Juicing for Heart Health
Keep it beating and you’ll live long!
There are many reasons to start juicing for heart health.
To begin with, the heart is the most widely recognized symbol of love. If you are caught drawing hearts on the side of your notes at college, chances are it’s because you “love” someone. We also all seem to have gotten into the habit of calling a heart a “love heart”.
Add to that the more important fact that the heart is what keeps us alive. If our heart stopped beating, we would cease to exist. It serves us well by pumping oxygenated blood around our bodies so we can enjoy life to the full.
The heart has a funny habit of beating at extreme speeds before a speech or important event (otherwise known as a racing heart or “nerves”). It isn’t always the most comfortable feeling but it makes us move fast when we want to.
Given the extremely important place the heart has in our wellbeing, juicing for heart health is an excellent idea. Let’s have a look at what can go wrong with it in the first place, and then move onto the best fruits and vegetables to juice. Finally, find out why it is a great idea. You’ll find out below how awesome the benefits of juicing are.
What can go wrong with the heart?
Put simply, A LOT can go wrong with the heart. But in the interest of keeping this page shorter than a university textbook, let’s look at just three common problems with the heart.
- Atherosclerosis. It’s a chronic, progressive disease where plaque builds up in the walls of the arteries. The plaque is usually made up of cholesterol, calcium and large inflammatory cells. It can cause blood clots, sudden rupture and even an aneurysm.
- Myocardial Infarction (MI). MI is a very severe heart problem and is also known as a heart attack. A heart attack is death of heart muscle. The severity of the heart attack depends on the amount of heart muscle which has died.
- Heart Valve Disease. Symptoms include shortness of breath, feelings of weakness, dizziness, chest discomfort and more. If these symptoms go unnoticed and medical help is not sought, heart failure can be expected.
If you’re interested in learning more about heart problems, jump over to Google (or click!) and get searching. Otherwise, let’s check out what fruits and vegetables you want to be juicing for heart health.
What fruits and vegetables are best?
- Red grapefruit. A study published in 2006 found that eating one red grapefruit per day for thirty days had a marked effect on lowering cholesterol levels.
- Dark, leafy greens. Centrifugal juicers tend to struggle with these so if you’re serious about juicing for heart health, invest in a masticating juicer. As a general rule, the richer and darker the green the better. So go for romaine lettuce, spinach, collard greens and mustard greens. Fresh broccoli, kale, cabbage and watercress are also superb.
- Citrus fruits. Lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruits can have a huge impact when you use them for juicing for heart health. The fiber is useful, though the juice is amazing. Make good use of these in your daily juices.
- Red and purple grapes. They contain an antioxidant called Resveratrol which is known to reduce the risk of blood clotting, lowering LDL or “bad” cholesterol and preventing damage to blood vessels in the heart.
- Blueberries. They are something of a super fruit and loaded with antioxidants. High in Vitamin C, Resveratrol and a newly discovered antioxidant called pterostilbene.
- Kiwi fruit. Like blueberries, kiwi fruit is also known to reduce blood clotting, lower “bad” cholesterol and is also packed with Vitamin C.
Why should you be juicing for heart health anyway?
If you know much about fruits and vegetables, you can probably skip this section.
I thought it would be worth saying something briefly about the healing power of juicing. More than anything else, freshly grown produce has amazing positive effects on human health.
Fruits and vegetables are loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and a whole array of other beneficial ingredients. When you start juicing for heart health, you are supplying your body with a highly-concentrated nutrient powerhouse which has an incredibly beneficial effect on your health.
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