The Health Benefits of Juicing Regularly

Vegetable juiceIt’s no secret that it is possible for you to juice your way to good health and there are many juicing health benefits available for the taking. For instance, you are able to provide nutrients to your body that are lacking if your diet is not balanced, or consists of heavily processed foods. However, it is important to remember that the benefits of juicing are going to be more valuable if you juice regularly.

Don’t Treat Juicing as a Fad

If you treat juicing as a fad, the benefits will be limited so it is best to make a commitment to juice regularly. Not only that, but you can increase the benefits by targeting and/or creating juicing recipes that capitalize on the health benefits of a particular fruit or vegetable whose properties are known to improve certain medical conditions, such as high blood pressure for example.

Juicing for Maintaining Good Health

This is the reason why most people get into juicing in the first place, yet if you only juice sporadically, the benefits will be minimal. For anyone whose diet is inadequate, juicing will certainly provide the necessary nutrients, conveniently in a single glass, providing protection from lifestyle illnesses and increasing vitality.

One of the main benefits of juicing fruits and vegetables relates to the way that enzymes and other nutrients are concentrated and easy for the body to absorb. This being so, maintaining a regular juicing regimen rather than an occasional one, is definitely the way to go if you are committed to maintaining good health and receiving all the juicing health benefits that are there for the taking.

Little Effort for Maximum Nutrition

If you want to draw an interesting analogy, juicing can be likened to the equivalent of ‘fast food’. For little effort, you receive a nutrient packed glass of goodness. While you keep yourself supplied with fresh fruits and vegetables, you can create ‘instant’ nutritional hits. This is worth remembering because it is the modern, busy lifestyle that often leads to a fast food diet in the first place. You can just swap out a ‘fat’ fast food hit for a ‘juicy’ fast food hit and maintaining it on a regular basis becomes easy.

Juicing for Specific Medical Conditions

If you decide to juice for this reason, then it makes sense to do it regularly. Specific fruits and vegetables are known to be helpful to certain medical conditions. For example, with vegetables, cucumber is a natural diuretic, sweet potato can help with arthritis and other inflammatory conditions, tomatoes are a powerful antioxidant, parsnips contain chromium which regulates the metabolism while turnip greens can help to lower body fat levels.

With fruits, the benefits of juicing can be tapped for treating gout with cherries, killing internal parasites with papaya seeds, slowing down prostate cancer with pomegranate juice, reducing migraines with cantaloupes, lowering blood pressure and cholesterol with figs, while you can maintain colon health with pears. Cranberries can also dissolve fat deposits. These are just a few fruits and vegetables with specific healing properties; there are many more.

Increase Effectiveness by Combining fruits and Vegetables

The effectiveness of these juicing health benefits is increased when you combine them. For example, you could create a natural diuretic and fat fighting juice by combining cucumber, asparagus, cranberries, turnip greens and plums. For colon health you could combine red and green cabbage, collard greens with pears and apples.

For type 2 diabetics, an effective combination includes blueberries and asparagus. A liver cleanse is easy when you combine parsley, beetroot and ginger root. Again, these are just a few of the effective combinations of fruits and vegetables that can help to treat various medical conditions. It’s worth remembering the ‘super foods’ as well, such as strawberries, blueberries and asparagus. There are many more, but these can be easily and quickly added to your juice recipe.

When people are regularly juicing, health benefits will follow. Juicing on a regular basis can bring your body to a state of good health as well as maintain it over the longer term. Being healthy is not something you should treat as a fad, but rather, a means to an ongoing end. Of course, always make sure you seek medical advice if you have medical conditions, however modern medicine does promote eating and/or drinking fruits and vegetables as a means of facilitating good health.

If you are looking for a new juicer, check out our juicer reviews.

Juicing As Part of a Weight Loss Program

Juicing and weight loss can go together beautifully if you go about it the right way. This means that instead of focusing on juicing and weight loss, you should focus on juicing as an integral part of an overall health regimen. Part of that regimen involves some physical activity, to give your metabolism a boost, as

Juicing as part of a weight loss programwell as developing and following a sustainable nutrition focused eating plan. Incorporating juicing into that plan can have some very helpful effects on your weight loss. Juicing on its own is not a good way to approach weight loss, but it has some valuable benefits which cannot be ignored when you are trying to lose weight.

