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I never thought I would be one of those people. One of those people who would be into juicing. You know, be prosaic and jump into a health fad. Not me. NOT AT ALL.
We are influenced by the people in our lives though and things happen in 3's.
Here we go 1, 2, 3....
1. A few months ago, a friend at work got me hooked on going out for green juices. What started out as a 1x a week office escape to Nekter or Chopshop, became a daily event. At $10 a drink, that's an expensive treat. Worse than a fancy Starbucks.
2. When I visited my Mom in Wisconsin last month, she was smoothie crazy. She just bought a Ninja and I had bought my Ninja a few weeks back when my blender died. We were getting our Ninja on making smoothies and juices.
The Ninja is best as a blender unless you like pulpy juice. A blender retains the pulp of the produce making it frothy and thick hence a smoothie. A juicer gets rid of the pulp making it...well a juice.
3. Then Jess emailed me asking about juices and weight loss. I've been consulting with her on her weight loss. I told her "juicing is not a means to weight loss unless you only drink juice the rest of your life and who wants to do that?" Juicing is for nutritional purposes and to rid the body of toxins. It's not a weight loss cure.
After I typed my email, I realized I had been drinking juices daily for weeks and my stomach bloating was gone. Bloating has been a thorn in my side since my my 80 pound weight-loss. Honestly I can't remember the last time my gut felt this good.
The straw that finally broke my bank account the camel's back was last weekend when I was desperately craving juice. The closest juice bar is 30 minutes from my house and that's not gonna happen. I solved my juice problem and bought one. My research led me to Breville for two reasons - high reviews and reasonable cost.
The juicer is not much bigger than my coffee pot. I have a large kitchen so space is not an issue, but I hate clutter. Only the important gadgets get a space on the counter.
On the other hand, my refrigerator is small and overflowing with bulk produce.
Why Juice?
Juicing is a great option for getting more nutrients and antioxidants in your body without the digestion of fiber. While fiber is filling and we all need more of it, fiber can cause GI issues. By juicing, you're able to consume many fruits & vegetables at one time and get immediate nutrients injected in the bloodstream.
Fresh juices not only help you get your daily servings of 2-3 fruits or vegetables 3-4 times a day, it can also aid with boosting immunity, reducing inflammation, protect against cardiovascular disease, cancer and guard against cell damage.
[Source]
Pros of Juicing
- It's less expensive than buying juices. Juicers are expensive at first, but if you use it enough you will get your money back & then some.
- You customize the ingredients. This is the fun part. Picking the combinations that suite your palate.
- Easy way to get more produce in your diet. This is especially true if you are not a produce lover.
- Less fiber. Juicing make it easier to digest more produce and nutrients without the GI effects.
Cons of Juicing
- Fiber is removed. Fiber is important for moving waste from the body. You could always add the fiber into salads or muffins, but I caution it's not tasty. It doesn't look appetizing at all.
- Juices can be calorie dense depending on the ingriedents you chose. Fruits & vegetables have calories too.
- Difficult to make in advance. Juices lose nutrients quickly. They should be consumed 30-60 minutes after making them.
- Cleaning the juicer. It's truly awful!
All of the cons are outweighed by the deliciousness of this green goodness. Now if you will excuse me. I'm off to get my green on.
Do you juice at home? What's your favorite combo? Do you notice a difference when you drink fresh juices? Any juices you don't like?
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I love juicing! I haven't done it in a while though. That whole cleaning the juicer part is holding me back. You are right, it's truly awful!
I was most surprised that I love juice with beets in them. I'm not a normal beet fan, but the juice is so earthy. I do have to have apple to balance out that earthy with some sweet though.
I don't love beets. I'll have to try them in a juice. Thanks for letting me know that!
The greener the better for me! I don't have a lot of kitchen space so for now I buy them, which I am okay with. Plus laziness we have a juicer at work, and it's just not worth it when crunched for time.
I'm with you on the cleanup! It's a beast.
Thanks for listing out the pros and cons so nicely! I've never actually bought a juice from a store since they're freakin' expensive, but my mom has a juicer in my hometown so I'm always down to try that out!
My friend found one on Amazon for under $100 and said it works very well.
I think one of the biggest things that keeps me from getting into juicing more is the fact that I have to clean the dang juicer... that and I just feel bad for throwing away all the leftover pulp. But I do love the fact that it's a way to get nutrients in without all the extra fibre... especially since my stomach starts hating on me when I overload it with too many veggies.
The GI benefits have been worth it for me although I have an iron def & am supposed to eat high fiber so we'll see how it plays out.
A juicer has been on my list of things that I need to get. It seems like the perfect way to get a ton of veggies into your diet.
I'm really loving mine.
Haha I loved your comment of, "I never thought I would be one of those people," made me laugh!
I feel the same way except I LOVE to experiment.
I have been meaning to try juicing out for awhile just to see how it's like! I'm glad you paved the way, I'll go to you for any questions!
Haha...I actually think part of my purchase was curiosity to experiment.
i love my juicer... cleaning it and using beets.. well, that's not fun. haha
ugh beets...I have not gotten that fancy yet
I'm so grateful someone did a post on this! I became obsessed with green smoothies this year and mainly used my little one-serving blender to make them. Lately, I've been going down the juice path as well and buying green juices, but man are you right - expensive! While buying a juicer is not in my budget right now, I have been considering buying one when I start to see a little bit more cash flow this fall. Still, I didn't know if making my own juices would even be that much cheaper than buying them after taking the cost of the juicer and all of the produce into account? Thanks for listing the health benefits! I definitely have some bloating/gastrointestinal issues so seeing yours improve is definitely motivation for me to consider this more. Thanks for your insights! 🙂
I think it depends how often you plan to use it & the produce you buy. The green juice I've been making has low cost ingredients.