Juicing

Hi There,

I've just started drinking juices 2 weeks ago. I drink one for breakfast daily and then will have another as a pre-dinner snack on days where i either need the extra calories or just want the nutrition/energy boost. So far, I love it and it's been a great way to consume lots of fruits and vegetables.

Check out this website: http://myphytos.com/build It was passed along to me by other MFPers and I've found it very helpful for finding recipes but even more helpful for calculating the nutritional info for the juices I make. It's easy - you tell the website what ingredients you put in your juice and it tells you all the nutritional info you need to fill out your MFP diary. I've used this site to find some good recipes as well as create my own.

Ideally, you want your juices to be more veggies, less fruit since the fruit contains a lot of sugar and calories. However, fruit (or high sugar veggies like carrots) can be added to veggie juices to make them more tasty.

Some of my favorites that I've tried so far are:

"Jen's Green Juice" - Good veggie juice with enough apple/carrot to taste good!
1 Apple
2 Carrots
4 Celery
4 tsp Ginger Root
2 cups chopped Kale
10 sprigs Parsley
2 cups chopped Spinach
Makes ~31.2oz

"Dave's G.O. Juice"
1 Apple
2 Carrots
2 Celery
1 Cucumber
2 cups chopped Kale
Makes ~31.2oz

"Spinach Cucumber Celery Juice"
1 Celery
1 Cucumber
2 cups chopped Spinach
Makes ~14.4oz

"Carrot Apple Juice" - this one's a bit high on sugar but is delicious and great for a morning wakeup
1 Apple
4 Carrots
Makes ~15.2oz


Basically, just find some recipes or just get some of the basic ingredients you see in recipes and try making your own. Good luck!

I didn't buy a juicer, I just use my blender and roast or don't use dense vegetables or fruits. For instance, I did one with Kale once and it felt like I was chewing my drink so I mainly use spinach. I always do 1/2 cup of almond or soy milk, a cup of spinach and then switch out two different fruits. Today I used one banana (chopped up) and 1/4 c. of blueberries. You'll find you need to chop up fruits and sometimes use a little water to help the blender along. I've also used roasted sweet potato, chopped avocado, chopped apple, 1/4.c of overnight oats, PB, strawberries, roasted beets, the choices are endless.

I understand this isn't technically juicing but it's my cheaper alternative

PS - I have the Blendtec and like that much better than juicing. Less mess and better use of all of the fruits and veggies.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/pages/juicing.html?cm_src=productsearch

Try these =D

I want to start juicing for breakfast and lunch. Does anyone have any good recipes of fruits/veg that go well together?

I also need recommendations for a cheap, yet reliable juicer. I haven't bought one yet.

There are lots of recipes to choose from. I juice more vegetables than fruit. Too much pure fruit juice isn't good because it can spike your blood sugar. I dilute my fruit juice with purified water too and I juice probably 3 times as many vegetables as I do fruit. However, I almost always add an apple to my vegetable juice to make it more appealing. For me the easier the better so I stick to simple recipes most of the time. Carrots, spinach, romaine lettuce, beets, cucumber, celery, tomatoes, apples, oranges, watermelon and pineapple are what I use most. I'll also use lemon, lime and ginger to spice things up.

Juicing may be a little more expensive, but it's great for the body and buying organic isn't necessary. I buy the freshest locally grown when I can and I wash it really good. I don't think it's very expensive at all. A good blender that doesn't cost too much is the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Juice Extractor. They have two different one's around $50 on Amazon. I wouldn't hesitate buying either Hamilton Beach to get started. I read a lot about juicing and one of my favorites newcomer books is Your Comprehensive Green Juicing Guide by Farnoosh Brock. It's a Kindle book sold on Amazon.

The difference between juicing and blending is simple. Juicing extracts the nutrients and enzymes from the fiber of the produce. This allows the body to absorb them better. Blending is great because you also get the fiber and it's more filling. Either way is good, but if you're interested in ever cleansing (detoxing), juicing is better. It gives the digestive system a break and time to heal.

I juice to get more fruits and vegetables into my diet. Studies show, only 20 percent of Americans eat five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables. When I juice I consistently get between 5 and 9 servings per day and I'm much healthier for it. Enjoy the adventure and happy Juicing!

I'm not sure what you consider inexpensive, but I have the Breville Fountain Juicer Plus from Bed Bath and Beyond and it's wonderful. It's $149, but I had a 20% off coupon and got it for $119.

Have you ever watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead? I highly recommend it for starting out juicing. I'm not for juice fasting, but the movie is pretty great. Another good movie is Hungry for Change. Check out Rebootwithjoe.com for recipes.

My favorite is the green detox juice.
1 green apple
1/2 lemon
1 inch ginger
4 celery stalks
1 cucumber
4-5 kale leaves or 3 cups spinach

My advice is to make sure you use juicing to get your veggies in. It's so easy to fall into having fruits as your base and adding in one or two veggies. Veggies are always my base with one or two fruits.

This^^I have the same juicer and love my green juice! I use a pink lady apple for a bit more sweetness! Have one every day...

One of my favorite juices is:

Gazpacho
4 plum tomatoes
2 stalks celery
1 cucumber
1/4 of a small onion
generous handful cilantro
1/4 of a jalpeno
1 lime
1 green pepper

I also really like a combination of apple, carrot and ginger for breakfast. With juice that has beet in it, I like to add some apple cider vinegar to give the juice a sweet and sour taste.

Bump!