Losing Weight is a Lifestyle Change

Juicing then, is part of a bigger change in your life. In terms of weight loss, it can add many nutrients to your system but without the calories associated with fats. The most important benefit is that the health of your immune system will receive a boost, which in turn will help your other systems to function at their best. Vitamins, minerals and enzymes will increase your vitality as the juices you create deliver their goodness to your immune system. Your body will burn fat a lot more efficiently if you provide it with the correct fuels.

Natural Appetite Suppressants

Juicing for weight loss will involve juicing lots of vegetables and these have the added advantage of naturally suppressing your appetite. A glass of vegetable juice, prior to eating your main meal of the day, will make you feel full naturally and therefore eat a much smaller meal portion. A glass of vegetable juice will remove any feelings of hunger.  Not only that, but you are fueling your body with a potent nutrient mix as well.

Blood Sugar Levels

You will probably have noticed that we have talked mostly about vegetable juices, rather than fruit juices. The reason for this is because of the high concentration of sugar levels that are present in fruit juice. Vegetable juices will keep your blood sugar levels stable and this is always a good thing, not to mention that they have approximately 50% less calories than fruit juices. Juice made from carrots and parsley will send sugar cravings away. It’s also a good idea to find out which fruits have the most and the least sugar, then look at possible combinations which will result in a blend which will do you the most good.

A masticating or centrifugal juicer are both great  juice machines to use if you are thinking of using juicing as a way of aiding weight loss. A masticating juicer will be a better choice if you will be juicing leafy vegetables and it will provide you with a full range of juicing options. Ensuring you juice a full range of fruits and vegetables (different colors) on a regular basis, will ensure your body is fuelled with the nutrients and energy necessary to make your body systems run optimally and assist with weight loss. It’s a fun way to approach weight loss and you will soon find which combinations of fruits and vegetables work best for you.

Growing and Juicing Wheatgrass

Wheat grass

Drinking the juice of fresh wheatgrass is known to boost your immune system, thereby improving your health. Wheatgrass contains high levels of chlorophyll along with a host of minerals and vitamins which are known for their ability to boost your immune system as well as provide a quick detox.

To ensure you receive the most benefit, you will need a juicing machine known as a wheatgrass juicer these types of juicers retain the most nutrients. The best wheatgrass comes from growing it yourself because it will be fresh.

Grow it at home

Growing wheatgrass at home is actually a really good idea because you will know exactly how fresh it is as well as the exact time to harvest so as to take advantage of the highest nutritional value possible.

You need to first soak your wheatgrass seeds in water for about 8 hours, so overnight works well. If you don't want to plant the seeds after an overnight soaking, you can put them out to soak in the morning and then plant in the evening. It is best to plant the seeds in a 20 x 10 x 2 inch seed tray and for the best results, try using a moist organic potting mix. Plant the soaked seeds in the potting mix, making sure the seeds are covered with soil, then cover the tray to keep moisture from escaping. Place the tray in a dark place and water them every day.

Growing the Sprouts and Cutting the Grass

The tray should remain covered and in a dark place until the sprouts have reached 2" in height, which should take 2 -3 days. Then move the sprouts into indirect sunlight until they have grown to 7 - 8" in height.  This should take 4 – 5 days. You will want to keep an eye out for mold.  65 F - 68 F is the optimum temperature for growth. Using scissors, cut the wheat grass just above the soil level. Once you are familiar with the growing cycle you will be able to time the planting and harvesting so as to have a regular supply available to enjoy the wheatgrass benefits.

Juicing Wheatgrass

Rinse the wheatgrass after harvesting and start to juice immediately. You can though, place any unused wheatgrass in your refrigerator in an airtight container. A masticating juicer is the best juicer for juicing wheat grass because it has the ability to extract the most nutrients. Some appliances are not suitable and these include centrifugal juicers, blenders and food processors as they will destroy the chlorophyll. A wheatgrass juicer is really just a different name for a masticating juicer. Half an hour is the most you should leave your juice sitting before consuming it.

Common Issues

Avoid yellow sprouts as you will find they taste different than the green sprouts and are not fresh.  After making your juice, don't delay, you will want to drink it right away. You can keep your juice for a maximum of half an hour in the refrigerator, but any longer than that is not advisable as the nutrients start to break down.

