Some people have seen the commercials on television advertising the benefits of juicing. One can buy a blender or food processor and fill it with fruits and vegetables and with the press of a button have their daily recommended intake of fruits and vegetables conveniently in a smoothie-type concoction. Juicing can be an excellent way to get one’s daily vitamins.
When attempting a juice-only diet, it can be helpful to remove all processed foods from your house first. Having a box of crackers, a jar of peanut butter, or some candy bars staring you in the face while you can only have juice is an easy way to cut your diet tragically short.
Beware of too much oxalic acid. If you have a history of kidney stones, gout, osteoporosis or rheumatoid arthritis you will aggravate your symptoms. Foods to avoid are spinach, chard, beets and rhubarb. You also have to remember not to combine them, or follow them with foods high in calcium, such as broccoli.
Juicing needs to be the base on which you grow your entire healthy lifestyle. Make it a point of having juice every day to start you off with energy, nutrients, and a tasty breakfast. If you rely on juicing as your morning pick-me-up, you’ll be sure to get through your day!
Take it one day at a time when you start juicing. Maybe today you really don’t feel like putting a new item in your juice, and that’s okay! There’s always tomorrow, or even the next day. You must avoid apathy, though, as it may mean that you never try out new items, items that you might absolutely love!
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.
Start slow when juicing. Juicing takes a while to get used to. Gentle vegetables are cucumber, celery and carrots. Carrots have a lot of sugar so do not use too much of them. Mix it up with various vegetables. Juicing too much at the start can cause you to feel sick to your stomach. Your body will tell you if you are juicing too much.
If you need a quick breakfast, give juicing a try. Fresh juices provide vitamins, minerals, and enzymes lacking from most quickly prepared meals. Using a powerful juicer, you can make fresh juice as quickly as a piece of toast. The high-end models even let you toss in whole pieces of fruit. There is no excuse for skipping breakfast anymore.
When it comes to juicing, one thing that you want to keep in mind is to make sure that you keep a good stock of additional flavors that you can stir into your juice. This is important because sometimes fruits and vegetables do not taste great by themselves and you may need to add certain ingredients to bring out the best flavors.
You probably want to only juice vegetables if you have diabetes or hypoglycemia; either way, consult with your doctor to see what you should be doing. Drinking juice made of fruit can drastically increase your blood sugar. Keep close track of how much fruit juice you include in your blends to ensure you don’t cause yourself health problems. Vegetables can supplement your juices to provide your body with nutrients without the risk of sugar overload.
Add sweeter ingredients such as carrots, citrus or berries, to cover the bitter taste of cranberries. My favorite way to drink cranberries is blended with strawberries, blueberries, and cherries. You can choose to include more cranberries to make the cranberry flavor the more dominant flavor in your juice or fewer cranberries to weaken the cranberry flavor of your juice.
If you want to juice while pregnant, ask your doctor about the fruit, vegetables, and other spices and additives you use to ensure they’re all healthy for your baby, too. For example, there are some herbs that are often found in teas which can lead to spontaneous abortion! Double check to make sure that what you ingest is okay.
Think about drinking your juice just before a meal to help you feel full faster, limiting your intake of solid food. The juice will digest quickly, giving you a boost in energy and providing you with the servings of fruit and vegetables you require. You’ll end up eating less solid food, so try to include whole grains as it will increase your fiber intake.
There is no harm in juicing more than once a day as long as you’re not just filling up on fruit juices. Fruit can be full of calories and sugar, so stick to vegetables as much as possible instead. If you want to add some sweetness to your veggie juice, try beets!
When you’re creating juices for healthy benefits, you should use at least half or two-thirds dark green vegetables, like kale, chard, broccoli, or parsley. Also use herbs juices including mint, rosemary, and basil. Look for dessert recipes online to see great fruit and herb combinations you might like!
Throw away your ideas on what a fruit or vegetable should look like when buying organic produce to juice. An apple doesn’t have to be perfectly round as you’re just going to be cutting it up and throwing it in a juicer anyway! Stick to the basics of knowing if a fruit or vegetable will be edible or not, like squeezing it or checking it’s color.
Juicing may not be for everyone but it is not a difficult hobby to become a part of. With one simple purchase of a blender or a food processor, anyone can become a juicing expert. The health benefits and the convenience of being able to juice any foods you want don’t require anything except the willingness to push a button on a food processor.
