Juice is a powerful force. It takes the essence, the vitamins, the minerals and the antioxidants from all these food sources and compacts it into a small, flavorful and potent liquid that you can use to maximize the health benefits of fruits and vegetables. This article will show you how.
Drink your juice at room temperature in order to receive maximum health benefits. Chilling your juice will make it harder for your body to digest it, and therefore reduce the amount of nutrients you absorb. Also, chilling the juice requires it to sit in a fridge or freezer, and fresh juice is best immediately after you make it.
Use organic fruits and vegetables in your juicing. Organic fruits and vegetables have not been exposed to the chemical fertilizers and pesticides used in traditional farming. If you cannot use organic produce, be sure to peel everything before you put it in the juicer. The peel will contain most of the harmful chemicals.
If you must store your juice in the fridge, add a tablespoon of lemon juice. This small amount of lemon juice shouldn’t have a major effect on the flavor, but it will keep this juice from becoming discolored as it sits, creating a more appetizing effect. Always try to make your juice just before you drink it, for maximum health benefits.
Wheat grass is only usable by us when it has been juiced. We physically can’t process the fibers when it is in plant form. Learning to enjoy wheat grass will provide your body with benefits from nourishing your kidneys, providing vitalization to your skin and body, and removing toxic metals from your body’s cells.
When starting to juice it’s better to start slow. Use flavors you already know you like and don’t try new things until you know you’re ready. Start by mixing new flavors, like wheat grass, with fruit you’ve already been drinking. Soon enough you’ll be able to move on to pro recipes!
Buying a masticating juicer will allow the juice you make to have it’s nutrients break down much slower, meaning you can take your time in drinking it or even store it for a while. It will also leave as much of the natural nutrients intact as possible, giving you the most healthy juice to drink.
Remember that vegetable and fruit remnants left on a juicer after juicing have the potential to grow mold quickly. Cleaning it quickly helps stop the growth of mold. Dismantle the juicer clean the parts and rinse with water until clean. If you must use a detergent use one that is very mild.
Skip a water fast and instead, engage in a vegetable juice fast! It supplies all of the nutrients and vitamins you need, without any fat and not a ton of calories. It can also help clear out toxins in your body, especially if you use wheatgrass or ginger in your recipes.
When it comes to juicing, one thing that you want to keep in mind is that if you require storing it for more than a day that you want to keep it chilled and air tight. This is important because with the lack of preservatives, your juice will spoil quicker than store bought types.
Once you have your juicing materials, they should be of good quality if you want good quality juice, it is of utmost importance that you know how to function your juicer to it’s fullest extent. If you delve into making juice before you really know what you are doing, you will just be wasting your juicing materials.
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!
To reduce the bitterness of cranberries, blend them with sweeter fruits and/ or vegetables, such as carrots or other berries. My favorite is a berry blend of strawberries, blueberries, cherries and cranberries! Develop your own mixes to best fit your tastes.
Sugar is bad for your teeth, and so is chewing on sugar cane, but did you know that sugar cane JUICE is actually GOOD for your teeth? Add it to any vegetable juice you’d like sweetened and it can help prevent tooth decay while tasting absolutely great in the resulting product!
Some people claim that mixing fruit and vegetables in your juice leads to indigestion as the enzymes required to break down fruit are very different than those to break down vegetables. I, personally, have never had a problem, but if you find you have any tummy upset after drinking a mixed juice then you should probably stick to one or the other.
There are many spices available that help boost your metabolism and get your body burning fat, so include powders like chili and cumin in your juice if you’re looking for weight loss or maintenance. You can also juice garlic and onions as they help your body battle the fat too!
Juicing is a lot of fun, but it can turn disastrous if you don’t take care of your equipment! Make sure that you clean out the pulp reservoir every time you make juice, and sterilize all your tools from knife to cutting board to extraction container each time you use them.
Buying fresh, organic produce for juicing doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. Buying fruit on sale can provide you with a base for which to plan your week’s juices on! For example, if apples are on sale you should choose other ingredients that go well with apples, like ginger or oranges. If berries are out of season and expensive, skip them entirely.
As you can see from this article, there are a lot of great things about juicing. The health benefits alone should make you want to start doing it. Take this advice and make a positive change for yourself and your family. Kids love juice and they are much more likely to drink it than to eat any vegetables you put on their plate.