Masticating Juicers


Juicing for Seniors: Unique Nutritional Aspects for the Elderly

Juicing benefits for those in this particular age group take on a whole new meaning as nutrition and digestive issues appear with the onset of advancing years. It is normal for seniors to experience changes in their eating patterns and appetite and it can be a disturbing experience for seniors, family and caregivers alike. Seniors Juicing

A changed sense of taste can result in seniors losing their appetite and this is but a short step to inadequate nutrition, unhealthy weight loss as well as the onset of chronic conditions. The same changing sense of taste can also work in the opposite direction due to cravings for sweet or salty foods which of course can result in inappropriate weight gain.

The traditional method of dealing with these issues is to supplement an inadequate diet with nutritional shakes and supplements as well as providing relief from conditions such as colds and flu which are well known for causing changes in olfactory and taste experiences. It is a symptomatic approach at best however there is another way.

How Juicing Can Help

Juicing for life can mean exactly that for elderly people because it provides an excellent means of providing high quality nutrients in the form of vitamins and minerals without the need for consuming huge quantities of food. It is the perfect solution to the problem of decreased appetite so that senior citizens can enjoy improved health. Raw, fresh juices provide natural enzymes that in themselves can lead to improved digestion as well as increased immunity.

In addition to these juicing benefits, the general health of senior citizens can also be improved if conditions such as dementia, depression, ulcers are also treated. Even an issue such as correctly fitted dentures can make a difference to the types of foods the elderly are able to consume.

Seniors Who Enjoy Independent Living

Juicing for life is a real option for these seniors because they are able to take an active role in seeking solutions to their appetite issues and work together with their doctor to investigate any hidden problems. They are also able to commence a juicing regimen consisting of a couple of fresh juices each day. By consuming raw, fresh juice on an empty stomach, an hour or so before meals, seniors are assured of ingesting the vital nutrients their bodies need.

Seniors Who Live With Family or a Caregiver

In this situation, it is the family or caregiver who will make the fresh juices and offer it to the senior citizen. If the family is already juicing, introducing fresh juice into the diet of an elderly parent will likely be a family affair and not considered unusual. In fact, family members can prepare juices and refrigerate them so the elderly parent is able to drink them before meals as required.

Elderly parents who are not able to eat family meals can still receive required nutrients by ingesting vegetables and fruits by way of juicing, while avoiding the need to struggle with unsuitable foods and appetite issues. So long as the fresh juice is consumed within a 24 hour time frame, the nutrient value will remain high. The juice should be refrigerated if not consumed immediately.

Things to be Careful Of

Before a senior citizen starts on a juicing regimen, a doctor should be consulted, particularly if medications such as blood thinners or cholesterol medications are being taken. Fruit juice has a high sugar content so it is better if fruits are added in for taste rather than volume.

The benefits of juicing for life can result in improved nutrient intake for the elderly which in turn can result in improved health. There is planning involved of course but ultimately, juicing can be viewed as a viable method of ingesting high quality nutrients that are easily digestible.

Juicing for Kids

Children can often develop a taste for sweet drinks and many children consume packaged, sugary fruit drinks. These fruit drinks don’t have the nutritional benefits of fresh juices and you might wonder how children can be weaned away from packaged juices. It’s easier than it sounds, particularly if you are able to make juicing a family affair and develop healthy juicer Child Juicingrecipes.

Starting Out

The best way to start children with fresh juices, especially those who are accustomed to drinking packaged juice is to mix fresh juice with the package juice until they become used to it. Then you can decrease the processed juice until they are having a complete raw juice experience. Even with the high sugar levels in fresh fruit juices, it is still offers a far higher level of nutrition than processed juices. It’s even better if you can use organic fruits to make healthy drink recipes.

Adding Vegetables

You can try adding green vegetables to fruit juices after your children have become accustomed to drinking natural raw juices. As they become more familiar with the new tastes, you can start to show them how you are adding in a leaf or two of various greens to make new healthy drink recipes.

Let Children Participate

Once juicing has become an established practice, it is likely children will become curious about juicing of their own accord. If they are old enough, there is no reason why they cannot participate in the fun. It is natural for children to be fascinated by appliances with buttons and if properly supervised, they will enjoy juicing and learning about healthy juicer recipes.

Safety is Always a Priority

While there are generally built in safety features on modern juice extractors, safety will always be a priority and good supervision is key. You should always make a point of unplugging the juicer when you are not actually making juice.

