Juicing is a great way to enjoy the vitamins, minerals and enzymes of a large amount of fruits and vegetables quickly. But to ensure that you’re juicing in a healthy way, we’ve got some juicing tips for you.
Choose the best fruits and vegetables
For the best results, select high quality fruit and vegetables that are fresh, not wilted nor dried out. Be sure to wash everything very well because it’s great to leave items like washed apples, carrots and beets unpeeled. Remember to include the stems from your greens and pop those fruits and veggies into your juicer!
Alternate the types of greens you put into your juice: try spinach for a couple days, then switch to Swiss chard, then kale, or maybe even parsley! Dark leafy greens are chock full of nutrients and it’s important to feed your body a good variety.
When to enjoy your fresh juice
Fresh juices will begin to oxidize and lose nutrients quickly so they are best enjoyed immediately. It is also recommended that for full effect, they are consumed on an empty stomach first thing in the morning or at least a half hour or hour before a meal.
Start Slow!
If you are new to juicing, start with foods that you are familiar as your palate may need to adjust to appreciate the taste of a stronger vegetable juice. A good base is apple and carrots, from which you may add many other veggies.
You should also start with small volumes of juice as certain combinations can be a natural laxative. Listen to your body! Your stomach should not be uncomfortable after juicing. If it is, reduce your consumption and build up to larger amounts over a period of time. Children can also enjoy and benefit from juicing although it is recommended by many that their juice is diluted by half with water.
Sweeten with care
You may love 100% fruit juice but to juice for health, add fruit like apples or oranges to vegetable blends, to naturally sweeten the juice rather than be the star of the show! If you do make pure, fresh fruit juice for a treat, be sure to rinse your mouth with water to remove the natural sugars and protect your teeth.
Supplement, don’t replace
Drinking juice is a great way to add more nutrients to your day, but a glass of juice alone will not fill you up until lunch. Drink your juice first, then have something with fibre, like whole-wheat toast or bagels, or a homemade granola bar. That way the sugars in the juice will be absorbed at a slower rate, ensuring you have more energy over a longer period of time.
Alternatively, you may wish to blend back in some of the pulp from your juice. Eating with your juice will reduce the rate at which nutrients are absorbed, but will keep you feeling full for longer and will still provide great benefit to your overall health.
Think outside the kale
There are certain juice combinations that everyone has heard of like kale and apple or beet and carrot with ginger. But mix it up! Use a base of neutral flavours like carrot and apple, then add in other veggies for a boost like, cabbage, turmeric root, cucumber, parsnip, romaine lettuce, spinach, lemon and even flax seeds or chia seeds! Experiment and try many combinations.
