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Juicing for Wellness: Transforming Inflammation Through Nutrition · Well Women Flourish | Fitness and Nutrition Strategies for Women Over 45

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Welcome to the Well Woman podcast, where together we are making daily deposits
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into our physical, spiritual, and mental health accounts.
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I'm Alexis, your host, and today we are going to talk about the power of juicing
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to help with chronic inflammation.
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I'll go over some vegetables that are helpful to decrease chronic inflammation
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and also some of the combinations to avoid.
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Have you ever thought about juicing and you knew, absolutely knew that it would
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benefit your health, but you felt unsure about where to start?
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Well, let me tell you, you are not alone.
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Juicing can feel overwhelming at first, but today I'm going to make it simple.
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I'll walk you through some specific vegetable juice recipes that support chronic
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conditions like inflammation, fatigue, skin issues, and more.
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Grab a pen and paper and let's get to work.
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First, let's talk about what is chronic inflammation.
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Chronic inflammation is your body's immune system being stuck in overdrive.
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This leads to fatigue, joint pain, brain fog, gut issues, and ultimately long-term illness.
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Some of the conditions that are impacted by chronic inflammation are type 2
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diabetes, high blood pressure, autoimmune disorders.
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Obesity is actually impacted by chronic inflammation. Your body's inability
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to metabolize and process the foods leading to excess weight is impacted by chronic inflammation.
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Arthritis is another one. Remember that when things end in itis,
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that indicates inflammation.
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Some of the causes of chronic inflammation can be processed foods.
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I'm sure at this point, We've all heard the dangers of processed foods, high sugar intake.
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It's very important to know what is the daily recommended amount of sugar to
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take in and that we should be under, and that's nine teaspoons for men and six teaspoons for women.
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Stress also contributes to chronic inflammation. So it's important to learn
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ways to manage our stress because in addition to the food we're eating,
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stress is a contributing factor.
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Also a sedentary lifestyle that contributes to inflammation.
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So why does juicing help? And what's the difference between juicing versus eating your vegetables?
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Juicing extracts the highest content of nutrients and makes it absorbable for your body.
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You can easily consume a large amount of vegetables without feeling too full.
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It's important to remember we still need to eat our 5 to 7 plus servings of
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vegetable for the day so that we get that fiber into our gut,
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but we want to flood our system with antioxidants from the extracted juice.
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It's going to help reduce your inflammation and also boost your immune system.
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Once we flood our system with that juice, it supports liver and gut detoxification.
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Now let's go over some of the top anti-inflammatory vegetables and we'll talk
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about what their healing power is. Yes.
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These vegetables aren't just low-calorie. We want to consider that they are
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God's medicine cabinet.
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And here's how each one can uniquely target chronic inflammation and illness.
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The first one we'll talk about is celery. Some of the key nutrients of celery are vitamins K and C.
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Potassium, antioxidants are coming along with celery.
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What are the benefits? The benefits are that it helps with your blood pressure
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and acts as a natural diuretic.
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Now you may wonder, what is a diuretic?
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That's an excellent question.
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A diuretic is going to be something that helps to eliminate waste and salt from your urine.
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You may know this as a water pill that the doctor will prescribe,
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but the good news is Celery is a natural anti-diuretic and helps to reduce your
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blood pressure in that way.
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Celery also helps to calm inflammation in the gut and your joints.
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So celery is highly beneficial. It's one of my favorites to juice because it's
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easy to wash and prep and goes through the juicer very easily and it yields a high amount of juice.
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So I feel like I'm getting more bang from my buck.
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It improves your digestion and helps to relieve bloating. So that's what celery is good for.
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So the key thing to remember about celery is that it's good for high blood pressure.
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It's also going to be helpful for inflammatory bowel disease.
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And I want you to remember that every body is unique. So you have to know your
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own body, what works best for you, what foods might be an irritant,
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what foods you just simply don't like the taste of and don't force yourself
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to do that. So why does celery work?
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It works because it contains over a dozen types of antioxidants that calm the
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oxidative stress that's happening in your body.
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And oxidative stress is the root of chronic inflammation. So celery is beneficial
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to reduce chronic inflammation.
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The next one we'll talk about is cucumber.
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The key nutrients of cucumber are silica, vitamin K, vitamin C,
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and it has a high water content.
