Questions about Juicing!

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angijunbug
angijunbug Posts: 205
in Food and Nutrition
I have been thinking about juicing. Not necessarily for weight loss, but for detox & health benefits. I am vegan & also gluten free. I get a lot of veggies & fruits in, but not those good dark greens that are so beneficial. Any tips on juicing, the best juicer to buy, & also juice fasting. All of this would be totally new to me. Thanks!

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  • gsgitu
    gsgitu Posts: 118 Member
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    my recent experience, wanted a blender since we have not had one in quite a while. researched juicing and blending. basically juicing removes the fiber stuff, blending does not. so i went the blender route. researched blenders for several days. the winner - Vitamix. pricey, yes. am i happy, yes. using for a week and it pretty much liquifies anything you throw in it. i have been blending stuff non-stop. some will say "just eat the food, why blend it?" cause i prefer not to eat handfuls of spinach, i prefer the blend of flavors. Vitamix BAM!
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    Your body doesn't need to be detoxed, it does that all by itself. I too would recommend blending over juicing if you want to do it to add more veggies to your life. Juicing just gives you the sugar water and you through away all the fiber than your body needs to help digestion.
  • angijunbug
    angijunbug Posts: 205
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    Awesome! Thanks! I will research more about the blending vs juicing! I have a friend with a Vitamix. She swears by it! I am the same way about eating all those handfuls of greens especially the mustard & collards.
  • favreervaf
    favreervaf Posts: 54 Member
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    Hi, I'm a 25 year old male, exercise physiologist, and this is my take on juicing.

    Getting quality juice out of veggies and fruits is a tough thing, and it requires a good machine. It is a good investment, it is something you don't want to buy cheaply. I recommend the Breville Juicer Pro, it was around $150 for me. Secondly, I like making green juices, as they tend to be the most healthy. I make mine with spinach, kale, broccoli, cucumber, celery, carrot, green apple, lemon, and ginger root.

    Juice fasting is alright to do for a certain amount of time, 3-5 days of just juicing can be healthy, but you'll have a hard time if you are involved in any heavy athletics. I was on day 3 of juice fasting last year and had a soccer game, and I just about died because my body was in ketosis while playing. I recommend having it as a lunch substitute, or right before bed, because while sleeping your liver does it's most useful detoxification of blood. (adding beets to your juice will help detox as well). Do this 3-5 day juice detox with safety, and its ok to do it once or twice a year, but remember if you are just juicing, get some healthy carbohydrates as well, because carbs are the only macronutrient that can cross the blood brain barrier, and helps run your central nervous system! If you don't have enough, your body and liver will use your glycogen stores (~2,000 cals) and when that runs out, you start to use ketone bodies (amino acids from muscle, converted to glucose) for your CNS to use.

    Good luck, and have fun! Any other questions, private message me!
  • angijunbug
    angijunbug Posts: 205
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    Thank you so much! This is very very helpful & I was looking at that same juicer on Amazon this morning.
  • beeb66
    beeb66 Posts: 17
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    I have a cheapo Hamilton Beach that I pull out every morning to do a green juice. I mainly started doing this for my back health. I researched veggies that would be an alternative to meds. It has helped very much.
    My morning green is.......cucumber, celery (for inflammation), kale, collard greens, spinach, apple and carrots.

    yummy...
  • AmberSpamber
    AmberSpamber Posts: 391 Member
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    I juiced for 14 days and felt amazing. I didn't have any problems with energy and all of my aches and pains went away. I think it is very benificial, but make sure you know what you are getting yourself into. A lot of people take the time to research the juicing itself but they don't take the time to research the after affects ( if they are doing a cleanse) Good luck to you! Add me if you want any insight or tips..

    Also, I got the breville. Worth the investment.

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