The Power of Juicing

In early January, I kept seeing a zillion recipes for juice. It felt like everywhere I turned, I was hearing the benefits of juicing and wishing I had a juicer of my own. I have wanted a juicer for a while, but also wasn’t sure about buying one, because juicing is essentially pulling the fiber out of the delicious foods that you’re extracting the juice from.

I was a flip-flopper on the idea of juicing, but I have come to learn that juicing is an excellent way to get the added nutrients that you need, but without overloading your system with fiber. Smoothies and juicing are definitely different, and I see no time in the future where I’ll give up my smoothie making, but when I do want a little bit of a pick-me-up, juicing is a great option when I’m not looking to be completely full for hours.

So what are the benefits of juicing? Here are just a few reasons juicing is amazing for your health (adapted from a Dr. Mercola article):

1. Juicing helps you absorb all the nutrients that raw fruits and veggies have to offer. Since they’re already broken down and excess fiber is taken away, it provides a clear stream of nutrients being able to get straight into your blood stream to help do your body good.
2. Juicing allows you to get the benefits of a ton of veggies in just a small amount of food. If you wanted the benefits of all the foods you’re juicing, you’d have to be eating salads all day long. Instead, you can juice the vegetables and gain the same nutritional content without having to be at the dining table all day (and killing your gut from all that fiber).
3. You can add a nice variety of veggies to your diet. When you juice, you’re probably much more likely to enjoy drinking many varieties of vegetables than you enjoy eating. You can get creative with the vegetables that you add and gain the nutritional benefits from them, because even if you don’t necessarily love the flavor of them on their own – in juice, you can easily mask the flavor of ingredients that you don’t love.
4. Fresh vegetable juice is very alkalizing to the body, which means that it can help restore your body to the optimal pH level that it should be at for proper detoxification of the body.
5. Your energy levels will soar and times of feeling “snacky” will decrease. When your body is getting all the nutrients that it needs from fresh vegetables, you won’t need to go running for a candy bar or other snacky foods. One huge benefit that I’ve seen when I enjoy fresh juice is that I don’t feel hungry for hours, because my body is satisfied with the vitamins and nutrients that I’ve already supplied it with. I know it sounds odd, but once you try it, you’ll know what I mean.

While I’m very new to the juicing process, I do know that there are some foods that you should juice and some you should juice less of. The foods you want to keep on a consistent rotation when you’re juicing are leafy green vegetables (like kale, collard greens, broccoli, etc.), other low sugar vegetables (like carrots, cucumbers, celery, and beets), and lower sugar fruits (like apples, lemons, limes, berries, and grapefruit).

You can also add some spices or herbs to your juices to bump up the flavor and reap the health benefits of these foods (like ginger, turmeric, cayenne, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, parsley, and garlic).

Play around with the different combinations to find a recipe that you enjoy and keep rotating your juice flavors to gain benefits from a variety of different foods.

A few other tips for juicing that I’ve learned that are valuable to pass along:

1. Use organic vegetables and fruit when juicing. Since you’re getting access to the whole vegetable and the nutrients will be quickly absorbed into your bloodstream,  you want to provide it with the best possible ingredients. If you’re ingesting pesticides in your juices, you still might be reaping the benefits of juicing, but you’ll also be adding a few detriments along with them.
2. When you’re getting started, be okay with adding a few more fruits than you aim to do in the longer term. Over time, as your palate adjusts, you’ll get more used to the flavors of the veggies and you won’t need the sweetness to counteract the green flavor.
3. Don’t use juice as a replacement for a meal. Juice isn’t a meal in and of itself and shouldn’t be treated as such. If you choose to drink juice as your breakfast fare,  supplement it with an extra snack later on so that you are getting enough protein and healthy fat in during the day.

Now that I’ve talked you in to trying out juicing, here are a few recipes that I’ve been playing around with, as I’m getting comfortable with juicing too:

Carrot Apple Ginger Juice

• 3 carrots
• 1 apple
• 1-inch piece of ginger

Basic “Green” Juice

• 3 carrots
• 1 apple
• 1 lemon, peel removed
• 3 stalks celery
• 1 handful kale
• 1 handful spinach
• 1-inch piece of ginger

Green “Lemonade”

• 1 cucumber
• 5 celery stalks
• 1 apple
• 3 kale leaves
• 2 chard leaves
• 1 lemon, use the juice of the lemon

Enjoy!