Juicing

I love to have fresh juice occasionally. One of my faves is carrot (1lb)- ginger (a finger size chunk)- apple (1)... sometimes I put a quarter or half of a beet in there too. I also like kale carrot juice with half a hot pepper and a squeeze of lemon. It's fun to just try out combinations.

1stplace4health wrote: »

Cucumber, celery, spinach, lemon, blueberries, strawberries, & chia seeds yum. Mine blends it all, nothing is extracted. Put a drop of dish soap and hot water and turn on the juicer. Cleans it in seconds.

I don't think that's a juicer, that's a high powered blender. It makes a smoothie, not juice. A juicer extracts the juice and leaves the pulp behind.

OP I really love fresh juice, but between the cost of all the produce needed to make one cup and the time spent prepping and cleaning, I gave it up. Now I make smoothies in a Vitamix to get my fruits & veggies in.

I have a juicer that I use to make beet, celery and lemon juice. It's good for my blood pressure and the beet juice right before a workout improves my workout. I don't do juice fasts or use it for meals and I try to keep my juices fairly heavy on the vegetables. If I do fruit I tend to make smoothies since that uses the whole thing.

JanetYellen wrote: »

Fiber. Keep it. Get a vitamix, ninja or nutribullet instead.

I completely agree. Fiber is key. If you juice, you are getting all the fruit sugar with none of the fiber to properly metabolize it (this can lead to weight gain). Get a good blender (recommend the Vitamix). I throw an apple, orange, banana, ginger, a little water and some ice into the Vitamix and have an all natural fruit smoothie. I sometimes add some oatmeal or chia seeds to it to increase the protein.

I have a juicer, but don't use it often, for the following reasons.
1. You can have some unintended nutritional results. You get more sugar and less fiber, yes, but more importantly, you can get TOO much of some substances that are actually not good for you in high amounts. For example, you get oxalates when you eat spinach, but to get enough to be unhealthy, you would have to eat WAY more spinach than anyone would ever eat. Unless you juice, and then you get a lot more spinach because it is concentrated in the juice, being blended up, and therefore a lot more oxalates.

Some things like that happen with a number of foods, and can be not so great.

2. Juicers are a pain to clean, or if they are easy, they require expensive disposable filters.



However, when I do juice, I will usually save the pulp and use it to make crackers - you can make fruit and veggie crackers from pulp in dehydrators or the over, and they are typically all right to outright yummy. lots of recipes online.

I like it as a snack or add onto my meal. I use my nutribullet or ninja blender. I got some of the most interesting recipes off pinterest And not to mention macrobiotic and smoothie juice books, i got a ton lol. I add in my own fiber, chia seeds, protein powder, hemp, anything i feel.

If you go to a health food place, they often use the vitamix or some other professional high powered blender, so everything pulverizes instantly. So all blenders are good but the best ones i love are a smooth juice like consistency or can add ice to make frothy treats

OP - not certain what type of juicer you have. If you have a cold pressed juicer (with an agar), these recipes are pretty good. However, they probably won't be appropriate for a centrifuge style juicer, as they don't process green very well.

1 bunch kale
1 med red beet
3 carrots
2 apples

Or

1 bunch kale
1/3 fresh pineapple

This one is like dessert!

To the people remarking how difficult to clean and wasteful juicer are - it depends on the type. You're probably talking about a centerfuge style which remove much more pulp/fiber and take longer to clean.

I have a cold press juicer that leaves very little waste ~ 1 cup per juice session, and takes less than 5 minutes to clean - doesn't use paper filters or what not.

To the people remarking about removing the fiber and just having fruit/veggies - not everyone can have a lot of fiber. There are several gastrointestinal disorders that require one to have a low fiber diet. Juicing is a good alternative which allows them to get nutrients without the huge quantity of fiber. If you consume the juice with a meal or in a smoothie then you don't have to worry about the carb load.