Dans le Jus / Rejuice!

Top 3 Reasons to Choose Organic!

Most people tend to avoid organic produce due to price, and remain unconvinced that the health and environmental benefits outweigh the cost. Our hope is that after reading the following, you may find that there is a much dearer cost to your health, your families, and the planet, in opting for conventionally farmed produce. The bottom line for us is, regardless of conflicting reports, we do not want to consume chemicals that are meant to poison. If we only ate a minute amount of fruits and veggies, perhaps that would not be a problem, but if 80% or more of your daily diet is plant based, those harmful chemicals add up!
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Tags: climate control, health, nutrients, organic, pesticides, Rejuice!, wildlife

A  vacay for your GUT! 

What was once a secret rite of hard core vegans and those fighting serious illness is now a celebrity go-to for a quick weight loss fix. There are many reasons people opt for a juice cleanse but we believe the best one is to help your gut rest and recover. 
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Tags: cleanse, cold-pressed juice, gut health, organic, raw, Rejuice!

Happy Holidays from Joanna and your friends at Rejuice!

Dear Friends:

As we come to the end of 2016, we reflect back on our challenges and triumphs and look forward to what lies ahead. Rejuice is, in the truest sense, a labour of love. While 2016 saw some significant challenges, we also experienced wonderful expansion. We added new items to our salad menu, acquired better equipment, and added the (oh so popular) avocado toast to the juice bar menu! As well, we worked to formulate new healing and energizing cleanses to try and meet the needs of our expanding clientele and introduced some great new cold pressed juices.

There can be no growth without growing pains and while we could have gone the way of many cold-pressed juice companies and began pasteurizing (HPP) our juices, which would extend shelf life and profits, we chose to stay true to our mandate – provide raw, living nutrition. No compromises. Rejuice is not about the bottom line, but about your health. And although we know we are not perfect, we are a work in progress and constantly guided and inspired by the customers who stay loyal and to the new people who discover us. Even when it is 3 a.m. and we are worried about the overhead, we know we are on the right path. It is your happy faces and your gratitude that makes us thrive. That is why we wanted to take this moment and just say thank you.

Our holiday wish for all of you is that you follow your hearts, that you don’t give up, that you commit to loving yourself and your beautiful body, and you experience the most joy, peace, perfect health and happiness in the New Year and always.

Be Happy, be Healthy xoxo

Love,
Joanna Barcessat
and the Rejuice Family

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Tags: Montreal, Rejuice!

Cooked Versus Raw Food: Which is Better?

At Rejuice we get asked this question a lot and so this week we looked at credible sites and scientific studies comparing the two. And what we found was ..
There is no hard evidence to support either view.
Some of the research found that the people who ate raw vegetables were healthier overall, while others cited better results with cooked vegetables. 
What was clear was that those who ate the most fruits and vegetables (cooked or raw) overall had lower rates of disease - especially cancer. 
The take-away for us was to understand that some foods contain more nutrients cooked, and some had more nutrients raw.
Cooking:  softens the plant matrix (tough cell structure of plants), which helps to release more phytochemical compounds. Thus, depending on the vegetable being cooked, the cooking method, and the phytonutrient compound being studied, conservative cooking  (steaming, making soup) can provide greater nutrient availability. We also increase the plant proteins in the diet, especially important for those eating a plant-based diet with limited or no animal products. 
Veggies you should definitely turn the heat on for include carrots and asparagus because cooking makes it easier for our bodies to benefit from some of their protective antioxidants, specifically ferulic acid from asparagus, and beta-carotene, which we convert to vitamin A, from carrots.
 