Tips to Help Children Started with Juicing

The earlier you can involve your children with juicing, the better and youngsters as young as two years of age can perform simple tasks such as putting kale leaves into a bowl of water and swish them around. A four year old child is able to peel an orange (using fingers) while a six year old is able to pit cherries and even slice cucumber into chunks while being supervised.
Other tasks they can do include turning on the switch to operate the juicer as well as dropping produce in the chute or feed tube. They can also switch between high and low speed and see what happens to the produce. As always, appropriate supervision is of paramount importance.

Using Games to Stimulate Interest

This is a great way to keep children motivated about juicing after they have become accustomed to a variety of new tastes. A good one is to start out with a regular juice, for example using apples, blackberries and a lemon that your children are already familiar with. Ask them to cover their eyes, and then add in three pieces of a vegetable, such as spinach, parsnip or cucumber. Next, serve up a small glass of juice to each child and see if they can guess the vegetable you have added in.

You can always add in more vegetables to the same juice and see if they can recognize what you have added. If they are stuck, you could always try placing small pieces of some vegetables on the countertop to give them a clue.

Juicing for kids is definitely a great activity and while they won’t be doing a juice fast, fresh juice is always a good way for a sick child who isn’t eating, to still ingest necessary nutrients and liquids. Juicing as a family is also fun and is the perfect activity to encourage children to learn about making good nutrition choices and creating healthy drink recipes.

Juice Fasting

When people talk about juicing, there are some who see it purely as a way of fasting in order to detox and lose weight. Obviously there are many reasons to consider fresh juicing but it remains as one of the most popular ways to rid the body of toxins and lose weight. It is effective in assisting with weight loss however as with most things, the experience can be a lot better if you make the effort to find out as much as you can before starting out with juice fasts.Juice Fasting

What is a Juice Fast?

The short answer is consuming only raw fruit and vegetable juices together with water and herbal tea, non-caffeinated. The idea is that you consume these things only for a predetermined amount of time.

Some people opt for a shorter time period if they want to cleanse and detox, while others will want to extend out the time period as a way of easing into a particular diet program. Still others will want to commit to a lengthy sixty to ninety day program of juice fasting.

Benefits of Juice Fasts

Some of the benefits of juice fasting include measurable improvements in things such as sleep quality, higher levels of energy, improved skin tone as well as mental clarity. Feeling lighter is also experienced by those who finish a juice fast.

Juice Fasting Explained

A juice fast works because of the way the digestive system is allowed to rest itself from the activity of defending against toxins. Digesting raw juices requires little in the way of effort and as a result of this the digestive system can focus instead on releasing stored toxins that are essentially surrounded by fat. The shedding of fat cells which contain the toxins results in a more energetic and lighter body.

There are a few different types of cleanses and these include the cleansing of the intestines and the gall bladder. The cleansing is necessary because of dietary imbalances which rely heavily on sugar and fried foods, as well as more sedentary lifestyles and cancer causing pollutants in the air we breath and the water we drink. Not to mention the chemicals we ingest through eating processed foods and using household cleaners.

What to Expect

Part of understanding how to do a juice fast involves a high level of planning on the one hand and a high level of commitment on the other. Regardless of the reason behind your decision to undertake a juice fast, the actual doing of it will take serious planning. Unlike people who juice once per day to maintain good health, those who commit to a juice fast will be consuming nothing but juice. You will need to juice at least six times each day for the duration of your fast.

This requires planning, particularly if you go to work or are part of a family, or indeed just a highly social type of person who goes out a lot.

A Few Side Effects

You should expect possible minor digestive upsets such as diarrhea and/or constipation when you start a juice fast so it is handy to plan for this and stay close to home until things settle down and if necessary, restrict social and work obligations where necessary. If you are able to transition into your juice fast, these side effects can be minimized.

The possibility of losing sleep and changes in moods can also affect some people so keeping friends and family informed about your juice fast is always a good idea. Feeling hungry can also be an issue for some people. If you can keep a good supply of fresh fruits and vegetables on hand, including greens, you can use them while you are transitioning into your juice fast, by way of replacing solid foods in the event you find yourself feeling hungry.

