Juicing: The Truth Behind and What You Need To Know About It
Nutrition specialists believe that diets high in vegetables and fruits can positively impact your overall well being. The juicing craze that emerged in the 1990s has attracted the interest of health activists worldwide. Most people enjoy the convenience of drinking their fruits and vegetables rather than chewing on them. With assurances of weight loss, increased energy, regeneration, and being able to quench the impulse to indulge in unhealthy food — who wouldn’t want to get on board?
However, the real argument around juicing remains: is juicing just another nutritional craze, or does it have health benefits? Here’s what you need to understand about juicing.
What is juicing?
Juicing is a process wherein the natural liquids, minerals, and vitamins are extracted from fresh fruits and vegetables. It usually removes most of the solid matter from fruits and vegetables, including seeds and pulp. The extracted juice does not only provide hydration, but rather it also provides the body with antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, anti-inflammatory compounds, and phytonutrients all in one drink.
The juice can be extracted using different types of juicing machines, including masticating juicers, twin juicers, hand juicers, centrifugal juicers, or hydraulic press juicers. The nutrient-rich liquid is usually consumed immediately after juicing to maximize the health benefits. Over the years, juicing has made its name in the nutrition world. Health-conscious individuals began consuming freshly extracted fruits and vegetable juice regularly. Although this is considered a healthy choice of drink, some disadvantages arise in juicing everyday. You may be shocked to read that enjoying a fresh glass of juice once or twice a week is better than consuming it every day. While there are great ingredients in these drinks, there are downsides to remember when thinking about a nutritious wellness craze every day.
Different Types of Juicing Methods:
Manual juicer:
Manual juicers are very prevalent in many households throughout the world. An orange reamer, a lemon press that utilizes a handle, or any instrument that extracts the juice from a fruit or vegetable that requires the use of human strength as the power source is a manual juicer.
Cold-pressed:
A cold-pressed juicer extracts the vegetables and fruits using a pressing method hydraulically. It yields more juice and has the most nutritious juice. It retains the most nutrients during the juicing process compared to other types of juicers. Unlike other juicers, the cold-pressed method does not produce heat and does not require the food to be sliced or chopped.
Centrifugal:
A centrifugal juicer is the entry-level to juicing for health. You want to get more juice than you can get from a simple press or reamer, but you also want to do it quickly and cleans up fast. Centrifugal juicers work by slicing or grating the vegetable or fruit, then squeezing the pulp against a spinning filter that allows the juice to pass-through, but contains the pulp. The pulp is usually guided up and out and then into a pulp holder. Because of the centrifuge, fruit and vegetable juices can be extracted very quickly but yields less juice than other types of juicers.
Singer Gear:
A single auger juicer, most commonly referred to as the single gear masticating juicer, runs on the concept of crushing the vegetable or fruit against a solid external wall surrounding a drill. As the food is pressed, it produces much more juice compared to the centrifugal type of juicer. However, it operates slower and requires more preparation time to cut the product to be used.
Double Gear:
A triturating juicer or dual gear masticating juicer operates the same basic concept as the single gear masticating juicer, wherein it crushes food to extract the juicer. However, it has two augers that spin against each other to press and crush the food to extract more juice successfully. Dual gear masticating juicer is a high-end juicer that is usually in commercial buildings and private homes.
High-speed blenders(Blendtec, Vitamix, etc.):
A high-speed blender is known as the most versatile and powerful blender. They can operate more than the standard blender, such as making purees and smoothies, grinding grains to make flours, heating soups, refining nuts into nut butter, whipping sorbets and ice creams, crushing ice, making the sticky dough.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW WHEN YOU START JUICING
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1: Evaluate Your Current Health Status
Consuming fruit and juice can cause an increase in blood sugar. Although healthy individuals would not have any problems regarding the sugar content on fruits since it can easily be digested and assimilated. A generally healthy person will not have any problems getting diabetes from drinking fruit juices.
Drinking fruit juices can not produce obese individuals. Diabetes and obesity result from an inadequate diet that resulted in damaged organs and not because of fruit juices.
If you are suffering from Candidiasis or borderline diabetic, it is best to reduce your fruit juice consumption to regulate your blood sugar level. If you want to counter your condition, start eliminating harmful food to your diet, then opt for vegetable juices.
Before embarking on your juicing diet, make sure to consult your doctor in case of any suspected cases such as yeast infection in the digestive tract, low blood sugar level (hypoglycemia), and more. If appropriately performed in such situations, vegetable juicing will not be an issue and could improve the blood and health status. There are a lot of delicious varieties of green juices that you can take inspiration from.
2: The Healing Process and what to expect on your Juicing journey
When you begin your juicing journey, it is essential to note that you are ingesting superior quality foods-nutrient-loaded fresh vegetables and fruits. Your body will start to eliminate inferior toxins and tissues and start building healthier newer tissues.
For instance, when you discontinue taking your regular stimulant fixes such as teas, chocolates, or coffee, migraines or headaches may occur. It is part of a healthy regeneration and cleansing process. Your intelligent body removes toxins like theobromine or coffee from your body tissues and sends them out of the body through the bloodstream.
