Best Ways to Get The Most Valuable Nutrients From Juicing
Do you want to maximize your nutrient intake and optimize your health? The answer is green juice. Juicing is a smart and simple way to add more vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to your diet from greens, vegetables, herbs, spices, and fruits without having to chew on salad all day.
But what are the benefits of juicing? Does it really work? And how to find the best juicer for your juicing needs? Today, I am going to answer all your questions about juicing. I will discuss the benefits of juicing and how it is different from blending. I will give a little green juice cheat sheet to help you make the best green juice every single time. Finally, I will recommend some of the best juicers on the market.
What Is Juicing
Juicing is a process that involves the pressing, grinding, or squeezing of fresh greens, vegetables, fruits, or herbs to create clear juice without pulp. Juicing is a great way to quickly get nutrients from greens, vegetables, herbs, and fruits.
Juicing is not a new practice. The trend actually started in the 1920s and 1930s and became more popular in the 1970s. In the 1990s and 2000s more health warriors caught onto the benefits of juicing, and green juice stores and juice brands started to become more mainstream.
Juicing vs Blending
It’s easy to mix up juicing and blending as both techniques create delicious and nutrient-dense drinks. However, juicing and blending couldn’t be more different. Juicing removes all the fiber from the greens, vegetables, herbs, and fruits. It squeezes the liquid and only the liquid out of them, leaving you with a nutrient-dense fiber-free drink that absorbs incredibly quickly. One of the benefits of juicing is the instant energy boost you get after drinking it.
When you are blending greens, vegetables, herbs, fruits, nuts, seeds, coconut water, or green or protein powders, you are not squeezing out anything. You are simply blending everything together. The juice, the fiber, and all other parts of these delicious plant foods still remain in the drink. You simply get a creamier and easier digestible mix that doesn’t involve chewing.
Drinking juices offer a more concentrated amount of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. They are easier and quicker to absorb. Because juices lack fiber, they can be easy on your digestion. If you are drinking low-sugar green juices with mostly greens, herbs, and some low glycemic index fruits, such as lemon or half of a green apple, it may help to control your blood sugar.
Drinking juices with mostly fruits or too many high-glycemic index fruits can be problematic, though. Juices absorb much quicker than smoothies or actual fruits because of the lack of fiber. This is great when it comes to most nutrients. However, too much sugar, too quickly can throw off your blood sugar and lead to blood sugar imbalances. Instead of drinking fruit juices, I recommend making green juices with mostly greens, herbs, and vegetables. Add some lemon or lime and half a green apple for some sweetness.
If you want to add more fruit to your drink, choose smoothies instead. Smoothies digest slower and are less likely to cause blood sugar imbalances. I still recommend adding mostly greens and vegetables instead of loading them up with only fruits. Add some healthy fats, such as nut butter, coconut oil, coconut milk, avocado, nuts, or seeds, and maybe some protein powder too. Blended greens, vegetables, and fruits are still easy on your digestion. They are loaded with antioxidants and healthy fiber. Green juices and green smoothies should both be part of a healthy diet.
Super Juicing Humans
Benefits of Juicing
A 2011 study published in the Journal of Nutrition has found that most people in the United States don’t meet their nutrient requirements through their diet alone (1). Most people eat processed foods. Many processed foods are very low in nutrients or don’t even contain nutrients at all. Even organic and natural processed foods lose nutrients due to processing methods, production, and even storage (2, 3).
Leading a high-stress life and living in polluted environments may also increase our need for micronutrients. Yet, most people don’t eat enough greens, vegetables, and fruits to meet their daily needs for vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and flavonoids (4, 5).
Juicing is a convenient and simple way to add more greens, vegetables, herbs, spices, and fruits to your diet. Imagine how long it would take you to eat a large salad with a bunch of kale and lettuce, cucumber, celery, green apple, and some ginger? Drinking a glass of green juice made from the same ingredients is much faster and a simple way to add more plant goodness to your diet.
According to a 2004 study published in the Journal of American College of Nutrition, adding a vegetable and fruit juice mix to your diet for 14 weeks can increase your levels of vitamin C, vitamin E, beta carotene, folate, selenium, and other micronutrients (6). A 2011 review of 22 studies published in the Journal of American College of Nutrition has also found that drinking vegetable juices can improve antioxidant, folate, and other micronutrient levels (7).
Drinking green juices and improving your vitamin, mineral, and antioxidant levels may improve your overall health and reduce your risk of disease. Research has linked a high intake of greens, vegetables, herbs, spices, and fruits to a reduced risk of inflammation, oxidative stress, immune health issues, cardiovascular risk, neurodegeneration, obesity, metabolic issues, and cancer (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14). Pomegranate and apple juice specifically have been linked to lower levels of cholesterol and blood pressure (15, 16). Green juices have been linked to a reduced risk of oxidative stress and Alzheimer’s disease (8, 9).
How to Make the Perfect Green Juice
Here is my guide to making your perfect green juice. Choose one or two base ingredients, one or two greens, one citrus, one sweet component, and one or two spices or herbs from the following list.
Base ingredients:
Cucumber
Celery
Pepper
Greens:
Kale
Spinach
Romaine lettuce
Red leaf lettuce
Butter lettuce
Collard greens
Swiss chard
Bok choy
Other lettuce or greens
Citrus:
Lemon
Lime
Grapefruit
Orange
Sweet component:
Apple
Pear
Beets
Carrots
Broccoli
Pineapple
Herbs or spices:
Turmeric
Ginger
Mint
Parsley
Cilantro
Powders:
I have several examples of 3rd party tested (for toxins), powders in my shop! These are not always necessary, but I like them for those times I need an extra boost. Great to add especially when feeling down.
