While juicing may look like the newest trend, this is an age-old way of getting your daily fruits and vegetables. Juicing has several noteworthy benefits and can be a way to keep your family healthy, especially as the temperatures drops and our immune systems take a hit from the chill.
If you juice dark, leafy greens like spinach, add some cucumber. Some leafy greens do not taste good. Cucumber will overpower this and make the drink tastier. In addition, cucumber has vital nutrients and the peel should be left on.
There are many different types of juicers to choose from, depending on the type of juice you prefer. No matter what style of juicer you prefer, avoid juicers that create a lot of heat when they run. Excess heat can ruin the valuable nutrients in the fruits and vegetables.
Do some trial and error to find what sort of juice mixes you like. Softer fruits like peaches or strawberries will have a much thicker consistency than harder fruits like apples. Mix them up in different amounts to see what makes the consistency of drink that you like the best. The more you like it, the more you will drink it!
Juice your softer fruits first and then send down your harder items. The hard textured fruit will do the job of cleaning the fruit that was left behind by the softer items. This means more juice for you and less clean up as well. Follow that trick and you’ll usually get the maximum amount of juice in your glass, not left in the juicer.
Research the nutrients you need to be taking in to choose which vegetables, fruit, and plants you should be consuming. You don’t have to have every single one every single day, instead spread your nutrient consumption out over a week. For example, if you need beta carotene you can have carrots every other day.
Buying fruit and vegetables for your juicing can be easy by using all five senses to find the freshest produce to bring home. Sniff the item and make sure it smells good, like you would want to eat it. Squeeze it and feel if it’s too hard or too soft. Look it over for imperfections, and then take it home and taste a bit. Enjoy!
Some items just aren’t made for the juicer, especially if they’re soft and mushy. For example, you’ll never be able to make a juice that is mostly banana, but you CAN put a half of a banana in a juice made with other firmer produce. Peaches tend to give the same result.
Drinking juice is one of the best ways to get the nutrients and enzymes your body needs. So do you buy bottled juice or make your own juice? Making your own juice promises the freshest taste possible as well as giving you the means to create flavorful combinations.
Want to know another way that juicing will save you money? You’ll be able to skip the expensive anti-wrinkle and deep moisturizing skin treatments you’ve been buying at the department store! Juicing fruits and vegetables leads to healthier, better looking skin as they are full of moisturizing compounds. The anti-oxidants found in many produce items also can slow down the aging of skin itself.
If you’d like to add an exotic flavor to your juice recipes, try some fresh coconut! It adds a nutty smoothness to any mixture, giving you something new and different to enjoy. Try mixing it with other exotic juices, like mango or papaya. Some like to chew on a piece of coconut while preparing their juice!
One tip in order to keep the nutrients in the juice preserved even when storing it is to use air tight containers. Another tip with regards to preservation is to add a few drops of lemon to it and keeping the juice refrigerated. The longer the juice is stored, the less nutritious it becomes.
If you’re juicing for health, or doing a juice fast, you MUST use organic produce. Pesticides and heavy metals in the soil used to grow normal fruit and vegetables will negate any cleansing you’re trying to accomplish, wasting your money and time. Buy organic to ensure that the only pesticides used are organic and fine to ingest.
While carrots are indeed a high glycemic vegetable, studies have shown that carrot juice can actually help keep blood sugar levels stable. Including it in your juice, can sweeten up bitter vegetables like dark leafy greens, plus, it adds a smooth texture to the drink. Even a diabetic can appreciate that!
The best part of juicing is knowing that’s being put into your juice. No one really keeps track of what happens to fruit or vegetables at the point of growing, or what it’s then treated with, before it’s turned into commercial juice. Buy organic so you know that your produce is pesticide-free.
It’s a great idea to plan out your meals for the week, including your juices. You can figure out which vegetables you’ll eat when, whether it be solid or juiced, so you know exactly how much of everything you’ll need to buy. This will also save you money as you can buy in bulk for multiple meals.
A great juicing tip that can help extend the life of your juicer, is to only use your juice on a hard surface. By using your juicer on a hard surface you’ll insure that there won’t be any vibrations. Vibrations, no matter how small, can damage your juicer over time.
Whether for drinking or as part of a recipe, juicing your fruits and vegetables can liven up your diet and be an easy way to help your family stay healthy. Whether you’re sneaking your kids some vegetables or wanting something refreshing after a hard day, you have only healthful rewards to gain.
