Juicing can be a fun and delicious way to get your daily fill of vitamins and antioxidants. A few simple tips can help you choose combinations of fruit and veggies that not only taste good together, but provide your body with essential nutrients. Juicing is so easy that there’s no excuse not to start today.
Juice cucumbers and dark leafy greens together. Some leafy greens do not taste good. Cucumber juice has a fresh taste, masking the taste of dark vegetables somewhat and giving the juice it a bright kick. Cucumber contains nutrients that the body needs, especially if you chose to leave the peel on it.
If you want your juice to be a certain texture or thickness, know that the softer the fruit is, the thicker the juice will be. The meat of softer fruits breaks up easily to make a thick nectar. Make sure to add some harder fruits, such as apples and pears, for a thinner juice.
When preparing for a juice diet, make sure to stock a LOT of fresh fruits and vegetables! On average, it takes 4.4 pounds of raw fruits and vegetables to make just a single quart of juice, so you’ll need lots. Also make sure to get a large variety of ingredients so that you don’t get bored with the same old juice.
Only use the sweetest and ripest apples for your apple juice. If you come across a bruised apple, be sure to cut out the bruised area prior to using. Especially good apples for making juice include the Rome, Fuji, Gala, and Red Delicious varieties. These all give a sweet and tasty flavor.
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!
Substitute meals on occasion with your juicing. There are multiple servings of fruit and vegetables going into your mix and this can equate to a very healthy meal. Occasionally substituting a juice blend for a meal will reduce the amount of nontraditional ingredients you are consuming from processed foods and you will get more than enough nutrition.
If you have any questions about juicing you can always ask online. There are many juicing groups and forums available and their members will typically have the answer, or at least know how to find it. Draw on their collective years of experience to make your experience a positive one!
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.
When coming up with a combination of fruit and vegetables to juice, consider their textures to make a smooth, drinkable product. For example, soft fruits like bananas and peaches make a very thick juice. Apples and pears, on the other hand, make a very thin, watery juice. Mix the two items together to make the most enjoyable texture to drink!
Studies have shown that the optimal intake of fruit and vegetables in a day is 8 or 9 servings per day. Most people are lucky to even get 2 to 3, but by juicing you can meet your minimums easily and tastily! Make sure that the bulk of the servings, preferably 5 to 6, are vegetables.
In regards to juicing, it is important to consider the fact that you will see vastly different results in eating a product outright as opposed to consuming it in juice form. A perfect example of this is the fact that the juice from sugar cane is beneficial to dental health, whereas eating sugar cane outright will lead to tooth decay.
Switch out your coffee or other stimulant beverage for a fresh glass of juice. The high levels of vitamins and minerals in the juice will give you that boost that you are needing but also provide a longer lasting effect, no crash later and lots of other good for you ingredients as well.
It is very important to monitor your blood sugar levels when juicing if you have diabetes. When you have high blood glucose levels it is best to drink vegetable juice rather than to drink fruit juice. If you still prefer the sweetness of fruit juice, limit your intake.
Turn to juicing to help lower your cholesterol levels in a safe, medicine-free manner. Make sure to be tested regularly and stay under the care of a medical professional while attempting this as treatment. Produce to use are apples, blueberries, garlic, kale, or kiwi, which all have nutrients which will reduce bad cholesterol in the blood.
One important thing to keep in mind when making juice is that different fruits have at least minor differences. If you want to make juice out of citrus fruits, such as tangerines, lemons and oranges, you may need a specialized machine. You also need to be careful juicing melons because the juice doesn’t taste very good when combined with other fruit juices.
For heavy and dark vegetable juices, use apple and carrots as the sweetener and avoid other fruits. Other fruits do not go along with dark greens very well. Carrots contain a lot of sugar and apple juice will complement the vegetables instead of clashing with them. Apples and carrots are the perfect base for mixed fruit and vegetable juices also.
Once people start to get interested in juicing, they many times find it difficult to slow down. There are so many winning fruit and vegetable concoctions that can be thrown together in a juicer, that it can boggle the mind. It’s nice to not have to sacrifice flavor for nutritional goodness.