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The benefits of cucumber are going to be hydrating your tissues,
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supporting your skin, joints, and detox.
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I'm sure we've all seen women with
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cucumbers on their eyes to help relieve puffiness, and that's the reason.
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Cucumber helps to soothe your digestive tract as well.
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Another important factor is that it's mildly alkalizing, so that means it's helping the body's pH.
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Your pH balance is going to be helped by having cucumber as part of your daily juicing regimen.
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It helps skin conditions like eczema and acne.
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Eczema and acne are two of the conditions that I did suffer with that have been
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completely reversed, eliminated from my life as a result of juicing.
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It's also going to help with joint pain, acid reflux, and gastritis.
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Now, why does celery, why does cucumber work? Cucumber helps because it helps
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to flush the toxins and reduce the internal heat that's contributing to inflammation.
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Inflammation is like a fire condition in the body. So when you have a flare
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up, it really is like a fire.
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So we want to put that fire out by getting these vegetables in.
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So that's what cucumber is good for, helping to detox and reduce inflammation
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by flushing out the system.
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The next one we'll talk about is kale and spinach. Also going along with kale
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and spinach, I'm going to add in collard greens and Swiss chard.
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Swiss chard is one of my favorites.
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These dark leafy green vegetables have key nutrients like magnesium,
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folate, chlorophyll, calcium, iron, vitamin K, and are so helpful for us.
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It's going to reduce systemic inflammation in your system and support liver detox.
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It also helps to regulate your blood sugar. We also want to think about our
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blood sugar as it relates to type 2 diabetes prevention, treatment, and even reversal.
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So these leafy green vegetables are highly beneficial for that.
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Anyone who has a fatty liver condition, we want to always be checking our liver
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enzymes. If you've had any diagnosis of this, these leafy green vegetables will be beneficial.
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Cardiovascular disease, that's the disease of your heart and arteries and network
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of your heart, can also be helped by having these leafy green vegetables.
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Now, why does it work? It works because magnesium deficiency is highly common
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in people who are suffering from chronic inflammation.
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These greens replenish the magnesium and the chlorophyll helps to clean the
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blood and energize your cells.
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Chlorophyll is a beneficial part of the plants and that's what's giving it its green color.
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So green leafy vegetables, I'd say, were super important for me as I was juicing
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and helped to alleviate premenstrual syndrome, menstrual cramps.
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I do not have these things anymore.
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And I don't need to take any medication for it because I learned that it was
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a part of inflammation and I eliminated it from my life.
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The next one we'll talk about are beets.
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Beets, beets, beets. The key nutrient for beets are going to be folate,
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manganese, and betalanes.
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The benefits are increasing nitric oxide. That improves your blood flow and
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reduces blood pressure.
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Beets are highly beneficial for your blood. And when you start to work with
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these vegetables on your own and you see the bright redness of the beets,
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it's not surprising to know that God's designed this to be helpful for our blood.
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It's also going to support liver detox pathways in the body.
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We always want to support our body's natural detoxification processes by having
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these vegetables in that support the detox.
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We also want to think about how it's helpful for hypertension.
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That is the high blood pressure.
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So beets can help with that. Anything that's going to support proper blood flow
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is going to be helpful in treating any blood pressure issues.
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Also, again, for the fatty liver, the beets are helpful for that.
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And beets are good for energy. So anyone suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome,
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beets can help with that. Now, why do beets work?
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Beets work because they are one of the few foods that actively boosts the body's
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oxygenation and stamina.
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A lot of athletes are using beets as a form of energy to help support their
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energy for performance.
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And that's why it helps with chronic fatigue or any heart strain.
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So that's beets. The next vegetable we're gonna talk about is my favorite, the carrot.
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I have been able to improve my vision. My vision is.
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Improving in small increments every year at my vision exam.
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My vision is balanced in both eyes, which makes it much cheaper for me to get contact lenses.
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I only need one box because my vision is the same in both eyes.
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So carrots are beta carotene, vitamin A, potassium, and antioxidants.
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And the benefits are what we know, and I know this to be true,
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I have evidence of that, is supporting your eye health and immune system.
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Carrots are another favorite of mine to juice because they do yield a high amount
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of juice. So again, getting more bang for my buck.
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They help regulate your blood sugar, promote healthy skin, and the mucous membranes of your body.
