There has been a lot of buzz around juicing in recent years. Proponents of juicing often claim it improves mental clarity, boosts energy, assists with weight loss, and detoxifies the body.
Though there is little by way of scientific evidence that a juice cleanse will kick start the metabolism, clear out toxins, or help to shed excess weight quickly, that doesn’t mean that juicing can’t be part of a healthy diet.
Read on to discover why juicing should be a part of your daily meal plan.
What is Juicing?
Juicing provides an easy way to consume more fruits and vegetables by extracting the juice from whole produce.
By removing the plant tissues, the resulting beverage is rife with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other beneficial phytochemicals.
To render whole fruits and veggies into liquid, you will need a juice extractor. There are two main types of juicers on the market today:
Centrifugal juicers are equipped with a spinning blade that quickly grinds up produce and deposits the pulp into a separate receptacle. Although they make juice fast and are quite affordable, centrifugal juicers can be noisy, are less efficient in extracting liquids, and are not good for extracting juice from drier produce like kale and other leafy greens. Their speedy operation also generates heat that can destroy some of the nutrients in the finished drink. While there are some drawbacks, centrifugal juicers are great for people who only juice occasionally.
Masticating juicers extract liquid at a low speeds by pressing and crushing fruits and veggies with a single rotating auger. They are quiet, much more efficient, will extract the juices from leafy greens and root vegetables, and do not generate heat, allowing you to retain as many nutrients as possible. While they are a bit more expensive, masticating juicers are well worth the investment if you plan on incorporating juice into your daily meals.
The Best Juicers You Can Buy
3 Benefits of Juicing
Despite the hype around juicing, there are three good reasons to get your juice on:
1. Get the Recommended Daily Serving of Fruits & Vegetables
At a time when only 1 in 10 Americans are consuming the necessary 1 ½ to 2 cups of fruit and 2 to 3 cups of veggies each day, juicing offers an easy way to increase your intake of fresh produce and try new varieties.
You can fit quite a few plant foods into a single glass of juice. It’s the equivalent of eating a heaping bowl of fruit in one sitting.
2. Protection From Chronic Disease
We know that eating plenty of colorful fruits and vegetables helps protect us from chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Juicing makes it so these life-saving and life-prolonging nutrients are much more accessible on a daily basis.
3. It’s Easier on the Digestive System
Because juicing involves removing the majority of the insoluble fiber from the produce, what you are left with is essentially raw, liquid vegetables. Drinking juice means your body can instantly absorb all of the drink’s vitamins and nutrients. It’s like taking your daily multivitamin, but in juice form.
3 Things to Keep in Mind While Juicing
Juicing is an excellent way to increase fruit and vegetable consumption but should be enjoyed in moderation. It’s best to juice in addition to the foods you normally eat and not use it as a meal replacement. Here’s why:
1. You Need Dietary Fiber
Dietary fiber plays an important role in health and is part and parcel of a healthy diet. Fiber isn’t digested or absorbed by the body, passing through your system mostly intact.
Soluble and insoluble fiber, which are present in most plant foods, helps keep bowel movements regular, maintains good bowel health, and naturally controls cholesterol and blood sugar levels. It also has the effect of making you feel full and satisfied for longer, which can certainly help with weight loss.
2. Fruit Juices Can Be High in Sugar
While there is an important distinction between added sugar and the sugars found naturally in fruit, it’s good to be mindful of the volume of fruits you’re juicing. For example, a single orange contains 12.2 grams of sugar, but you may need two to four oranges to make a glass of juice – that’s nearly 50 grams of sugar per drink!
To keep natural sugars low, make juices with a healthy mix of vegetables and keep the fruits to 1 ½ to 2 cups maximum per day.
3. Leave Room in Your Diet for Whole Fruits and Veggies
To achieve the full spectrum of benefits of a diet enriched with fruits and vegetables, be sure to eat them whole too.
Up to 90% of the fruit or veggie’s fiber is removed during juicing, and important antioxidants and other phytochemicals that are bound up in the plant’s tissues are lost in the process.
If you prefer to drink your produce and retain all of the good stuff, simply blend up your fresh fruits and vegetables to make a smoothie instead.
10 Delicious & Healthy Juicing Recipes
When you juice, it’s super easy to eat the rainbow:
1. Green Juice
- 5 kale leaves
- 6 celery stalks
- 2 cucumbers
- ½ lemon
- 2 apples
- Slice of fresh ginger
2. Vision Booster Juice
3. Raspberry-Beet Juice
- 1 beetroot
- ½ lemon
- 3 pears
- 1 cup raspberries
4. Homemade V8
- 6 carrots
- 1 beetroot
- 3 tomatoes
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 1 red bell pepper
- 3 celery stalks
- ¼ sweet onion
- ½ clove garlic
- 3 kale leaves
- ¼ head cabbage
- 1 habanero pepper
- Salt and Worcestershire sauce to season
5. Blackberry Juice
- 1 cup blackberries
- 1 kiwi
- 1 pear
- ¼ pineapple
- 10 peppermint leaves
6. Strawberry-Mango Juice
- 2 apples
- 2 leaves red cabbage
- 3 carrots
- 1 cucumber
- 1 mango
- 1 ½ cups strawberries
7. Spicy Juice
- 12 carrots
- 1 slice ginger
- ¼ lemon
- ¼ lime
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- ½ cup coconut water
- 1 bunch cilantro
- Salt to taste
8. Root Juice
- 1 sweet potato
- 6 carrots
- 1 beet root
- 2 celery stalks
- 2 apples
- 2 slices ginger
- 1 orange
- 1 zucchini
9. Autumn Juice
- 2 cups of pumpkin
- ½ orange
- 1 cup cranberries
- 2 apples
- 1 slice ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
10. Coconut Juice
- 1 medium coconut (meat only)
- 2 oranges
- 2 peaches