There’s no doubt that freshly squeezed fruit and veggie juice offers plenty of benefits. Using a juicer now makes it easier and more affordable to enjoy nutrient loaded, great tasting juice, in the comfort of your own home. If you use the right juicer, you’re essentially opening yourself up to a whole new world of nutrients that you may have struggled to get in your daily diet. Juicing is one of the easiest ways you can flood the bloodstream with high doses of antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins, all of which will boost your energy, metabolism, mood, and can also aid in weight loss. Our juicing tip will go over the right way to juice, what common mistakes you should avoid, and how juicing can cause you to make healthier food and lifestyle choices in the future,
The best juicing tip includes:
- Drink your juice within fifteen minutes of juicing
- Drink juice on an empty stomach
- Make green veggies the base of your juices
- Avoid using too much fruit
- Drink juice daily
- Wash your produce before you juice
- Swirl the juice around in your mouth to activate enzymes
- Use a masticating juice
These tips will help you to avoid the most common mistakes beginners often make when experimenting with new fruit and veggie combinations. Over time, you’ll notice that drinking freshly squeezed juice can have a major impact on your health, energy, and weight.
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It’s Just Too Sweet
Juicing is a great way to get important nutrients into your body as they’re absorbed into the bloodstream. Essentially, you’re giving your body a large shot of enzymes, minerals, and vitamins. But one of the most common mistakes the newbie often makes is creating a juice that’s loaded with too much sugar. This is done in the form of fruit. While fruit is filled with minerals and vitamins, too much fruit can flood your body with sugar in the form of fructose. There’s nothing wrong with adding a bit of fruit to your juice in order to give it a nice boost of sweetness, however, too much fructose can cause blood sugar levels to skyrocket. This obviously isn’t great for sustained energy or people who suffer from certain medical conditions such as diabetes. If you normally find it hard to consume veggie juice due to the earthy, bitter taste, try adding some lime or lemon juice and steer clear of fruits that are very high in sugar such as oranges, apples, and berries.
Going Green
The key to making a healthy juice is making green leafy veggies the base of each serving. Green juice is loaded with important nutrients. These veggies also produce chlorophyll, which helps to oxygenate the body. This, in turn, will help to cleanse and detox the body, helping to improve circulation. And the result? A natural boost in energy. Green veggies also won’t cause your blood sugar level to spike like fruit and sweet veggies can.
Make it a point to use fruit and sweet veggies as a treat and stick to leafy green veggies eighty to ninety percent of the time. Romaine lettuce is actually one of the best green veggies you can use for juicing since it’s loaded with vitamins and minerals and tends to complement other green veggies very well.
The Right Time for Juice
Freshly squeezed juice should only be consumed on an empty stomach if you want to get the most out of the juice. Typically, you should make it a point to drink the juice an hour before or after you’ve eaten. But why? On an empty stomach, the body is able to absorb more nutrients and will not waste any as it uses just a small amount of digestive energy during this process. In reality, despite the fact that juice fasts are pretty popular these days, juice was not meant to be a meal replacement. Instead, it should be thought of as a way to supplement the nutrition you’re lacking from each meal. First thing in the morning is the best time to juice, followed by your morning meal thirty to sixty minutes later.
Is Cold Pressed Best?
If you’re on the fence regarding whether to buy a masticating juicer or a centrifugal juicer, we recommend going with the masticating juicer. This is because important enzymes are destroyed during the centrifugal juicing process. The spinning blades in the centrifugal juicer generate heat, which is what destroys the enzymes. The masticating juicer uses an auger, so you won’t have this problem. However, you should keep in mind that masticating juicers tend to be more expensive than centrifugal juicers.
A masticating juicer works by compressing the fruits and veggies slowly, squeezing out the juice instead of using a high-speed force in order to separate the juice and the pulp. If you don’t have a juicer, we recommend the Omega J8004 Nutrition Center, which is considered one of the best masticating juicers on the market.
Drink it Immediately
Instead of juicing a large amount of juice for the week, try juicing a small amount and consuming it right away. We recommend drinking the juice within fifteen to twenty minutes of the juicing process. After this time, air and light can destroy many of the nutrients in the juice, while the antioxidants start to quickly lose their potency. If you can’t drink it immediately, then make sure you store it in the fridge, in a dark, airtight container.
Wash Your Produce
Did you know that juicing removes the fiber from veggies and fruits, which helps the body to absorb the nutrients at a faster rate? However, the big drawback here is the fact that the body also ends up digesting chemicals and pesticides if organic produce isn’t used.
Savor the Flavor
When you drink freshly squeezed juice, it should be savored. With each mouthful, be sure to swirl the juice around in your mouth, allowing the enzymes to begin working immediately. This will help the body to digest the juice at a faster rate.
Consistently Juicing
It can be hard to find the time to juice every morning, or even every week, especially if you work a nine to five and find yourself always rushing off to the office. But if you want to enjoy the benefits of juicing, then drinking it consistently is important. If you only juice once a week, you won’t see the same types of results that you will if you juice daily, or even four or five times a week. Remember, consistency is key.
Related Questions on Juice
What Type of Masticating Juicer Will Work Well for Leafy Green Veggies?
Finding a juicer that can handle juicing leafy green veggies without overheating or clogging is always tricky. Many newer models come equipped with powerful motors that are designed to take on these tough veggies, but many fail to get the type of juice yield they should. We’ve found that the Omega J8004 Nutrition Center can handle collard greens, kale, spinach, and chard, effortlessly and quickly. Masticating juicers are definitely the way to go if most of your juice is green-based, however, not all masticating juicers are created equal. This model from Omega may be on the pricey side, but it’s packing the type of power you need to get the juice yield you deserve.
What Type of Fresh Juice Recipes Can I Make?
You can find several great juicing ideas online, depending on your personal preference or the type of results you’re looking for, whether it’s a boost in energy or getting rid of those unwanted pounds. Really, you can be as creative as you’d like when making your own juice, and experiment with new flavors and textures. Of course, if you’re looking for a specific type of juice for a cleanse or a fast, then you’ll have better luck looking online at fasts and juice cleanse recipes that have been proven to work. Many juicing recipes that you’ll come across call for leafy green veggies, which is why masticating juicers are often the best machine for the job. To learn more, click here to read our article on slow juice recipes.
Final Thoughts on Juice
Juicing is an art form of sorts and it can definitely take some creativity on your part to make a juice that tastes great and comes loaded with a variety of health benefits. Learning how to create new combinations of your favorite fruits and veggies and enjoying a natural increase in energy, a boost to your immune system, and other health benefits including weight loss, and improved circulation is just part of the fun.
These juicing tip will help you to avoid many of the same mistakes many beginners make when they first start juicing. Remember, avoid adding too much fruit to your juice and stick mainly to leafy green veggies, drink your juice on an empty stomach, always wash your produce before you juice, and drink your juice within fifteen minutes of juicing.