Juicing is the popular new way to get and stay healthy. It has a variety of advantages over traditional food preparation. Not only is juicing easy to do, it also allows you to prepare natural foods that retain healthy vitamins and minerals that are removed by other preparation methods. Read on to learn some easy juicing techniques.
Crumple up leafy greens, such as spinach, into tight balls before putting them in your juicer. Your juicer is primarily designed to deal with solid fruits and vegetables, not thin leaves. You will get better results from your juicer if you simulate this effect by squashing your leafy greens before juicing.
Use cucumber as a great flavor disguiser when you are juicing greens. Cucumber is excellent at masking the strong flavors inherent in greens. A juice’s health benefits aren’t going to do you much good if you can’t stand to drink it. Cucumber also has the extra added benefit of being chockfull of important vitamins and nutrients itself.
Give yourself an area in the fridge just for your juicing ingredients. Maybe they’ll get their own produce drawer, or half a shelf, but making room is important. When you see that space become empty you will know that you’re running out of food, and you’ll also have a much easier time putting it away after shopping.
Juicing is a lifestyle you dedicate yourself to, and you will notice if you miss a day. If something comes up and you’re not able to buy some fresh produce for your juice, you should have something on hand that you can use instead. You can keep some items in the freezer just in case, or even freeze some juice to tide you over.
If you can’t afford to juice with organic fruit and vegetables, don’t worry about it. It’s nice to have pesticide-free items, but you can only work with what you have available. Wash your produce in a mixture of 8 cups of water with 3 tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide and 3 tablespoons of baking soda to get all the nasty stuff off. Rinse your produce well before using.
Try not to confuse your body with your juice blends. Vegetables and fruits are digested differently by your body. Stick to juice blends that are all fruit or all veggie when possible. Carrot is a great vegetable to sweeten the veggie mixes or use apple sparingly in the mix when dealing with greens.
It’s important to juice wheatgrass as our bodies can’t actually process the plant fibers contained in it. I like to include wheatgrass in my apple/ginger/orange juice, but you can come up with a hundred more recipes that make great use of wheatgrass and it’s wonderful earthy flavor. Give it a try!
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.
Incorporate spices into your juicing. There are a variety of spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic, ginger and others, that can can boost the flavor output of your juices. If you have flavors you want to experiment with, look for recipes online or you can look for spices that work well with fruits or vegetables. Be sure to check their health and nutrition values.
A major benefit of juicing is the high volume of healthy nutrients that are made easily available. In order to maximize those nutrients, the base of the juice should be made from vegetables like spinach, kale, chard or broccoli. By using these vegetables you will achieve the maximum health benefits including a low amount of sugar, which is usually a dominant ingredient in store-bought juices.
Why not try using some seeds in your juices? Shelled unsalted sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and pumpkin seeds are excellent options to try. You can even used cooked grains, but just remember to clean your juicer out well afterward as they may leave behind a lot of gunk.
Don’t throw away the pulp that is left after juicing! You can make excellent dehydrated crackers out of it which will contain all the fiber that doesn’t make it to your juice. It can also be used in pie crust, if you so desire. Never waste anything that is still good for you!
When it comes to juicing, one thing that you want to keep in mind is the amount of fruits and vegetables you are purchasing in relation to the amount of juice that you wish to produce. A good rule of thumb is that one cup of juice will result from approximately a pound of product.
When juicing soft fruits such as melons, peaches and strawberries it is good to know that the resulting juice will be thicker as opposed to juicing hard fruits such as apples. A good way to have great juice is combining both of these juices. This will create balance and will result in a much better texture.
When it comes to juicing, one thing that you want to keep in mind is the fact that you actually get more benefit from drinking carrot juice than from eating carrots. This is beneficial to your health and results from the fact that your body can more efficiently process its nutrients in juice form.
Juicing is a great way to complement any weight loss plan, and is also well suited for special diets associated with certain health conditions, including celiac disease and diabetes. When you take advantage of the tips in this article, you can easily juice your way to a healthier new you.