Hello Juicing Friends!
I am writing this from my home-office near Cape Town, in sunny South Africa's Western Cape. No city-life for me! I love the ocean, the mountains and I need to have trees around me. The photograph below will show you just how lucky I am to be living in such a beautiful part of South Africa. I trust you will enjoy your visits with me.
Why I Love Researching The Benefits Of Juicing For Health
My interest in and research about juicing and healthy nutrition began many years ago, when I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue And Immune Dysfunction Syndrome, also known as CFIDS, CFS, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or ME. I have been living with the illness for more than 31 years now.
The view from my office...
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Although I am housebound to a large extent as a result of the CFIDS, I feel extremely privileged to be able to reach beyond my physical boundaries with the help of the Internet. What an amazing tool, expanding the world of people with specific physical limitations and challenges! It is possible to make friends all over the world, without moving from the comfort of an easy chair!
Living with a chronic illness means facing many challenges and losses. I am learning to come to terms with the absence of all those life-experiences other folks often take for granted.
I am grateful for many factors which serve as footholds for me on my journey with CFIDS. Five of them stand out and I want to share these with you.
1. Faith In A Loving Heavenly Father
My strong faith is first and foremost; the one constant presence that carries me through every day, no matter how many challenges present themselves. I have learned to be totally dependent on my loving Heavenly Father. I see this as a gift hidden in the CFIDS. Due to my physical limitations, self-sufficiency has no room in my life. My life has been stripped of all the things that so often succeed in crowding God out.
I also know that, even though physical healing hasn't come yet, God is answering my prayers and the prayers of friends and family in other, more important and lasting ways. He is using the CFIDS to teach me and to help me to become the person He wants me to be.
But, make no mistake, this isn't easy by any means. It has been and still is a daily struggle. I am just grateful that I never have to face the struggle alone.
2. A Supportive Family
I cannot imagine coping without my supportive family. What a blessing! My dad is a retired minister, and he and my mom have been there for me every single day, always displaying caring and patient spirits. My brothers also support me wonderfully. In addition I have the precious gifts of loving, laughter-generating god-children.
3. The Blessing Of A Positive Mindset
The third important factor is constantly working on developing and nurturing optimism and a positive mindset. That this aspect should get attention each and every day, is non-negotiable. I make sure I am in a positive frame of mind before I go to sleep every night, no matter how exhausted I am. I do this by reading something uplifting, listening to an inspirational book on cassette, or enjoying a relaxing music CD. This routine enables me to wake up feeling positive, and looking forward to a new day. As they say, it is the thought that counts!
I firmly believe that being disciplined about this practice, contributes significantly to the fact that I don't struggle with depression - a very real issue for many people with CFIDS.
This Viktor E. Frankl quote is one of my favorites: Everything can be taken from man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way... (Man's Search For Meaning)
4. A Sense Of Humor
Being able to laugh and to focus on the lighter side of life, isn't just important to make things easier for myself and the people around me. It has been shown to have real physiological benefits as far as the release of pain-relieving endorphins and other helpful hormones are concerned. Without a doubt, this has healing implications!
5. Personal Care And Grooming
The fifth crucial factor is that I try to take good care of myself, and this is where juicing and healthy nutrition also play a role. With an illness like CFIDS, all the basic stuff involves such an effort that it is easy to slowly begin to neglect oneself. Because of the inactivity brought about by the illness, it is easy to give up as far as weight management and personal grooming is concerned.
I believe that it is vital for anyone with a chronic illness to take personal care seriously. If you don't have the energy to do this, get help with it. But to keep morale up, the importance of this aspect should never be underestimated.
For me, my Breville juicer is one way of ensuring that I get all the nutrients my body needs, especially when I am not feeling like eating. Freshly made vegetable juice is also super-easy to digest. These are just two of the health benefits of juicing. It doesn't matter if you are using a Jack Lalanne Juicer, Champion juice extractor or a Norwalk Juicer. As long as you have a juicing machine in your kitchen and you use it as part of your family's daily diet and nutrition program.
Juicing For Weight Loss
If you are struggling with your weight, juicing recipes for weight loss may be of help to you. Of course you will still need to take care of healthy eating in general and add some extra exercise, but juicing can become a powerful tool in your weight loss arsenal! Freshly made juice is filling and will give you something sweet to snack on, without added sugar or fat.
Your Free Juicing E-Books
When you become one of my juicing friends (all I need from you is your name and e-mail address), you can download my 2 free e-books:
- 35 Frequently Asked Juicing Questions Answered!
- 24 Quick And Easy Weight Loss Tips
You will also get:
- 5 Must Have Juice Recipes (e-book)
- A free subscription to all my juicing and nutrition tips and articles. This includes my popular 10-part series How To Lose Weight Without A Diet.
I enjoy writing about health and nutrition. I trust that you will enjoy reading the articles and even have a giggle or two here and there.
May your vegetable juicer become as indispensable as mine is! I look forward to hearing from you.
Rika Susan
Juicing For Health
PS: You are welcome to tell me what you like about the site, what you miss, and what you would enjoy if I could add it to the site. You are also welcome to contact me with article requests (rika @ best-juicing.com).
