If you find it hard to eat the recommended daily six to eight servings of fruits and vegetables, one option that many people have turned to is juicing. Juicing is quick, easy, and affordable, Plus, it offers numerous health-related benefits, such as weight loss, improved energy, and can help boost your immune system!
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.
Don’t leave out vegetables from your regular diet just because you’re getting them in your juice. Even fresh juice doesn’t provide all of the same benefits as eating whole vegetables, especially when it comes to fiber. Juicing should be used to add to your daily vegetable consumption, not to replace it.
Look into juicers that use the masticating process instead of the centrifuge process for extraction. The masticating way of juicing preserves many more nutrients than the centrifuge, the reduction of heat produced during the process. A centrifuge juicer can still be a great value just do your homework first.
Do some trial and error to find what sort of juice mixes you like. Softer fruits like peaches or strawberries will have a much thicker consistency than harder fruits like apples. Mix them up in different amounts to see what makes the consistency of drink that you like the best. The more you like it, the more you will drink it!
To get the most out of juicing, using leafy greens in your juice blends is a great idea. Kale, beet greens, mustard greens and other leafy greens are all great for the task. The healthiest juice consists of fifty to seventy percent greens, the remainder being fruits or other vegetables to add flavor. Fruit juice is full of natural sugar and includes less vitamins and nutrients than vegetables.
Juicing your vegetables is a great way to get the vitamins and minerals that are in them without having to actually take the time to prepare them. Many people simply do not have the time to prepare a gourmet meal each and every night. Juicing vegetables allows you to quickly and easily get the most nutrients out of them that you possibly can without spending a ton of time on them.
Find support in a friend, family member, or co-worker for the changes in your life pertaining to your health, including juicing. Having to tell them that you haven’t been juicing will embarrass you after all the great things you said about how it will change your life, leading you to get back on track.
Pay close attention to which vegetables and fruits your juicer recommends. There are some fruits and vegetables that do not lend themselves well to juicing. Bananas are a great example of this, as they tend to thicken a mixture when added, which is why they are used in smoothies regularly. Blend these types of produce, as opposed to juicing, for best results.
If you don’t have time to juice in the morning, you can make juice on the weekend and drink it throughout the week. The truth is that the vitamins and other nutrients in the drink will break up as time passes, but it’s better to drink homemade juice, than nothing at all!
When looking for a juicer to purchase, check out the additional features it provides. A masticating juicer often comes with attachments to make pasta or grind foods, which can save you money by making other foods from scratch as well. Consider the juicer an investment for your whole kitchen, and pick up a few attachments while you’re out.
When you have your juicer assembled, prepare the fruits or vegetables quickly so you will not have to stop and start during the juicing process. Look at juicing as if you were making a meal. Having everything on hand before you begin to cook is always easier than trying to find what you need during the process!
To make great juice takes great fruits and vegetables. Make sure you use the freshest produce possible. Wash the vegetables and fruits, and prepare the items according to the instructions that are in your juicer manual. Different machines may or may not require peeling or skinning prior to juicing.
When making juices, you should always go organic. Organic fruits and vegetables are usually tastier and healthier. According to studies, organic foods have higher amounts of nutritional value. You also don’t want to put pesticides in your drink, which are used to treat conventional produce. So if you want to make healthier juices, stick to organic produce.
When figuring out your recipes and buying produce at the market, remember that approximately one pound of vegetables and fruit will lead to one cup of juice. Softer fruits will yield about as much juice as is equal to their weight as they won’t lose much pulp, while harder vegetables will produce a lot of pulp and produce less juice.
Juicing can be an excellent option for those of us who often fail to get our recommended daily doses of fruits and veggies. So whether you plan to find juicing recipes on the internet, or get creative in the kitchen and make up recipes of your own, go get started!
