Vitamins, Minerals, Produce and Juicing – Making the Connection for Better Health

      Vitamins and minerals are two of the major building blocks when it comes to the operating system of the human body. Together they provide the energy exchange and cellular nutrition functions which run all systems. These systems allow us to see properly, build strong bones, blood, organs, muscles, cell walls, vascular systems and everything else that our bodies do to keep us functioning. They regulate our blood pressure, insulin and blood sugar levels, blood clotting and thinning and internal acid/base balance.

      Vitamins and minerals work together to give us all the essential components of our enzyme, amino acid and cell, bone, blood, tissue and organ support systems.

      The trick to their proper functioning is that they cannot accomplish the complex tasks of building all the internal systems which run our bodies without each other. Vitamins without certain minerals cannot be utilized by our bodies, no matter how much of the vitamin is provided.

      While it is true that modern nutritional science goes far beyond vitamins and minerals into such complex systems as phytochemicals and accessory nutrients, it all starts with these two partners, vitamins and minerals, if we are to maintain good health.

      The power of juicing really shines when we look at intake of vitamins and minerals for two reasons. First, we can juice the equivalent of many servings of fruits and vegetables and consume them as one juice, with a very low relative caloric intake and a super-high nutritional density.

      Second, we can juice much larger quantities of certain herbs and vegetables than we would otherwise normally eat.

      Parsley is an excellent example of this. In most nutritional analysis, parsley is measured in tablespoon amounts. 2 tablespoons of parsley provide 3% of the daily intake of folate, for example. But one cup of parsley contains the full 100 percent of the daily intake amount, and is easy and delicious to add to any juice. The same is true for iron in parsley. Additionally, fresh herbs are loaded with volatile oils which make them particularly potent healing foods, so juicing one bunch of cilantro, parsley, or a handful of mint or basil along with your veggies and fruits adds a significant healing boost to your diet.

      Vitamins

      Vitamins can be broken into two groups:

      Fat-soluble vitamins: A, D, E and K

      Water-soluble vitamins: all the B vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12, Folate, Biotin, Choline), and vitamin C.

      Fat-Soluble Vitamins

      Vitamin A

      Vitamin A is actually a complex group of nutrients: retinoids and carotenoids. These nutrients are best known for their importance in eye health but are also critical to proper growth and development, immune function and the health and vitality of the skin. Vitamin A is important to reproduction; manufacture of adrenal and thyroid hormones. It is also essential to proper immune function and supports the function and maintenance of nerve cells.

      Juicing Ingredients with high values of vitamin A include:

      Sweet Potato

      Carrots

      Collard Greens

      Kale

      Spinach

      Parsley

      Vitamin D

      Vitamin D is considered by some researchers to be more of a hormone than a vitamin as it is manufactured by the body in response to exposure to sunlight on the skin. It is essential to the absorption of calcium and healthy bones and teeth. Because vitamin D is manufactured in the body it is not a vitamin which is found in fruits and vegetables. It is found in high amounts in cod liver oil, fish, eggs and organ meats.

      Vitamin E

      Vitamin E acts primarily as an antioxidant providing protection to the cells of the body against oxidation. Diets high in vitamin E have been shown to protect against heart disease, stroke, cancer and other degenerative diseases. While the highest sources of vitamin E are found in whole grains and seeds (as it is an oil based vitamin) it is also present in high values in some fruits and vegetables.

      Juicing ingredients with high values of vitamin E include:

      Wheatgrass/Barley Grass/Oat Grass

      Spinach

      Swiss Chard

      Turnip Greens

      Vitamin K

      Vitamin K is found in green leafy vegetables (K1) and is also synthesized in the body (K3). It is critical to bone health and bone growth, and is important in the mineralization of bones. Deficiencies lead to poor mineralization of bones which can result in susceptibility to bone injury and breaks of bones being more severe and difficult to heal. K1 is superior in this mineralization to K3 and thus the dietary requirement for vitamin K.

      Kale

      Turnip Greens

      Spinach

      Broccoli

      Lettuce

      Cabbage

      Water-Soluble Vitamins

      B Vitamins

      The B vitamins can be confusing because they often go by other names. Here is a table to make it simple: