My room mate and I both have a couple of belly pounds to lose and we've been messing with different diets, exercise programs, etc.
We both watched "Hungry for Change" the other day - interesting movie by the way.
Anyway, we've been thinking about buying a juicer and giving it a try. The information certainly seems a little over-whelming at first! Neither of us knows anyone who juices so we're pretty much getting all our info from Google.
Any "juice monkeys" here? Information, recipes, things to avoid all appreciated.
It seems like for the two of us we'll have to get a pick-up truck full of veggies to have a couple of glasses of juice a day! We'll see I suppose!
Also interested in insights into juicers themselves. Canadian Tire has a Magic Bullet juicer on its site for a very reasonable price that is highly reviewed (at least on that site). Other things I see seem to say that you need to spend three hundred bucks or so to get a good juicer.
I got the Jack Lalanne juicer from the Shopping Channel on TV about 4years ago and it has been fantastic. Great solid machine that doesn't leak or stop half way through a hard juice. Use it for everything and use fruit pulps to make muffins etc. great investment you can likely find on their website.
I recall a suggestion for a drink that I got on here, that while I use a blender, I suppose it could be run through a juicer instead.
1 medium sized apple
about 10 medium sized strawberries
1/2 cup blueberries (I tweaked it up to 1 cup as it tastes better)
1/2 banana
2 oz spinach
1 mid sized carrot
1/2 cup pomegranate juice (Optional)
10 almonds (optional)
about 400 ml of water (this has to be tweaked by hand depended on how runny/thick you want it)
using half of the liquid being milk instead is optional
A lot of the information I am getting is that you should be juicing using almost all vegetables and just a bit of fruit for sweetness. Many sources say that juicing fruit is just going to give a big shot of sugar. In fact a video I saw said to even stay away from the "sweet" vegetables like carrots and beets.
Also from what I can tell by eating most of your vegetable via juice you are taking out ALL the fibre. If a lot of my fibre in a day comes from vegetables would it not be a good idea to supplement fibre (like one of those stir-in water dealies)?
So many questions!
Edit: I think I was misunderstanding. I think it is non-digestible fibre that is being excluded.
I blend mine so it's really thick. The problem is that for you to drink it every day, especially if you're not normally inclined to, it needs to taste reasonably good. Getting fruits and veg in any way possible is an improvement typically over not eating them even if what's in it might not be exactly perfect dietary wise (that's why I added the Pom juice and Almonds to round it out a bit better).
I usually eat a lot of things like salad with plenty of veg outside of the drink, but I save the stuff that I enjoy eating for eating and put the stuff that I'm not fond of in the drink. Win win
Last edited by Caged Great; 02-02-2013 at 02:20 PM.
The Following User Says Thank You to Caged Great For This Useful Post:
Also from what I can tell by eating most of your vegetable via juice you are taking out ALL the fibre. If a lot of my fibre in a day comes from vegetables would it not be a good idea to supplement fibre (like one of those stir-in water dealies)?
So many questions!
Edit: I think I was misunderstanding. I think it is non-digestible fibre that is being excluded.
I keep hearing this and find it to be mostly bunk. I guess if thats all your going to eat for your veggie/fruit source it could be true, but what are you going to do, just eat meat the rest of the day? Everyone's diet should be at MINIMUM 75% green or veggie every day...or higher if possible.
The idea that juicing fruits will give you more sugar than normal is also bunk...be selective, use your brain when you are juicing and be realistic. You will lose a lot of weight by simply cutting out normal sugar and salt from your diet. Read every can and box you buy at the grocery store, if it has more than 8-10% salt DONT buy it. You'll be amazed at how your selections are pared down...and you will be amazed at how quickly you will drop weight by alleviating yourself of man made salts and sugars.
I hold my weight steady and am quite healthy and do not eat any white sugars or flour and limit my salt intake.
Im also a vegetarian, but thats a different story.
My room mate and I both have a couple of belly pounds to lose and we've been messing with different diets, exercise programs, etc.
We both watched "Hungry for Change" the other day - interesting movie by the way.
Anyway, we've been thinking about buying a juicer and giving it a try. The information certainly seems a little over-whelming at first! Neither of us knows anyone who juices so we're pretty much getting all our info from Google.
Any "juice monkeys" here? Information, recipes, things to avoid all appreciated.
It seems like for the two of us we'll have to get a pick-up truck full of veggies to have a couple of glasses of juice a day! We'll see I suppose!
Also interested in insights into juicers themselves. Canadian Tire has a Magic Bullet juicer on its site for a very reasonable price that is highly reviewed (at least on that site). Other things I see seem to say that you need to spend three hundred bucks or so to get a good juicer.
Again, any and all info appreciated!
Do not juice but blend.
The Following User Says Thank You to JazzyFlame For This Useful Post:
My wife is a vegetarian and we have the Jack Lalanne juicer as well as the Vitamix blender. I am probably a weekday vegetarian through association - i eat chicken occasionally and get a burrito every Saturday.
My wife makes smoothies every morning with the Vitamix and I use the juicer to make orange juice and other drinks. I have also found a receipe for a pretty good ginger ale that I can drink with my Jack and cut all the crap from bottled soda out. The Vitamix is pretty damn expensive but it is well worth it, you can blend flax seeds with vegetables and fruits and have it come out completely smooth it is quite the machine.
Well I went to Canadian Tire fully prepared to pick up the Magic Bullet machine but with it and the Jack LaLanne machines on dispaly beside each other it was obvious the Jack LaLanne was a better built machine. I picked it up for $139.99. Thanks for the recommendation Cheese.
My wife is a vegetarian and we have the Jack Lalanne juicer as well as the Vitamix blender. I am probably a weekday vegetarian through association - i eat chicken occasionally and get a burrito every Saturday.
My wife makes smoothies every morning with the Vitamix and I use the juicer to make orange juice and other drinks. I have also found a receipe for a pretty good ginger ale that I can drink with my Jack and cut all the crap from bottled soda out. The Vitamix is pretty damn expensive but it is well worth it, you can blend flax seeds with vegetables and fruits and have it come out completely smooth it is quite the machine.
Personally I think the vitamix blenders and other similar high end blenders are nicer. You end up drinking all of the fiber to go with it, instead of discarding it. It also helps that I cook a lot and the blender is also useful for making nice purees and soups.
I think the biggest decision you have to make with a juicer is getting a masticating one vs a centrifugal one.
The centrifgal one is faster but may generate too much speed causing heat, which may destroy the effects of the enzymes in veggies (there's probably a better worded, more accurate description of it, but that's how I interpreted it) . Also, I believe the juice has to be consumed immediately to receive the benefits.
The masticating one is much slower but there is no risk of losing the good stuff plus, you can store it for later to drink.
As for performance, it seemed as though wheatgrass was the benchmark test for the efficiency of the juicer. If it can do that, it can do anything.
I still haven't bought one but keep saying I will. I suck at buying and eating veggies.
Juicers and juicing
