Fresh is always better than processed, right? Yes! That is definitely right. Well, fruits and veggies are better fresh rather than frozen, and so are the juices that they produce.
If you do not feel like eating a whole apple, orange, banana, cucumber, and the likes, all you have to do is juice them.
Juicing fresh veggies and fruits allows all of the vitamins and antioxidants to pool together into one awesome tasting solution!
Juicing has become an increasingly popular trend among health-conscious individuals looking to boost their nutrient intake and improve their overall well-being.
Whether you’re a seasoned juicer or new to the world of juicing, there are some easy tips that can help you get the most out of your juicing experience.
Learn more about juicing and the fabulous health benefits.
This is a fantastic way to extract essential vitamins and minerals from all of your favorite fruits and vegetables, creating delicious and healthy beverages in the comfort of your own home.
Juicing is a fun and simple way to provide your body with extra nutrition.
Juicing is a wonderful part of a healthy lifestyle, but you don’t have to be totally strict about what you consume. You should practice excellent health choices at least two-thirds of the time.
The other third allows you to go out to a restaurant, have a few potato chips, or indulge in some ice cream.
Take it one day at a time when you start juicing. Maybe today you really don’t feel like putting a new item in your juice, and that’s okay!
There’s always tomorrow, or even the next day. You must avoid apathy. Though, as it may mean that you never try out new items, items that you might absolutely love!
Be consistent and do a little juicing everyday. The more you do, the more you’ll want to juice and gradually, you’ll make juicing a bigger part of your day.
If you make juicing an infrequent occurrence, not only will you get less nutritional benefit, but you’ll also lose the will to keep going.
Preparing The Juice
One of the first things to keep in mind when juicing is to choose high-quality, fresh produce. Look for fruits and vegetables that are vibrant in color and free of blemishes or bruises. Organic produce is also a great option, as it is free from harmful pesticides and other chemicals.
Another important tip for juicing is to vary your ingredients. Instead of sticking to the same fruits and vegetables every time, try mixing things up to ensure you’re getting a wide range of nutrients. Some great options to include in your juices are leafy greens like kale, spinach, and lettuce, as well as fruits like apples, berries, and citrus fruits.
Crumple up leafy greens, such as spinach, into tight balls before putting them in your juicer. Your juicer is primarily designed to deal with solid fruits and vegetables, not thin leaves.
You will get better results from your juicer if you simulate this effect by squashing your leafy greens before juicing.
Don’t forget to wash your produce prior to juicing, and use organic products where possible. So many people seem to think that since it’s going to turn into juice, they don’t need to wash their fruits and veggies.
Just because it’s liquid, doesn’t mean the chemicals present on the peels are going to go away. Clean your fruits and vegetables thoroughly before juicing.
When preparing for a juice diet, make sure to stock a LOT of fresh fruits and vegetables!
On average, it takes 4.4 pounds of raw fruits and vegetables to make just a single quart of juice, so you’ll need lots.
Also, make sure to get a large variety of ingredients so that you don’t get bored with the same old juice.
While in the Fridge
Give yourself an area in the fridge just for your juicing ingredients. Maybe they’ll get their own produce drawer, or half a shelf, but making room is important.
When you see that space become empty, you will know that you’re running out of food, and you’ll also have a much easier time putting it away after shopping.
Make sure to leave your vegetables and fruits out at room temperature before juicing. Healthy juice is best at room temperature.
So, make sure to take the produce out of the fridge for a little while before you make the juice. Drinking cold juice can slow down the digestive system.
More Preparation Tips
When juicing, it’s also important to remember that not all fruits and vegetables are suitable for juicing. Some produce, like bananas and avocados, are too soft to juice and are better suited for blending. It’s also a good idea to remove any seeds or pits from your fruits before juicing to avoid damaging your juicer.
In addition to varying your ingredients, it’s also important to drink your juices as soon as possible after juicing. This will help ensure that you’re getting the maximum amount of nutrients from your juices. If you need to store your juice, make sure to do so in an airtight container in the refrigerator and consume it within 24 hours.
Be aware that citrus fruits do not always work well in all juicers. Because of the consistency of the pulp in the fruit, the juicer can get clogged with the pulp or rind.
If using a standard juicer, peel the fruit and cut into small pieces; otherwise, get a citrus juicer that you will use for these types of fruit specifically.
Peel citrus fruits before you put them in your juicer. The thick peels of citrus fruits will make your juice taste unpleasant, provide no real health benefit, and can even be harmful.
The greatest benefit from citrus fruits comes from the white pith just below the peel, so be sure to retain that when juicing.
Keep sugar content down by limiting fruits and certain vegetables. One of the things to watch out for when you are juicing is high sugar levels found in many fruits.
High sugar levels can lead to a spike in blood sugar, so keep that in mind as you choose your ingredients. Vegetables grown underground, such as carrots, usually have a higher sugar content as well.
Starting A Juicing Diet
If you’re going to start a juicing diet, it may be helpful to start with a few days of eating primarily fruits and vegetables before going over to all-juice.
This helps reduce dependence on sugar, flour, and other common diet staples that can make a juice diet difficult to swallow.
When attempting a juice-only diet, it can be helpful to remove all processed foods from your house first.
Having a box of crackers, a jar of peanut butter, or some candy bars staring you in the face while you can only have juice is an easy way to cut your diet tragically short.
You don’t have to spend a fortune on fresh juicing produce as long as you shop in season. Berries are great in the summer but will cost you an arm and a leg to buy in the winter.
