Last year I received a Juicer for my birthday.
I have to say that juicing vegetables was one of the best things I started doing in 2012.
Once my wife and I started drinking juiced vegetables we noticed a number of benefits:
- Even more energy
- Better Skin, my wife noticed this one especially
- Better Hydration, extra water first thing is a good start to the day
- Quicker workout recovery and healing time
I’m totally converted to juicing and believe that everyone should discover the benefits it has to offer.
Before you start, here are 10 things you need to know:
# 1 – Don’t Juice Fruit
Fruit has way too much sugar to be used for juicing. You can get a very quick high from juicing fruit as your sugar levels escalate but this puts heavy demands on your hormonal system. What starts out as a boost of energy will soon turn into an energy crash. Juicing fruit is a very quick way to pile on fat as your body stores excess sugar in your liver and fat cells. If you are diabetic or struggle with your insulin levels then juicing fruit is especially dangerous.
# 2 – Drink Immediately
Have you ever cut an apple in half and left it for 15 minutes? Goes brown right? This reaction is called oxidation, it’s the fruit reacting with oxygen. This is the reason why most foods are stored in air tight containers. So when you juice your vegetables make sure you consume the juice as quickly as possible to ensure you absorb all that goodness.
# 3 – Gets Absorbed Quickly
When you eat vegetables they take time to get absorbed into your blood stream. The fibre in all vegetables is the reason why absorption is slowed down. Now we definitely need fibre in out diets and it’s especially good for improving digestion so I would NEVER recommend replacing meal after meal with juices. But juicing vegetables will give you those important other nutrients quickly and effectively.
# 4 – Gives Digestion a Break
We all eat far too much for our needs. Having a juice now and again gives our digestive system a break and time to recover from digestion overload. Juicing is often used for cleansing as well as part of a fasting diet. The principles of fasting and cleansing are all based around giving the digestive system time to catch up and recover.
# 5 – Only Juice Organic
I know there are a lot of non-believers out there who don’t buy into Organic food but juicing should be one exception. Organic foods are not covered in chemicals that when juiced you are drinking. Toxic juice drinks will take more nutrients out of your body than you can put in. Plus, vegetables grown in good organic soil provide more nutrient dense veggies. Remember you are what you eat, carrots eat soil nutrients, just the way we eat carrots. Healthy soil is the source of all healthy foods including meats.
# 6 – Add Fat to Juices
If you are a fast oxidiser meaning you absorb carbohydrates (sugars)Â quickly then you may want to add a little fat to your juices to slow down the absorption. This is the case for me, so I add either some good quality flax oil, coconut oil (my favourite), hemp oil, or olive oil into my juices. By adding approximately a teaspoon of this fat I find it gives me a nice even energy release.
# 7 – Use the Vegetable Pulp
After you have juiced your vegetable you will be left with a considerable amount of pulp. The pulp still contains nutrients and lots of fibre. You can use this pulp to add to other meals like a vegetable hash with eggs, or save the carrot pulp for making Gluten Free Carrot Cake 🙂 If you don’t choose to use the pulp for cooking then at least use it for compost.
# 8 – Juice Early
I always drink my juices in the morning when I first wake. You can of course juice at any time but I like to have the intake of nutrients and energy first thing so I can use it throughout the day. I would not recommend juicing too late in the afternoon as additional energy is not what you want when the body should be winding down along with a decrease in cortisol levels.
# 9 – Don’t Peel
Always wash your vegetables before juicing and if you buy organic they will be covered in soil anyway so this is a must. If you are juicing lemons then I recommend you remove most of the peel because without doing this you get some serious zesty zing in your juice. Experiment for yourself but too much zest can be overpowering. If you do juice the zest make sure your lemons are not covered in wax as many are these days.
# 10 – Buy a Good Juicer
Now I’m no juicing machine expert but my wife did do some serious research before buying my juicer. Many juicers can be hard to clean and others do not extract that much juice from your vegetables. My juicer is amazing, we bought it from Amazon and it’s super easy to clean, very sturdy and generates loads of juice. Its not that expensive either.
The juicer I have is a Philips HR1861 Whole Fruit Juicer (affiliate link).
Finally if you a wondering what I like to juice then here is a list of my favourite ingredients I like to throw in my juicer, not all in one go though 🙂
- Kale
- Cucumber
- Spinach
- Celery
- Carrot
- Beetroot
- Watercress
- Lemon
- Lime
- Ginger
Oh and did I mention that these juices taste delicious, bonus!