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We want all of these things in our body to be aligned for our best health and
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for aging well. So we want our skin to be elastic and maintain that elasticity.
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What are carrots helpful for? Carrots are helpful for type 2 diabetes.
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And when you juice it with greens, that's going to help keep the sugar low.
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We don't just want to drink a ton of carrot juice.
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We want to use wisdom even when we're juicing and not overtake our bodies with
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sugar, even natural sugars coming from vegetables. So let's be mindful of that.
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It's also going to help with psoriasis and eczema.
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And this is my personal testimony is that I no longer have eczema.
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I'm not going to the dermatologist for creams and shots or any of those things.
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I'm not experiencing any eczema flare-ups at this time.
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There may be times when I go on vacation and I'm very far off course with my
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eating that I'll start to feel a flare-up coming on, a little itch.
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But once I get back on my routine, come back home, I'm back and fine.
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No more eczema flare-ups. This cream that I have, I still have it,
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but I haven't had to use it probably in about two years now.
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So with the carrots, it's also going to support your immunity.
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Any immune issues that you have, it's going to support that.
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Now, why do carrots work? It works because of the antioxidants that actually
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neutralize free radicals in your system. And it supports your body's healing from the inside out.
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Another beneficial ingredient, not necessarily a vegetable, but important to
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add into your juices to really up-level the concentration and benefits is going
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to be ginger and turmeric.
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Ginger and turmeric are so healthy for us because they are potent anti-inflammatory
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agents and they also are antioxidants.
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It's going to help improve your digestion and reduce nausea.
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I'm sure that we've all heard of having ginger ale, ginger tea,
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these things when you're having stomach issues, but the best thing you can do
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is have fresh ginger added into your cooking and to your juices.
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It helps to reduce muscle pain and also your joint stiffness.
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Helpful conditions to treat with ginger and turmeric are going to be osteoarthritis.
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And again, that's arthritis ending in an itis so that we know it is inflammatory.
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It's also going to help digestive issues like irritable bowel syndrome.
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And, you know, again, everybody's body is different, but it has been helpful
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in treating migraines as well.
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Now, why do ginger and turmeric work?
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It works because these roots, they act just like the NSAIDs they're called,
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what's active in ibuprofen, in the motrin that we're taking.
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It acts just like that. This is God's cure-all that he's already given us before
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ibuprofen and became a thing.
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And it comes without the side effects and the harmful deterioration that these
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NSAIDs can provide to your gut.
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Because it shuts down inflammatory enzymes and helps to kind of regulate your immune response.
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Another thing that I want to add in as part of my juicing testimony is that
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I no longer have seasonal allergies. I have not taken Claritin,
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Zyrtec, Loretta, whatever, all these other things.
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I have not taken these things in five years. I am not experiencing seasonal
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allergies anymore. The only thing that's changed is that I started juicing.
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I started juicing consistently and regularly and flooding my body with these
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foods that I'm telling you about in this recording.
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And that's why i'm so passionate about it
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because I have seen and experienced i'm currently living
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A life free of of
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having to think about going to the drugstore every month for ibuprofen missing
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time from work missing time from From my important activities and engagements
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because I have cramps because my eyes are itchy because so all of these things
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that were You know, maybe not highly disruptive.
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But they are disruptors in our lives and the kingdom work that god has for us to do.
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So I have been able to eliminate these things from even part of my conversation.
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The only conversation I'm having is to share with people that there is a solution that's possible.
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It might not be immediate, but you know what? Neither is the medication the doctor's giving you.
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It takes time to get into your system and really work. So why not try juicing?
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Now I'm going to share some combinations of juices that can really help to support
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alleviating this chronic inflammation condition.
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So let's take, for example, we have three celery stalks.
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You can take three stalks of celery, add in half a cucumber,
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throw in a handful of spinach, and all of these important benefits are going
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to be in your drink because you have just a little bit of each of these things in there.
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You can also add in a small bead or even half a bead.
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I would recommend just trying out the ratios of things, seeing what your body
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can tolerate, how you feel after.
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I had a very bad response to beets at one point, so I make sure that I moderate
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how much I'm putting in there.
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So again, we want to just throw in some celery stalks, half a cucumber,
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handful of spinach, a small beet, and then two carrots.
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And then for an extra touch, you can add in just an inch of fresh ginger and
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a squeeze of half of a lemon.