A study published in The British Journal of Nutrition last year found that a group of 198 subjects who followed a strict raw food diet had normal levels of vitamin A and relatively high levels of beta-carotene (an antioxidant found in dark green and yellow fruits and vegetables), but low levels of the antioxidant lycopene.
So roast your tomatoes slowly or make a cooked sauce  because it helps to break down the plant cell walls, allowing us to better absorb the antioxidant lycopene - 

shown to have antioxidant properties and to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

 
The rest is a bit confusing. For example, while some studies cited that some veggies, like broccoli were healthier raw than cooked, others noted that

 heat damages the enzyme myrosinase, which breaks down glucosinates (compounds derived from glucose and an amino acid) in broccoli into a compound known as sulforaphane. On the other hand, indole, an organic compound, is formed when certain plants, particularly cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage, are cooked. According to research in The Journal of Nutrition in 2001, indole helps kill precancerous cells before they turn malignant.

Another reason to turn up the heat sometimes:
Humans are the only primates that cook their food. Raw foods have a low caloric yield, which imposes “a tradeoff between body size and number of brain neurons, which explains the small brain size of great apes compared with their large body size.” Cooking our foods allowed us to spend less time feeding. Cooked food provided a greater amount of brain neurons and drove humans to evolve with an increased brain size and functioning capability. Essentially, this might mean that humans would not have evolved were it not for cooked foods.
As always, the important thing is BALANCE!
 Balancing raw foods with cooked foods is your best strategy for overall health and wellbeing!
#behealthybehappy
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Tags: cooked, health, organic, raw, Rejuice!, Revolution

Natural Sunscreen! Foods that Protect Your Skin!

As the final instalment in our series on skin care, we bring you amazing foods that have been shown to increase the skin's ability to protect against UV damage. These foods contain antioxidant compounds that help fight free radicals.
The science: Free radicals are atoms or groups of atoms with an odd (unpaired) number of electrons and can be formed when oxygen interacts with certain molecules. Once formed these highly reactive radicals can start a chain reaction, like dominoes. Their chief danger comes from the damage they can do when they react with important cellular components such as DNA, or the cell membrane. Cells may function poorly or die if this occurs.
To prevent free radical damage the body has a defense system of antioxidants. 
Antioxidants are molecules which can safely interact with free radicals and terminate the chain reaction before vital molecules are damaged. Although there are several enzyme systems within the body that scavenge free radicals, the principle micronutrient (vitamin) antioxidants are vitamin E, beta-carotene, and vitamin C. Additionally, selenium, a trace metal that is required for proper function of one of the body's antioxidant enzyme systems, is sometimes included in this category.
Our bodies cannot manufacture these micronutrients so they must be supplied in the diet.
In addition to broad spectrum sunscreens that block UVA, UVB rays (we recommend natural products like Lavera sunscreens that are paraben-free, cruelty-free, gluten-free and contain both physical and biological UV filters), load up your diet with these amazing foods:  
Red and Orange Fruits and Veggies
Beta-carotene — another type of carotenoid found in red and orange produce — has been linked to reduced reactions to sunburns , and flavanoid-filled orange and pink citrus fruits have also been shown to improve the skin’s ability to protect against UV rays,
 
Green Leafy Veggies
Fresh herbs — specifically parsley, basil, sage, and rosemary — are packed with  free-radical fighting and skin-protecting antioxidants. Dark leafy greens such as spinach and swiss chard are all full of antioxidants like polyphenols and carotenoids, which may also naturally protect the skin from sun damage. One study found that eating green leafy vegetables helped prevent the reappearance of skin cancer in people who had previously suffered. 
 
Green and Black teas
Green and Black teas (which actually start as leafy greens) are packed with polyphenols that can help stop cancer development by limiting the blood supply to the cancerous area. Some studies have found that green tea can help prevent non-melanoma skin cancer.
 
Dark Chocolate
Flavanoids found in dark chocolate may improve the skin’s ability to protect against some types of skin damage, including UV-induced issues like sun burns. And it tastes delicious! 
Nature really has provided us with foods that nourish and protect. Eating a whole food plant based diet naturally enhances every aspect of your mind, body, spirit. Good for you and good for the planet! Eat well and enjoy the sunshine!
 
#behealthybehappy
The food references come from Kate Morin's article posted on the greatest website. For the links to the studies behind these claims visit: http://greatist.com/health/6-food-groups-will-protect-you-sun
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Tags: Healing, love, organic, Rejuice!, skin, sun protection
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