The Reality

During a juice fast you will consume six 14 – 16 ounce glasses of fruit and vegetable juice for the duration of your juice fast. After transitioning, there will be no solid food at all for the duration of the fast you have committed to. It doesn’t take long to settle into it and many people report not missing solid food or feel tempted by regular food at home or elsewhere.

Embarking upon a juice fast demonstrates a significant commitment to your health. Planning and transitioning into it provides the best chances of success as well as minimization of side effects and if weight loss is the reason for your juice fasts, it won’t take long for you to see results.

How to Choose the Right Electric Juicer

Choosing the Best Juicer

If you are intent to embark upon a juicing adventure and are intending to do more than just hand-squeeze citrus fruits, you will need to invest in an electric juicer. This is so you will be able to extract the juice from vegetables and fruits and separate the juice from the resulting pulp. Sound easy? Well it is, however you need to purchase a juicer to do the job for you and aside from huge variations in price, you will need to figure out what type of juicer is going to best suit your needs.

Depending on the juicer you choose, the cost will vary from $100 to upwards of $2,000 so you will need to think carefully about your lifestyle and things like your meal planning routine, if you have one. It’s important that you use your juicer so developing some realistic juicing plans will make sure you don’t leave it sitting in a cabinet, unused and wasted. Essentially there are three different types of juicers, in addition to a citrus press these are the centrifugal juicer, the single gear masticating juicer and the double gear masticating juicer.

The Centrifugal Juicer

A centrifugal juicer is a basic style juicer and you’ll find plenty of advertising on TV as well as on the Internet for this style of juicer. The price is attractive, being between $100 and $300 and many people are happy to buy this type of juicer. It’s fast and generally does a good job of juicing fruits and vegetables however is not so good for leafy greens such as chard and kale. Breville JE98XL Juice Fountain

It works by shredding the produce by way of a spinning blade that sits in a mesh basket. Juice is extracted by centrifugal force as it spins with the juice being forced through the unit to be caught by a pitcher or other receptacle. The leftover pulp is pushed into a different direction to be collected in a different container. Tip: line the pulp container with a plastic bag for very easy clean up.

Some people find that the pulp is too ‘wet’ meaning there is still a lot of juice left in the pulp. If you want to get as much value as possible from your produce, you can run the pulp through the juicer for a second time so as to collect more juice.

Pros:

  • cheap price
  • works fast
  • easy and simple to clean up
  • excellent for busy people in a hurry

Cons:

  • is considered to be inefficient
  • the centrifugal action is thought to produce heat which kills micro-nutrients in the juice

The Single-gear Masticating Juicer

Kuvings NJE3580U Gear

A single gear masticating juicer is a mid-range juicer in terms of price and is a step up from the centrifugal juicer. You can expect to pay between $200 to $400 and is considered to be a good choice for anyone who is seriously interested in juicing. It performs well when juicing leafy greens and works by literally crushing produce with a single spiral gear. It has a better juice yield than a centrifugal juicer however it is considered to be slow and can frustrate people who are in a hurry.

Pros:

  • reasonable price
  • good juice yield
  • nutrient loss is minimized through less oxidation

Cons:

  • a lot slower than a centrifugal juicer
  • can have a larger counter-top footprint in terms of space

The Twin-gear Masticating Juicer

The twin gear masticating juicers are the best you can buy and you can expect to pay anywhere between $400 to $1500 and even more for top of the line models. You will receive the highest juice yield with the juice yielding the highest level of nutrients.

With its twin gears, it is able to handle juicing a broad range of produce, including leafy greens, herbs and wheat grass, with ease. Juice is extracted by way of the two gears pulverizing the produce before pushing it through sieve which presses the juice out the fruits for vegetables. The double process produces a high juice yield with minimal waste.Super Angel 5500

It is a slow process though and you need to plan your life to ensure you have time available to enjoy its benefits. Busy people often find the slow process frustrating.

Pros:

  • Excellent juice extraction
  • Very little foam
  • Micro-nutrients are preserved for top quality juice

Cons:

  • Slow operation
  • Can be expensive
  • Clean-up can be more involved

Conclusion

How to choose a juicer can be a little tricky but with due consideration to your lifestyle, budget and juicing requirements, it’s not difficult at all. Like most things, thorough planning is the key to choosing from the many electric juicers that are available in the marketplace. If you consider things like available space, available time, the cost of the juicer as well as the cost of the raw produce, you will be able to choose the electric juicer that best meets your needs.