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And this is going to give you all of those benefits that we've already talked
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about and give you a nice balance in your drink.
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Now, a lot of people ask, what about fruits? I haven't mentioned any fruits.
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And the reason I haven't is because we want to watch how much sugar we're taking
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in, even when it's natural sugar.
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I personally prefer to chew my fruits.
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I would rather have an apple with some almond butter as a snack in the afternoon.
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I don't like to waste my sugar intake on drinking it.
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The recommendation for fruit serving for the day is actually two to three servings for the day.
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So keep that in mind. It's not an
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unlimited amount like we can eat all the vegetables we want for the day.
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Fruits are just two to three servings for the day.
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So I don't want to flood my system with that sugar information to start the
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day and then wonder why in the afternoon I am craving sugar.
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That would be because I drop sugar in first thing in the morning.
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Food is information. So think of it that way. That's what I recommend is that
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you make a true and pure vegetable juice that has a balance of vegetables in it to start the day.
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And you just can have a little bit of juice. I started by having 8 ounces, an 8 ounce mason jar.
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Just drink that. I did not change anything about what I was eating.
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I just started by having that juice and slowly over time I noticed that what
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I was desiring shifted as a result of that.
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So now let's talk about some combinations to avoid because we don't want to
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have blood sugar spikes, upset your digestion and have your nutrition in balance.
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So let's talk about some things to avoid or use caution with.
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So the first word of caution is having too many starches together.
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So for example, if you have carrots and beets and sweet potatoes in high amounts,
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that's not going to be beneficial.
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It's high in natural sugar and starches. So when you juice them together,
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this can really spike your blood sugar, especially without that fiber,
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having that fiber in your system to slow down absorption because that's what fiber does.
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So if you're juicing carrots, don't have the same ratio of carrots and beets.
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I would just throw a tiny bit of beet in there.
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The second thing to avoid is cruciferous vegetable overload.
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So for example, you're not going to add kale, broccoli, cabbage,
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all of these things together. That is too many cruciferous vegetables in one drink.
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These are really powerful detoxifiers, and it can cause gas and bloating and
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even upset your thyroid functioning.
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So if it suppresses your thyroid functioning, that's not going to be healthy for your body at all.
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So you want to limit any cruciferous vegetable juices to just one,
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only one in your drink for the day. and then make sure you're rotating through those ingredients.
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Another combination that we want to avoid is going to be your acidic and starchy combos.
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So for example, we don't want to have tomato and carrot and lemon and beet all
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in the same drink together.
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To be honest, I won't have tomatoes and carrots in a salad together because
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I noticed it's too acidic. It's too much for me.
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So even in your eating of solid foods, beware of that.
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Acidic and starchy combinations can cause digestive discomfort and upset your stomach.
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And always be mindful of your body and how you are responding to things.
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The next thing to think about, and anything I'm saying that if you've not heard
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the term before, I encourage you as you're taking notes to just look these things up.
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You want to avoid having too much oxalate richness in your juices.
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Too many oxalates in your produce is not going to be healthy.
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So we don't want the spinach greens, the beet greens, that's going to be the
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tops of those beets and Swiss chard in one drink. So I'm never having spinach
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and Swiss chard together.
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I'm pairing Swiss chard, that I would pair with a fruit with apple or pineapple.
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I'm having spinach with carrots. I'm never putting spinach and Swiss chard together
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because these things are high in oxalates and that's going to cause anything
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in excess can contribute to kidney stones and it can also hinder your calcium absorption.
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So please be aware of that. We want to balance things out with low oxalate veggies
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like cucumber or romaine.
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Cucumber is a great vegetable to throw in to just balance things out.
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The next thing to avoid, and I mentioned this before, is going to be juicing
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only fruits or sweet vegetables, I encourage you, please.
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I know that sometimes it takes a little bit of fruit just to get the juicing
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habit started, but I really discourage people from having too many fruits and
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making this an opportunity to just guzzle down sweet drinks.
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The 80-20 rule is what you should follow when you're juicing.
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You want 80% vegetables and 20% fruit.
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And like I've said in the past, at this point, I'm at 100% vegetables because
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I simply prefer to eat my fruit and enjoy it in that form later on during the day as a snack.
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That has happened after recalibrating my palate.