(I mentioned above an affiliate link for my juicer. This means that if you purchase a juicer through that link I get a small commission at NO EXTRA cost to you. I have only included this link because I’m 100% happy with this product and would like you to experience the benefits of it too. Just wanted to be totally transparent with you.)
What are Your Juicing Experiences? Leave me a comment…
Interesting one! Juicing is my favorite hobby & I love drinking juices as well. All the factors you mentioned about juicing are worth reading and implementing. I am going to follow this while making juices from next time. Thanks for sharing…:)
Hello everyone,
Gave it about a month before writing to give some miles. Best purchase we’ve ever made for our health. We have juiced everyday since we got it and don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. We wash this directly after use and throw it in the dishwasher once a week to sanitaize. Literally, no complaints
Awesome stuff greg!
What would be your thoughts to adding blueberries in to some of the winners you’ve already mentioned??
As I mentioned I’m not a great fan of juicing fruit because of the sugar content but after a workout or now and again you can get away with it 🙂
Hi Greg
Just wondered if you were familiar with Jason Vale “The Juice Master” Iv’e been juicing for many years and following his approach to juicing as are many thousands of other people all over the world.
Sure have Jan, I received his book with my Juicer. I like a lot of his recipes but many have too much fruit which would seriously challenge your hormonal system. Did you know that bears eat fruit to fatten up for the winter. It’s pure sugar (fructose) no matter which way you look at it.
I use a blender over a juicer for my morning green smoothie. I just throw the veggies in a and add a little fruit as well but focus on amping up the spinach or kale as much as possible. I also add hemp, chia and avacadoes to mine. It provides a great boost to start the day especially with 6 am clients.
Sounds delicious Sandra and then you get the fibre too!
would you mind if i reposted this on my facebook and in my notes?
I will give you credit ofcourse.
Sure Sharon that would be great, just make sure you link back to my website https://www.gbpersonaltraining.com and everything is cool 🙂
any sweet fruit that is okay to add to vegetable juice to sweeten it…
Try Carrots Sharen, they are plenty sweet enough!
I added carrots, beets, apple together with Kale, celery, ginger, fresh turmeric, 1/2lemon (I squeezed it in after juicing vegies) was delicious!
Thanks for the info Greg. Great for me when I start work at 6am its not always solid food I feel like eating, so this is a winner for me 🙂
Yep, perhaps a Juice to get you to work and then some solid food when you get there. Could work out well, just don’t substitute a juice for your breakfast every day!
I would love to know some of your favourite quick combinations of juice x
Josie, I tend to use carrots for sweetness and cucumber for water content. On top of these I may add Kale, Spinach or Watercress. Lemon offers a nice tang and ginger spices things up. I tend to mix it up each day.
This morning I had: Kale, Carrot, Cucumber, Spinach. Nice!!!!
It’s nice to hear some positive things about juicing for a change. Cant help but feel the low carb, paleo and primal trends are putting juicing out of fashion. Personally when i put the effort into juicing each morning i feel great and don’t notice weight gain.
Hears one of my favorite recipes from the super juice book by Mitchell Beazley.
Boxer’s Beverage packing a super punch!
4 carrots
1 Kiwi
1 handful of parsley
2 large handfuls of spinach
Thanks for the recipe Stuart. As you know I certainly follow the Primal and Paleo way but I feel the odd home made vegetable juice has its place. As I say about everything, try it and see if it works for you, we are all different.
Really interesting article Greg, thank you for sharing! I was only talking to a client today about juicing so have forwarded your site on. Few tips I’ve taken on board myself too 🙂
My pleasure Gemma and thanks for sharing the website.
It’s also worth mentioning that masticating juicers are better than centrifugal juicers because they don’t generate heat and heat destroys a lot of the enzymes and amino acids in whole foods.
Interesting point Troy, I have read that centrifugal juicers are OK providing you keep the speeds down.
Some, like the Vitamix (the Chuck Norris of blenders) are guaranteed to not over heat, it’s worth doing the research before buying.
Hi Greg,
I’m very glad you posted this. I bought a juicer 6 months ago and the day afterwards read your post about how bad juicing fruit was for you. I nearly got rid of it but will now renew my efforts with vegetables. And Kale and Spinach juices do not taste delicious; they taste dreadful! However I assume that must mean they’re really good for you.
Finally I just wanted to say thank you for all the information, advice and exercise plans you post. Really appreciate it all.
Hey Ollie, thanks for your comment. Try adding a Lemon or a Carrot in with your greens to improve the taste!
Lemon is especially good as it’s very Alkaline!