Another great place to get superfood powders is here.
Centrifugal vs Slow Juicers
Centrifugal juicers are also known as fast juicers. They use a spinning blade that shreds your vegetables and fruits into pulp and then separates the pulp from the juice through a mesh screen. The obvious benefit of a centrifugal juicer is that they are faster and often also cheaper than slow juicers. However, there are some problems with it.
Centrifugal juicers are much less efficient than higher-quality slow juicers. They create less juice and more pulp. The pulp is usually liquidy and mushy. You can see how much juice is left, landing in your fiber waste instead of in your juice. Centrifugal juicers also induce oxidation and create foamy juice. Though these green juices are safe to drink if you drink them right away, you can’t save them for later in the day or the next day due to quick oxidation. Slow juicers don’t produce oxidation and are a better option.
Slow juicers are also known as masticating juicers or cold-press juicers. Instead of shredding your veggies and fruits with a blade, they use a large corkscrew-like auger that slowly crushes and ‘chews’ your greens, vegetables, herbs, and fruits, squeezing out any juice through a strainer.
Slow juicers are more efficient. You will get more juice, and the pulp will be dry without any juice left. Slow juicers create high-quality juices without oxidation. There is less foaming and more nutrients. Juices made with slow juicers usually taste better too. Since there is no oxidation, it is safe to make some juice ahead of time for later in the day or the next day.
Best Juicers I Recommend
Choosing the right juicer can be difficult. There are so many juicers out there at all price points. Lucky for you, I’ve tried many juicers over the years and found the best ones. Read on for my recommendations to find yours.
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Omega Juicers
The Omega Juicers are one of the most popular juicers among green juice health warriors. For a good reason, though. Omega makes high-quality cold-press slow juicers. You can choose between various low-speed, horizontal and low-speed, vertical juicers depending on your preference. You can make green juice, fruit juice, wheatgrass juice, celery juice, nut butter, sorbet, nice cream, baby food, and nut milk with these juicers.
If you love celery juice, they have some of the best options for cold-press celery juice. If you are looking for a citrus juicer, they offer some great citrus juicer options too. If you prefer a high-speed, centrifugal option, you can get that too. Though you have to drink centrifugal juices right away, sometimes speed matters. Why not get a high-speed centrifugal juicer along with your low-speed, cold-press, slow juicer.
Besides green juice, I also recommend drinking some green smoothies and nutrient-dense shakes. If you are looking for a high-quality blender for your smoothies, shakes, nut milk, nut butter, dips, sauces, and soups, I recommend Omega blenders.
Sana Juicers
I absolutely love the Sana Juicer. You can get yours in black and red, depending on the color scheme you are going for in your kitchen. They offer a dual hopper as slow juicers do. However, their juicers are vertical for convenience. Their juicer uses a new juicing system that allows the machine to take in larger bites and juice faster than a normal slow juicer. However, the quality is still ‘slow juicer quality’ without having to worry about oxidation. There are different speeds for your different needs.
If you are interested in making your own flax or other oils, they also offer a Sana Juicer with an Oil Extractor attachment. Their oil press is just as simple to use as their juicer.
Samson Juicer
True Leaf
I recommend the Commercial Grade Samson Juicer if you have the budget for a truly durable, reliable, and commercial great juicer. It’s great for heavy use if you have a big family or maybe even want to sell some green juice at your local farmer’s market. It’s also a fantastic choice if you are looking for the highest quality juice.
The Slowstar Vertical Slow Juicer is one of my favorite slow juicers. It works great with greens, vegetables, fruits, wheatgrass, barley grass, and just about anything else you may want to use. The best part: it’s more than a juicer. You can make sorbets, nice cream, nut butter, sauces, and minced herbs with this machine. It’s easy to use and easy to clean. No fuss, only great juice.
Hurricane Manual Stainless Steel Wheatgrass Juicer is an easy-to-use, manual, hand-crank wheatgrass juicer. If you want to enjoy some wheatgrass juice and save on electricity, choose this manual stainless steel wheatgrass juicer.
Hamama
If you are looking to juice wheatgrass, I recommend Hamama. You can buy their Sweet Wheatgrass Seed Quilt. Besides wheatgrass, you can also grow microgreens in your Hamama microgreen growing kits.
Final Thoughts
Most people don’t meet their nutrient needs through diet alone. Juicing is a smart, simple, and convenient way to add more vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to your diet. If you want to boost your health and energy quickly, juicing is the way to go. I recommend Omega Juicers, the Sana Juicer with an Oil Extractor attachment, Commercial Grade Samon Juicer, the Slowstar Vertical Slow Juicer, the
Hurricane Manual Stainless Steel Wheatgrass Juicer, and Hamana wheatgrass for juicing.
Disclaimer: The contents of this website are based on personal experiences, opinions, and my own research. Information on this website is for educational purposes and is not meant to diagnose, replace, treat or cure any medical or mental health condition. Please see your doctor with any health-related questions. Statements on this website have not been approved or evaluated by the FDA. While perusing this site, please use your best judgment in conjunction with your Naturopath or other health care provider.