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So always have that in mind as the goal is that we don't want to stay having
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so much fruit in our juices. We want to focus on vegetables.
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So let me give you an example of a bad, bad, no, no combination for juicing.
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We don't want to have carrots, apples, and pineapples all in the same drink
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together, not having any greens or vegetables that are going to balance that out.
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It turns your juice into really a sugar bomb.
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And even though it's natural sugar, it's still going to affect your insulin and your energy levels.
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So remember the rule is 80-20. You want 80% vegetables, 20% fruit,
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avoiding too many starchy vegetable combinations and cruciferous combinations
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to allow for stable insulin response.
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So some of the tips I can give you to stay balanced in your juicing would be
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to pair sweeter vegetables with greens. So carrots and beets,
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pair them with greens, some spinach, celery, and cucumber.
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And you can add in herbs like parsley and ginger. That's going to help with digestion.
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I sprinkle parsley on everything, on my salad, on my eggs, on everything,
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because I know it's beneficial for my digestion.
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Always rotate these ingredients. When you rotate things, you can prevent sensitivity
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and any overexposure to things.
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And lastly, I want to leave you with the faith and food connection.
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We always want to keep biblical nutrition at the center of how we are stewarding over our bodies.
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And Romans chapter 12, verse 1 says, present your bodies as a living sacrifice,
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holy and acceptable to God.
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Holy and acceptable to God. Keeping that as a focus. What we put into our bodies matters.
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And health is not about being vain. This is just simply about stewardship.
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God gave us foods that heal. So let's return. let's return his garden return
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to his garden for nourishment.
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A scripture that I'd also like to share is Genesis 1,
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Genesis chapter 1, and that's verse 29, and it says, Behold,
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I have given you all things growing for your nourishment.
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God's word says what we should be eating, so let's stick to that.
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So I want to wrap up just by giving you some instructions on how to get started juicing.
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You can start with one juice per day. like I said, keep it simple and keep it within your budget.
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We're not guzzling down 16, 20 ounces of juice every day, all day.
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And you want to keep your sugar content low with these juices.
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Do your prep in advance to make it seem like less effort.
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And always store your juice in a mason jar, a glass jar for freshness.
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Juice is going to stay good in your fridge for 48 to 72 hours,
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and then in your freezer for 10 days.
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For the best nutrient retention in your juice, you're going to use a masticating
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juicer. What's the best juicer?
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The juicer you're going to use. So work within your budget and buy something
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that's going to help you to get started.
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So keep in mind that juicing is not a cure-all. This is not making you invincible.
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But if and when something does happen, don't we want to be in our best,
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most resilient state of health in order for our immune system to fight things off.
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That's the way I look at it. Juicing has been a really supportive tool alongside medical guidance.
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I'm going to all of my routine exams, keeping track of all of my lab work on
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an annual basis to make sure that I'm staying within normal ranges for things.
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And always making sure that you speak to your doctor before you're making any
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major dietary changes, specifically if you already have a diagnosis.
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Now, my closing encouragement for you is that you remember my testimony.
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I had these things and now I no longer have these things.
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I had seasonal allergies. I've struggled since I was a child with seasonal allergies.
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I was taking medications for it, seeking out a dermatologist for care,
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and I no longer have that.
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I had awful menstrual cramps, awful PMS, actually premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
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And I no longer have these things. That's my testimony.
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And I encourage you to just get started juicing.
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You can choose those three vegetables, anything that's going to be an easy on-ramp
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for you, vegetables you know you already like, and just commit to doing it for seven days.
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Just start with seven days. You can journal, see how you feel.
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And remember to pray along the way, okay?
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Pray along the way for God's grace and strength to overtake you as you're in
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your kitchen and make it a time of worship.
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In closing, I'd like to share this scripture that really resonates with the
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work I've been doing and speaking for women's health specifically,
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health and wellness overall.
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And that is 3 John 1, verse 2.
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Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers.
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I'll say that again. I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health
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just as your soul prospers.
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I hope this has been helpful. I hope that you took good notes and share this
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with a friend or family member or somebody you feel would benefit.
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And also to be on the journey with you. Invite someone to do this with you.
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I'm Alexis. It's always my pleasure to share this information and my experience
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that has helped to change my life on a better path.
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And I hope that it's helpful for you as well. Until next time, be well.