Cold pressed juice may have a range of health benefits, including weight loss, protecting the body from destructive free radicals, helping you stay hydrated, boosting your immune system, and helping your lower digestive tract function more efficiently.
Cold pressed juices are extracts from fruits and vegetables and are both refreshing and nutritious. You can have them with a variety of meals, at mostly any time of the day. Even at night—you know, as a late-night snack. Different classes or types of fruit juices (cold pressed juice and centrifugal juice) are extracted in different ways, using different methods and different equipment.Â
In this article, we take an in-depth look at the nutritional makeup of cold-pressed juice, how it is made, and its benefits.
What is Cold Pressed Juice?
Pressed is a word that relates to pressure, and in this case, we are talking thousands and thousands of pounds of pressure.
Cold pressed juice is a juice made when pressure is exerted on fruits and vegetables to extract as much fluid or liquid contained in these fruits and vegetables. A hydraulic press, a very efficient machine, is what produces this much pressure.
The processes involved in the making of cold-pressed juice include:
- Shredding; here, the fruits and the vegetables which would be needed for the making of the juice are shredded to form a pulp. This can be done manually and by hand, but in industries, a machine is usually involved. The machine is usually a large rotating disc made of steel; its teeth shred the vegetables into small sizes, eventually into pulp.
- Pressing: here, the hydraulic press is used. The pulp derived from shredding and compressing of fruit and vegetable is passed into the hydraulic chamber, which consists of two metal surfaces that come in contact with each other to produce so much pressure, a filter, and a collecting bucket or tray.
The hydraulic press begins to exert pressure on the pulp, and the juices in it are pressed out, filtered, and put in the collecting bucket. The fiber is then removed; it can be discarded or used to make other products.
Cold pressed juice can be consumed raw after these two procedures, or it could be loaded with preservatives—that is, undergo a process called pasteurization.
Cold pressed juice happens to be more expensive than normal juices.
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Is Cold Pressed Juice Better?
The answer to this question depends on how soon you gulp the juice down. It is common knowledge that juice is better when it is just fresh. Fresh cold juice may just be better than normal juice in that it contains more vitamins and minerals contained in the individual fruits and vegetables.
The juice does not have to be exposed to extreme heat, as this is possibly going to interfere with the structural composition of the vitamins and minerals present in the juices.
Benefits of Cold Pressed Juice
1. Cold-Pressed Juices are Rich in Antioxidants
One reason why we should consume a lot of fruits and vegetables is that fruits and veggies contain antioxidants. Antioxidants are complex compounds that protect the body from destructive free radicals.
Free radicals are dangerous compounds that can wear cells out and probably even change their composition, making them cancerous over time.
So, you see, you need antioxidants in your system, mopping out these free radicals. And cold pressed juice supplies you with just the antioxidants you need.
Drink cold juices with a good meal or a snack anytime you want. They are great for your health.
2. Hydration
You want to stay hydrated all the time. Your body needs water. Cold juice can provide you with just that.
Instead of having some soda or processed energy drinks, how about you go for some cold-pressed juice? It tastes great and does not hurt your taste buds!
3. Fiber
Fiber is a non-digestible carbohydrate that comes from mostly plant sources. This carbohydrate helps your lower digestive tract function more efficiently. It also makes stooling easier for you by making your stools harder and less watery.
Juices, especially juices that are fresh, contain fiber. Even though cold-pressed juice may not have as much fiber as whole fruit or vegetables, it does contain fiber, and fiber is great for you.
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4. A Source of Vitamins
Vitamins are important nutrients for body function. If we do not have enough, our health deteriorates, and we start to develop certain deficiency problems.
Cold-pressed juice provides us with quite a number of vitamins:
- Vitamin A: vitamin A is an important vitamin for our eyes and our nervous system. It provides the compound our nervous system requires to interpret sight. Without vitamin A, we would develop night blindness. The fruits and vegetables often used to make cold-pressed juice are quite rich in vitamin A.
- Vitamin C: vitamin C is called ascorbic acid. It is important in producing collagen, a very important part of the connective tissue matrix. Collagen helps our skin; when there is something wrong with the production of collagen by our bodies, we may start to see that our skins wrinkle more, and we age faster. This suggests that cold-pressed juice just might have anti-aging properties.
Vitamin C also helps boost our immune systems, helping our body’s systems ward off bacteria, fungi, and viruses. No vitamin C will mean a compromised immune system; it will mean that we may catch infections more often, and they may take some more time to clear out.
5. Weight Loss
Drinking cold-pressed juice may just be another way to lose weight. Remember, we gain weight when we take in more calories than we expend.
Fruits do not contain so many calories and unhealthy fats, so you are on the safe side by drinking cold-pressed juice.
Also, they may be able to make you feel satisfied even when you drink a little. You can drink cold pressed juices even as a late-night snack, and they won’t have you adding any undesired weight.
Photo by Jugoslocos on Unsplash