Thus, skip them until the prices drop again. Apples last all winter, so feel free to buy a few bushels and keep them in the garage.
Try to use locally-grown fruits and vegetables in your juicing. The best option is to use produce that you’ve grown yourself.
Every mile that a piece of fruit needs to be transported to get to you increases the carbon footprint of your glass of juice.
It also increases the chance of your produce becoming contaminated with bacteria or chemicals.
Juicing can be expensive; if you’re making a few wheat shots a day as well as larger fruit and vegetable juices, expect your grocery bill to pile up.
One way to reduce costs is to use primarily carrots, which are very inexpensive compared to the amount of juice they produce.
The best place to find the freshest produce for juicing at great prices is at a local farmer’s market.
Often, they are held once a week during the summer and fall months, and you’ll find everything sold on a farm, including meat, eggs, dairy, baked goods, canned goods, and TONS of fresh fruit and vegetables!
Adding Wheatgrass
Using wheatgrass in your juice is an excellent way to add a ton of tasty nutrients to the final product.
Start with a little bit and increase how much you push through the machine until it’s all fed into the juicer.
Follow with a hard fruit or vegetable to clean out the machine.
Wheatgrass has many health benefits, such as cleansing the lymph system, and removing toxic metals from your cells.
You can only ingest wheat-grass through juice, so juicing can be extremely beneficial.
Be careful because wheatgrass does have a very strong taste. It is best to start out a little at a time. Each time you juice, just gradually add a little more.
It’s important to juice wheatgrass, as our bodies can’t actually process the plant fibers contained in it.
You can include wheatgrass in your apple/ginger/orange juice, but you can come up with a hundred more recipes that make great use of wheatgrass and its wonderful earthy flavor. Give it a try!
Adding Vegetables
In terms of health benefits, the best types of juice come from green vegetables, including parsley, chard, spinach, kale, and broccoli.
Shoot for making your juices contain around 50–75% greens, and then throw in some other vegetables and fruits for flavoring. Fruit juices are unhealthy and sugary compared to green juices.
Use color to show you the way. Each vegetable or fruit juice color, from orange to red to purple, supplies the body with different vitamins and nutrients. Employ a diversity of colors for a complete culinary experience.
Never add more than one new vegetable to your juice mix at a time. If you do not like the taste of the juice, or your digestive system does not react well to your new juice blend.
You will not know what vegetable to reduce or avoid if you add a bunch of new veggies in the same batch.
Beware of too much oxalic acid. If you have a history of kidney stones, gout, osteoporosis or rheumatoid arthritis, you will aggravate your symptoms.
Foods to avoid are spinach, chard, beets, and rhubarb. You also have to remember not to combine them, or follow them with foods high in calcium, such as broccoli.
Drinking The Juice
Drink your juice on an empty stomach, such as first thing in the morning or about half an hour before a meal.
This allows your system to better absorb the nutrients in your juice, without the interference of other foods.
Juice drunk on an empty stomach can enter your system in as quickly as thirty minutes.
Drink your juice at room temperature in order to receive maximum health benefits. Chilling your juice will make it harder for your body to digest it, and therefore reduce the amount of nutrients you absorb.
Also, chilling the juice requires it to sit in a fridge or freezer, and fresh juice is best immediately after you make it.
Brush your teeth as soon as possible after drinking fresh fruit juice. Fruit juice is naturally very high in sugar, in addition to containing acids that can eat away at tooth enamel. The longer these sugars and acids sit in your mouth, the worse the damage will be.
If you absolutely must store your juice after you make it, make sure to store it in a completely air-tight container.
Letting air get at it will start a process which breaks down the nutrients in the juice, leaving a tasty but empty drink that won’t provide you with the healthy benefits you were looking for in the first place.
Cleaning the Juicer
When it comes to juicing, one thing that you want to keep in mind is that you will want to keep your juicer out and in sight at all times.
This is important to ensure that you use it on a regular basis and that it does not become one of those items that get stored away in the back of your cupboard.
Remember that vegetable and fruit remnants left on a juicer after juicing have the potential to grow mold quickly. Cleaning it quickly helps stop the growth of mold.
Dismantle the juicer, clean the parts and rinse with water until clean. If you must use a detergent, use one that is very mild.
If you must store your juice in the fridge, add a tablespoon of lemon juice.
This small amount of lemon juice shouldn’t have a major effect on the flavor, but it will keep this juice from becoming discolored as it sits, creating a more appetizing effect.
Always try to make your juice just before you drink it, for maximum health benefits.
In conclusion, you want to get into making your own homemade juice and just do not know where to start.
Follow the tips and tricks that are provided in this article and you should find yourself with a good baseline for what you need to do and what you should expect.
All in all, fresh is better than not fresh. Fresh foods contain no added preservatives, sugars, or salts that are not necessary to your diet.
Freshly juicing your fruits and veggies offers an immense amount of benefits to your body, inside and out.
Finally, don’t be afraid to get creative with your juicing recipes. Experiment with different flavor combinations and add in ingredients like ginger, turmeric, and herbs for added health benefits and flavor. Juicing can be a fun and delicious way to boost your nutrition, so don’t be afraid to get creative in the kitchen.
By following these easy tips for juicing, you can make the most of your juicing experience and reap the many health benefits that come with incorporating fresh, nutrient-rich juices into your diet. So grab your favorite fruits and vegetables, fire up your juicer, and start juicing your way to better health today!