Juicing – Is it Really Worth It?

Do you juice? I do but sporadically, probably in part because I don’t have a very good juicer. I have used it  in the past and still juice on some days.

Benefits of Juicing

Juicing is a great way to get more fruits and vegetables into your diet. The quantity of vegetables you can get in through a glass of fresh juicer is usually much greater than what we can or eat in one sitting. I like vegetables a lot but still find it hard to get as many in daily as I would like to. I am convinced that no matter what diet most of us are currently eating, very few people are getting enough vegetables. Juicing can really change that.

Juicing is a great way to get a wider variety of fruits and vegetables into your diet.  You may not care for some vegetables and fruits that have some important minerals and vitamins in them. If you juice them along with some other vegetables or fruit that you do like, you probably won’t even notice they are there, but you have gotten the health benefit.

Juicing will help you detox and lose weight.  When my 16 year old daughter is feeling like the toxins are building up she will juice, usually some thing with carrots. When I was able to lose weight (about 10 lbs 2 years ago) I did it with juicing and eating avocado and replacing one meal/ day with the juice and avocado.

Homemade Juice vs. Bought Juice

So juice is juice right? Why not just buy it; who has time for making all this stuff anyway? Well I beg to differ on this one. Making your juice yourself is far superior to buying juice. Juice loses its vitamins when it sits around. You want to drink your juice within a few hours of juicing it. When you buy bottled juice most of the vitamins are already gone. The juice has to be heated to seal the bottle so it will not spoil and again the vitamins will be destroyed by the heat. Plus sometimes there is some kind of preservative or coloring in the juice that is not good for your body either.

Juicing Tips

My favorite juicing combo is carrots, apples, and 1 red beet for about a pint to a quart of juice. You don’t want to overdo the red beets as they are a very potent detoxifying vegetable, so keep them in the smaller amount when juicing together with other veggies. I find that combining several vegetables along with a fruit often makes a very enjoyable juice to drink. Grapes are very good together with kale, celery, spinach, cucumber, and a pear.

Because juicing is so   potent a way to get your vitamins you want to make sure that your ingredients are as pure and nutritious as possible so I recommend organic vegetables and fruit.  If you are buying from a local farmer often you can find ingredients that are raised organically but not certified that way and so you can save on the purchase price. But if that is not an option it is worth springing for the organic in this situation.

 So how about you? Do you juice? Please share your experience in the comments below.

  I am participating in the Williams-Sonoma Juicing Initiative.  Here are the juicers they have for sale. (This is NOT an affiliate link for me.) 

Shared at Wellness Wednesday,  Wildcrafting Wednesday,  Natural Family Friday.