods into your diet is to juice with a good quality juicer.

Drinking more fluids in the form of water and fresh juices, as opposed to tea, coffee and pasteurized juices, assists in flushing out toxins and helping to optimize organs such as the liver and pancreas, to function well. The body is able to absorb the nutrients from freshly squeezed juices efficiently which can assist the cleansing potential for anyone with low energy levels or recovering from surgery or illness etc.

It is always best to drink freshly made juices straight away due to the fact that storing juices does decrease the vital enzymes, antioxidants and vitamin content. But, please, common sense prevails here. If you have to make up your juices in the morning (or even the night before) to take them to work with you, then you will be giving yourself more nutrition than if you opted for a quick takeaway. There will still be nutrients in the juice, not as much, but still a reasonable amount. Sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves, or allow the puritans to make us feel guilty in doing everything perfectly. In order to make any lifestyle changes to work, they have to be practical for anyone to commit to.

If you enjoy a juice before your evening meal (an excellent aperitif to give) then it should be taken at least 15 minutes before the meal and at least 1 ½  hours after a meal in order to allow food in the stomach to be mixed effectively with gastric enzymes and HCl rather than be diluted with the juice.

Lose 7lb in 7 days the healthy way.

Now is the time to be doing a spring clean and no better plan than Jason Vale's 7lb (3.5kg) in 7 days (one week!!).

After being in hibernation for the winter, this is a great way to get the body back on track after all those warming foods, hot desserts, too many coffee's with cakes we all like to indulge in during the cooler winter months.

This plan has it all from cleansers to proteins and loaded with information on what to do after the 7 days.

Juice Master Australia will also be teaming up with the rest of the world for the world detox in January 2013 but who can wait that long.

For more information on this great program click on this link.

Talks at work places and the hidden baddies in food.

Hi All,
the latest talk Juice Therapy Australia did was at Cavalier Homes North West. Cavalier Homes is run by Chris and Lorraine and they do a great job with house and land packages. I was brought in to show their staff how easy it is to juice and to sample some of our special mixtures. It is always great to see people's faces of interst when they realise just how tasty the vegetable juices are and how nutritious they are. We discussed the merits of eating raw foods, the ways ingredients are hidden into foods, what foods to juice vs what to blend. The fun bit is always the tasting once you get the information bit over with!!
I made one interesting discovery that morning while buying my fruit and vegies. I always like to make some yummy date balls (learn more at my talks on these delicious goodies) and was looking at one set of dates thinking how lovely they looked and in nice packaging, placed in the gourmet vegetable section so thinking these beauties must be really good, BUT NO, look at the ingredients and they are dates laced with glucose sryup!! I did not think I would have to look at the ingredients, but it just goes to show you have to look at everything to know just what you are buying!! This makes me so angry. The dates really should be in the lollie section...

Enough ranting from me. Next week is a girlie afternoon eductating some ladies on the easy way to lose weight without feeling like you are on a diet. Stay tuned for how that turns out.

Cancer and Juicing

I have been asked by quite a few people lately about what I would recommend for people with cancer. Is there a particular juice that I would recommend for different types of cancer is one popular question. Juice Therapy Australia’s aim is to promote a healthy system inside the body to create an environment that does not promote the growth of cancer cells, not matter what the type of cancer one is affected by. An acidic environment promotes rapid growth of cancer cells, so to create an alkaline environment is very important.

So how to promote an alkaline environment:

By limiting the amount of processed foods in our diet is the most important thing you can do. Most people get despondent when they find out that they have to make radical changes to their diet. They tend to focus on what they cannot have, rather than what they can have. This serves no purpose and you should not allow yourself to think like this. Juicing and raw foods may sound very daunting in the beginning but once you realise how much better you feel and what alternatives there are such as tasty juices, you will be converted.

Juicing extracts all the essential vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and many other nutrients from within the fibre of the fruit and vegetables you are juicing. By extracting the fibre, the body does not have to work its way through the fibre in order for it to be absorbed by the body. It truly is liquid gold of the nutrient world. Many people with cancer are unable to digest big meals, are too tired to make nutritious meals. They may be under stress, the list is endless. By juicing the food, the juicer is doing all the hard work for you so the minute it hits the stomach and then into the intestines it is ready for immediate absorption.

Be sure to add wheatgrass (an excellent alkaline product), or protein sources such as wheatgrass, avocado or yoghurt (by blending into the juice) to help with any muscle wastage that can occur due to the cancer.

Who else can benefit?

It never ceases to amaze me when I see my clients and their families in my clinic in the sense that the person with the ailment is the only one doing the things I recommend while everyone around them continues to eat the unhealthy lifestyle that the client used to eat. They are drinking coke at appointments while I am making up the juicers. We all need wake up calls. In order for is to keep our bodies in tip top condition to help it to cope with whatever we encounter means maintaining an alkaline environment. There is a great deal of stress surrounding those with cancer diagnosis. If it is a child, mother, father with the diagnosis that comes with its own stress and we need to make sure as the carers that we do not get sick. It also takes away the pressure of the client feeling isolated that they are making all the changes.

Feel free to add any comments at the end of this blog.