Juicing is the one of the best ways to get that healthy glow. It needn’t be daunting, just start slowly, experiment, and soon you will be addicted to it.
Long gone are the days when anyone who had a fresh juice was considered a ‘health nut’. There are juice bars everywhere and it is now absolutely acceptable to want to be healthy and fit. Once you have made the decision that you want to try juicing to improve body, soul and mind, you won’t look back.
Juicing for Health
Fruit and vegetables are packed full of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids, carbohydrates, proteins and much, much more. Each fruit and vegetable has its own special quality which is rejuvenating and healing.
When you extract the juice from the fruit and vegetables, you are discarding the fibre which means the juice, together with all its health-giving properties, is immediately assimilated into the body. Your digestive system is given a rest as it has no fibre to process.
Juicing Equipment
Use a citrus press for juicing citrus fruit. For all other fruits and vegetables, you will need to buy a juicer. There are three types:- centrifugal, masticating and triturating. The centrifugal juicer is the cheapest and does the job quickly and efficiently.
However, it doesn’t produce as much juice as the other two juicers and the quality is not as good, so it needs to be drunk immediately, so oxidation doesn’t occur.
If you are just trying out fresh juice, buy a centrifugal juicer to begin with; if you get hooked, then splash out and buy one of the other types. Note this juicer cannot juice wheatgrass. The masticating and triturating juicers can juice wheatgrass and also juice greens much better than the centrifugal juicer.
Beginner’s Juice
It is better to start slowly. Choose a couple of fruits that you really enjoy and juice these. The next day, start adding a little ‘green’ to your juice; such as cucumber, lettuce or celery. It is important that you don’t just have fruit juices as they obviously have very high sugar content. People with diabetes, hyperglycaemia and candida should consult with a dietician or their doctor before embarking on a juicing regime.
Try and have your juices on an empty stomach and at least 30 minutes before you eat a meal. Start off small, with 2 x 250 ml juices a day and then gradually increase your intake. Listen to your body, it will tell what suits you and what doesn’t.
The greener your juice, the better it is for you. Gradually add small amounts of kale, spinach and cabbage. The taste of these strong, but rejuvenating, juices can be improved by adding a few grapes, or cherries or the juice of a couple of apples.
There are many wonderful fruits and vegetables out there, full of health giving properties, just waiting for you to experiment. Happy juicing.
