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!
If you are diabetes or otherwise sensitive to sugar in your diet, be careful with juicing. Many fruit juices will be very high in sugar, resulting in a spike in your blood sugar levels, especially if you drink juice on an empty stomach. Try diluting your juices with water to reduce this issue.
Try to use locally-grown fruits and vegetables in your juicing. The best option is to use produce that you’ve grown yourself. Every mile that a piece of fruit needs to be transported to get to you increases the carbon footprint of your glass of juice. It also increases the chance of your produce becoming contaminated with bacteria or chemicals.
Getting into juicing can not only make you healthier, but can be a fun way to create delicious and nutritious drinks for you and your family. If you can get yourself a juicer, you can reap the benefits of a healthier way to drink juice. Plus, you’ll know it wasn’t made in a factory somewhere. Unless you have a juicer in a factory you work at!
Before juicing, find out what items you need to peel and what you can leave whole. Citrus fruits generally need to have the peel removed before juicing. Be careful however when peeling, the white area immediately underneath the peel is fine to juice and it is where MOST of the nutrients are.
When making home-made juice, it’s by far the best to drink it fresh. If you must store it, use an opaque, airtight container with no air inside. To remove air, you can either add filtered water or use a food saver to suck out the excess air. Don’t store fresh juice for more than 24 hours, even under these conditions.
The biggest key in juicing is curiosity. Wanting to try new foods, things you’ve never even heard of before, will make your journey more tasty and exciting! Explore international produce markets to find vegetables and fruit that could change your life forever. Look online to research what vitamins and nutrients they contain.
One of the best ways to increase your nutrient intake is to make your own juice. Juicing fresh fruits and vegetables can not only be healthy, but quite tasty. Start with your favorite vegetables and then make the move to fruits. You will never want bottled juice again.
Having trouble juicing leafy greens? Try rolling them up into balls, or cigars, and then feeding them through your juicer. You can also try wrapping them around other fruits or vegetables and then pushing the whole thing through, or chopping them very finely and placing a spoonful in the machine at a time.
Skip a water fast and instead, engage in a vegetable juice fast! It supplies all of the nutrients and vitamins you need, without any fat and not a ton of calories. It can also help clear out toxins in your body, especially if you use wheatgrass or ginger in your recipes.
To make sure that your juices pack the most nutritional punch, always choose organic ingredients if they are available. Organic produce has a higher nutritional content than conventionally grown produce and it also usually tastes better. You’ll also avoid any possible toxic chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers that are used in conventional agriculture.
When it comes to juicing, one thing that you want to keep in mind is that the best way to keep pulp from your juice is through a coffee filter. This is good to keep in mind because not only are they cheap but they do a great job!
Don’t just use the same handful of ingredients for all of the juicing you do. There are a lot of great fruits and vegetables out there, and they all have different nutritional profiles, so mixing up your ingredients means that your body will get a wider array of nutrients and enzymes.
Masticating juicers are very efficient. These juicers allow you to mill, grind, make a puree, and even create frozen deserts. These added features will increase the variety of juices that can be created.
Don’t overtax your juicer or you may end up having to buy a new one! Clean out the pulp every time you finish making a cup of juice, and give the machine a break every once in a while to cool down. If you push it too hard, or get it gunked up, you can burn out the motor.
It is very important to monitor your blood sugar levels when juicing if you have diabetes. When you have high blood glucose levels it is best to drink vegetable juice rather than to drink fruit juice. If you still prefer the sweetness of fruit juice, limit your intake.
In order to determine which ingredients you like, only introduce one new ingredient at a time. This way you’ll know exactly what you like and what you don’t like, because you’ll be familiar with all of the ingredients except for one. This is important when adding vegetables.
Different grocery stores often have different deals at the same time. The cost of fresh produce is often very high, so it is important to find sales that will help keep the cost down. By shopping around, you will not only engage yourself in your juicing activities, but you will also save money.
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!
