Women can be juggling lots of different things all at once, and at times their health and wellbeing doesn’t even appear on the list let alone be at the top!
Life can often feel like a balancing act of making sure you are on top of mum duties, thriving in a career, keeping in touch with friends, making sure your responding and attending family functions, managing the home etc. All of this can cause overwhelm, and sometimes impact your health.
Juicing is something that can have a positive impact on your health. It is a powerful, holistic and nourishing tool that can bring us many benefits. One of the best things about it, is that it is a quick way to get a good hit of health all at once.
How does juicing benefit Women’s Health?
Let’s take a look at why juicing can be a healthy choice for women.
Hormones
A big part of women’s health is hormones. They create harmony, but also chaos for a lot of us! Making sure our hormones are balanced is so important. By creating juices packed with key fruits and vegetables, will ensure we are providing our body with key nutrients. We can also target and support hormonal symptoms of pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS), perimenopause and menopause through juicing.
Daily Wellness
Everyday our body’s require key nutrients to help us function as optimally as possible. Ensuring our body gets essential vitamins and minerals can and will have an impact on your energy levels and mood. Juicing is one way to give yourself a nutrient boost in one place.
Immune boosting
When we’re feeling run down a juice can help make you feel better. Whether that is from a common cold or cough, or even that time of the month when you feel low or suffering with menstrual pains. Adding anti-inflammatory ingredients such as; ginger or turmeric to your juice can help you at times like this.
Which ingredients should women include in their juices?
Carrots
Carrots are good for your skin and vision. They are abundant in beta-carotene, giving us a boost in Vitamin A. Therefore having a carrot juice helps give your skin a boost, and can slow down the effect of aging. Carrot juice doesn’t actually taste bad either! Make sure you don’t drink too much as you can cause carotenemia which gives you a yellow tint.
Kale
Kale has had a good reputation as a superfood for quite a while now, and is definitely a good staple for your juicing regime. It contains vitamins, such as vitamin K which is a good one for balancing hormones. It also gives you calcium to help build and maintain strong bones which is important for perimenopausal and menopausal women.
Beetroot
This is a great ingredient for supporting your liver and helping with detoxification. Our liver is responsible for regulating and detoxifying hormones, so we want to help it as much as we can. Beetroot contains antioxidants which support liver function as well as having anti-inflammatory benefits. It also has many other health benefits so give a purple juice a try!
Flaxseeds
Ground flaxseeds are a great addition to your juice. They are a rich source of lignans which can help support hormone health in women. They help to balance hormones as well as reducing inflammation, they are also thought to help regulate your menstrual cycle if consumed regularly.
Ginger
Another good anti-inflammatory ingredient to include. It helps give our immune system a boost as well as being good for menstrual cramps. Ginger also adds a nice flavour to juices, so it’s a good one to include for taste as well as its health benefits.
Cucumber
A good ingredient to promote hydration due to is high water content, which will be good for your skin. Cucumber also has many health benefits. It helps with detoxification by supporting the flushing out of toxins, which will then improve bowel movements. Cucumber also contains calcium which helps to regulate hormone levels.
Spinach
Another well-known superfood packed with vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. Spinach is packed with iron which is essential for women’s health, particularly during certain phases of the menstrual cycle. It is also good for energy levels and can help us with natural hair health.
Turmeric
Loved for its anti-inflammatory properties, turmeric is valuable addition to any juice. It can have the same impact as over the counter pain-relief such as paracetamol and ibuprofen. Therefore if PMS or muscle and joint pain often having you reaching for tablets, consider a making a juice with turmeric in to help, as well it giving you many other health benefits.
Summary
Juicing can be a great way to support women’s health. Incorporating it into your daily routine, can give your health a real boost. Ensure to do this alongside a balanced and wholefood diet, and healthy lifestyle.
Always remember to seek advice from your healthcare provider if you feel you need professional advice regarding your health, or suffer with underlying health conditions, before making significant changes to your diet.
Written by Phillippa Quigley, Health and Wellness Coach and the founder of Health & Soul.
