Juicing

I enjoy the occasional smoothie, which gives me the benefit of everything I throw in the blender. Juicing just seems to be the equivalent of making a smoothie and straining out just the clear liquid from that, so I don't get the point.

Alexandria, I have been juicing for many years and have done juice only diet for 5 days.
If to go on juice only diet for any period of time you really need to research it in advance. It is a very drastic change for your body. The absolutely best you can do is to incorporate fresh juice in your regular diet, preferably drinking it on empty stomach. You will get your enzymes, minerals and vitamins while still eating your regular healthy food. You can replace dinner with fresh juice and that will be an awesome option.

There are many recipes of juices for different things- dehydration, skin, tiredness, stress...etc.
For example, when you are sick and need hydration make celery, lemon and cucumber juice - celery is packed with electrolytes, lemon is vitamin C, cucumber is just plain awesome! it contain plant lignans which bind with bacteria in the digestive tract and convert them to enterolignans for both pro and anti-estrogenic effects, they are also are cancer fighting, and Cucumbers also contain silica, a trace mineral which contributes to strengthening connective tissues. This results in stronger hair and nails.

I think that benefits of juice fast for those who are sick,and overweight definitely outweighs the stress juice fast puts on body, because that seem to be only way those people are able to get back to health period. If you watch Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead movie on www.jointherebboot.com you will see what I am talking about. I rather be doing juice fast and getting back to health then be taking bunch of pills and dying slowly from illnesses AND pills.

Invest in slow RPM juicer, because it does not strip enzymes by heat that fast speed juicers generate. Enzymes is your living force. Look at discountjuicers.com, they have awesome library of comparisons and all the pros and cons for all juicers. Omega J8006 is the best for the money. I just got me a new juicer after 10 years of juicing and I got Green Star Elite. Made juice this morning. :drinker:

- Drink fresh juice, because minerals and enzymes are lost as juice oxidizes.

- Eat your fruit and juice your veggies (add apple and lemon in veggie juices for taste).

- Buy organic, or peel what is not organic.

I love fresh squeezed juice, but I don't think it is healthy to just have the juice. I do tend to add in things that I wouldn't normally get in my normal daily intake like beets, celery, things I don't like the taste of as much.

Invest in slow RPM juicer, because it does not strip enzymes by heat that fast speed juicers generate. Enzymes is your living force. Look at discountjuicers.com, they have awesome library of comparisons and all the pros and cons for all juicers. Omega J8006 is the best for the money. I just got me a new juicer after 10 years of juicing and I got Green Star Elite. Made juice this morning. :drinker:

- Drink fresh juice, because minerals and enzymes are lost as juice oxidizes.

- Eat your fruit and juice your veggies (add apple and lemon in veggie juices for taste).

- Buy organic, or peel what is not organic.

Thank you very much for your advice. I watched the same "Hungry for Change" documentary (www.hungryforchange.tv) as the asker, and I had the same questions. I was researching juicers and became overwhelmed with options. I appreciate you suggesting the slow RPM juicer!

I recently just watched a documentary called Change for hunger and it introduced juicing to me, I have a lot of questions about juicing, (Yes, I have searched the forums before posting this) I heard that when your juicing you are not suppose to eat anything else? Also, how would you log the juicing into the myfitnesspal program? Lastly, does anyone have any good recipes they use for their juices.

:laugh:

When I first saw the title "Juicing", this is the first thing that came into my head.

I don' want to just juice and not eat anything else or try to get a "quick fix" I am just very curious in juicing and thought it would be a good way to get a lot more vegetables in my diet.

Why because you don't have to chew?

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

There are alot of good books out there with tons of recipes in them. Check out Barnes and noble or amazon I have " The juicing bible" and "Juiceman's Power of Juicing". both very good book with lots of recipies.

I think you're talking about something from the documentary, available online or even on youtube called "Fat Sick & Nearly Dead".

It is an amazing documentary. But as they say in it, do not start juicing without a nutritionist and under a phsyician's care.

What you CAN do is juicing yourself. I do it daily. I use veggies I would never eat in a million years.

You can look at my DIARY and check under "drinks" what I'm doing, what veggies I'm using but here are examples, and mind you, I can't stand any of them:

Kale
Chard
Beets
Spinach
Arrugula

and you should probably get a juicer. What most people use are a Breville juicer, but there are other cheaper ones out there like Jack La Lanne, etc.

Sometimes I just juice small amounts of that (nasty tasting) stuff and add a carrot in there, and DEFINITELY JUICE AN APPLE in there otherwise....well it is really vomitous tasting.

Things to sweeten your juice -

APPLE
BANANA
CARROT

So, in a nutshell, buy a couple of veggies you hate and would never eat, put them in a juicer with an apple, a carrot, and a banana (you might be able to go with less the more you get used to it) & voila - you have juice.

You can also attempt to do this in a blender but add more water into it, and less veggies, it will also taste even worse, but some people do it that way.

Good luck!

EDIT: I do not juice without having real meals. I would suggest calorie counting here, and maybe ONE meal replace with veggies. MAYBE.

The benefits: all the veggies are beneficial to humans & it makes you "regular".

EXCELLENT advice here. I have a Jack LaLanne juicer and absolutely LOVE it! If you're not able to get the recommended 5-9 servings of fruits/veggies (all of different colors is best) each day, juicing is a great way to supplement your regular eating. You may not get the fiber from these fruits/veggies when you juice them, but you're at least getting the nutrients your body needs to fight things like everyday illnesses and cancer....yes, I said cancer. We don't eat nearly enough of these things to help our bodies fight against cancer properly. And how bout barely...if ever...getting the common cold..? I went for nearly a year eating veggies as HALF of everything I ate...as my main dish instead of side dish...then about 2 weeks into being 'too busy' to cook (was eating a lot of crap), I easily caught someone's germs and came down with bronchitis. After only 2 days in a row of juicing just once each day, my body aches went away, and my bronchial tubes really cleared up significantly. Learned my lesson.

I've never heard that you shouldn't eat regular food while juicing, but I have heard that you shouldn't drink more than 1 or 2 cups of juiced juice per day. I forget why. I can only do that much anyways, cuz the natural sugar rush (from the apple) gives me a bit of a headache. If this happens to you, add a zucchini to the mix. It tastes like nothing, yet takes the edge off the sugar content. Enjoy and have fun exploring! Oh yeah, and spinach is a waste to juice...nothing but a few drops, and everything else is wasted. Save spinach for strawberry/spinach salad ) Yum!!

I have not tried juicing banana, as someone suggested to do to sweeten up your juice, because it just looks like it would clog the juicer up.

Apples, and lemon are great for taste. Also cucumber to dilute some strong tasting juice.

To juice is to add a high amount of minerals, enzymes and vitamins that we would not get otherwise, unless we would be eating pounds and pounds of vegetables. And then for sure we would be constipated.

Here are some pictures of different juices that I have made in the past and happen to have pictures on hand.

Gazpacho Juice and Citrus Inspired Green Juice. I love to eat tomatoes, but not a fan of juicing them. So I don't juice tomatoes, but eat them.



Sunset blend juice. I did not juice beet leaves, just beets.




V28. This juice has a kick, thanks to jalapeno and horseradish! Not one of my favorites. Recipe requires 4 cups of parsley that I omitted due to my juicer at that time not doing anything for the leafy greens.


Apple-Carrot-Beet Juice. I noticed that any juice that has beets in it makes me feel very good. This one smells and tastes very good, too!


This juice is the tastier of all green juices so far.


Sorry, I could not add tag that would work to resize images. Right click on picture ans 'view image' to see the larger ones