If you find it hard to eat the recommended daily six to eight servings of fruits and vegetables, one option that many people have turned to is juicing. Juicing is quick, easy, and affordable, Plus, it offers numerous health-related benefits, such as weight loss, improved energy, and can help boost your immune system!
If storing your juice, use only air tight containers to avoid the damage from oxidation. Refrigerate your juice and as a little helper, add in just a little bit of lemon juice to help keep your juice as fresh as possible. Following these steps should lead you to still have tasty, healthy juice even hours after you did the 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.
To get more variety in taste from your juicer, mix up the varieties of fruits and vegetables you put in your juicer and the variety of flavors will grow significantly. Try mixing orange, banana and pineapple for a tasty tropical treat or mix grape and cranberry for more antioxidants. These home made juices are healthier and easier to make then those sugar-filled, store bought juices.
Lacking space on your cutting board for all of the ingredients you need for juicing? Try to cut everything in a manner which keeps the actual food “whole”. For example, slice a carrot but don’t pull the pieces apart. You can slice an apple around it’s core and then stand the pieces up so it looks like it wasn’t cut. This will save you space to slice the other items you need without dirtying more dishes.
While all fresh juices will sometimes contain pulp, you can decrease the amount of pulp in your fresh juice by using a coffee filter. Some juices create a pulp consistency that you might not like. Strain juices through a cheesecloth or a coffee filter to get rid of the pulp.
If you want to improve your nutrition, give juicing a try. Juicing makes it easy to get all of your daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. While you will miss out on the fiber these foods provide, you will get all of the vitamins and minerals, and juice tastes great too!
When juicing with leafy greens such as kale or chard, consider adding cucumber to balance out the flavors. Cucumbers also have a ton of nutrients and vitamins in them which are super healthy for you, so they’re a great addition to any juice. Throw in a fruit for sweetness and you’ll have one heck of a nutritious but tasty drink!
When you have your juicer assembled, prepare the fruits or vegetables quickly so you will not have to stop and start during the juicing process. Look at juicing as if you were making a meal. Having everything on hand before you begin to cook is always easier than trying to find what you need during the process!
It’s always better to use organic fruit when making juices, but since they are pricy, you can’t always get organic fruit. When using non-organic produce, there might be harmful pesticides that you don’t want to put into your drinks. So, make sure you peel the fruits so you don’t ingest the pesticides.
When it comes to juicing, one thing that you want to keep in mind is that you need to inform yourself about the signs of aging for all of the ingredients that you will be using. This is important so that you do not cause a health risk to you or anybody consuming your juice.
When it comes to juicing, one thing that you want to keep in mind is that you need to give yourself variety. This is important because just about anybody will lose interest if they are consuming the same thing every day. Mix it up and keep it exciting!
Listen to your body as you drink various juices. Perhaps some of the juices you make will not be processed well by your body. If a juice bothers your stomach, think about which ingredients you used, especially new ones. Use smaller amounts to condition your body to those ingredients.
When you are making your own juice, the best vegetables to use are organic vegetables. By using organic vegetables, you are maximizing the benefits of juicing. When non-organic vegetables are used, you are adding unhealthy pesticides and chemicals into an otherwise healthy drink, which depletes the benefits of creating your own juice.
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!
Some people claim that mixing fruit and vegetables in your juice leads to indigestion as the enzymes required to break down fruit are very different than those to break down vegetables. I, personally, have never had a problem, but if you find you have any tummy upset after drinking a mixed juice then you should probably stick to one or the other.
Juicing can be an excellent option for those of us who often fail to get our recommended daily doses of fruits and veggies. So whether you plan to find juicing recipes on the internet, or get creative in the kitchen and make up recipes of your own, go get started!