Your kidneys and liver will work extensively to get rid of the toxins from the blood. The temporary rise of the toxin levels in the blood may cause side effects such as joint pain, weakening of the limb, or headache. You might also experience a slower heart rate, which your brain may translate to lower energy levels or lethargy. So, the liver and kidneys work overdrive to remove the toxins from the blood. The temporarily increased toxin levels in the blood may cause side effects such as headache, joint pain, or weakening of a limb. You may also experience a slower heart rate, which your mind may translate as lethargy or lower energy levels.
3: When is the appropriate time to drink fresh juices?
The ideal time to drink fresh juices is at least half an hour before your first meal-on an empty stomach. It is when your stomach starts to crave food and would absorb whatever you consume.
When you consume a nutritious, healthy juice, your body immediately absorbs everything that you eat. Similarly, when you consume something harmful on an empty stomach, it will also be absorbed immediately. Therefore, choose wisely.
As a general rule, fruit juices are often consumed in the morning because they provide enough energy for the complex carbohydrates. Drink juices that are less sweet, like green juices, for the latter part of the day. You might have been advised not to eat a citrus fruit or drink the juice on an empty morning stomach due to their acidity. However, although citrus juice and fruits taste acidic, they are alkaline-forming food. I recommend you try a little to see if it causes you any trouble.
When your stomach is accustomed to drinking fresh fruit and vegetable juices, taking citrus juices shouldn’t be troublesome. The optimal production of vitamin C makes your skin look fresh and pleasant!
4: Steps on what to juice
Step 1: Start with the fruits you enjoy eating. Use conventional produce, which is mild on the taste buds and easier on your stomachs—such as carrots, apples, oranges, or watermelons.
Step 2: After juicing these a few times, you may feel ready to add something new to your menu. I like to use carrots and green apples as the base for most of my juices and add items to improve the taste and nutritional value.
You might feel ready to add something new to your menu after juicing for several times. You can use carrots and green apples as the base for your juices and incorporate other products to enhance your juice’s flavor and nutritional value.
Step 3: The greener the vegetables, the more nutritionally beneficial and less palatable they are. You can try adding greens that you like, such as cauliflower, cabbage, celery, broccoli, cucumber, kale, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, and more. You may want to compensate for the more greens you have with extra green apple and lemon, depending on your preferred taste. Lemon is a superfood that will help detox and multiply your nutrients absorption rate up to 5 times. Juicing lemon with the peel for its essential oils and bioflavonoids make it a potent immunity booster.
Step 4: Now, you can start experimenting with other variations. Try out these fruit and vegetable lists, along with their health benefits. I suggest adding vegetables that are currently in season.
5: Alternate Between Fruit and Vegetable Juices for Best Results
Our bodies need adequate and regular amounts of the following to promote and maintain the ideal health:
- Vitamins
- Essential amino acids
- Fiber
- Minerals
- Enzymes
- Carbohydrates
- Water
- Essential fatty acids
When we continuously consume a variety of vegetables and fruits—the minerals, vitamins, enzymes, and the abundance of health-building components from the juices work together in harmony. The outcome of these mixtures on your health can be fantastic!
We may not get all the essentials mentioned above from vegetables and fruits alone, but here are some other beneficial foods you may add to your diet to maintain a healthy balance
Protein: When you’re regularly juicing and consuming a well-planned vegetarian diet, plants will be providing enough protein. Consider eating seeds, legumes, and nuts to obtain the best available protein, instead. Look for other protein sources.
Cod liver or fish oil: Vegetable juices are loaded with vitamin K, which assimilates calcium. However, to assist in the absorption of vitamin K, you need fats like those found in cod liver oil.
Chlorella and spirulina: Fruit and vegetables have very little to no vitamin B in them. Chlorella and spirulina are different types of algae with an exceptionally high vitamin B. In tablet or powder form, add the chlorella and spirulina as a supplement.
Nuts and seeds: Most seeds and nuts provide the protein and fat necessary to sustain the body. These often contain essential amino acids for the brain and immune systems. They can be consumed as they are, or ground and applied to the food.
6: How Safe Are Fruit Juices?
A usual question for most people who want to embark on a juicing lifestyle is, “Are fruit juices safe?”
Concern 1: The sugar
The most commonly asked question on juicing is whether people can get diabetes from drinking fruit juices. The answer is, no.
The usual culprit to most chronic diseases is the diets consisting of high-fat and processed food. These foods interfere with the absorption of sugar. The sugar can be surrounded by fats that can get trapped in your blood. The trapped sugar can start fermenting and become acidic, which often triggers elevated blood sugar levels. If you have diabetes, the body may have trouble digesting fruit juices, and sweet drinks should be avoided until you start removing such unhealthy foods.
Concern 2: What about pesticides in fruit?
Commercial-grown fruit and vegetables are sprayed with pesticides and other substances. It is not something we can prevent, because not many of us are privileged with convenient exposure to sustainable or pesticide-free goods. When you can afford it, healthy food is still the right option.
One method I’ve learned to remove these toxins from fruit and vegetables is to wash them in hot water with a combination of a small amount of apple cider vinegar and baking soda. However, this only eliminates toxins from the surface, not from the fibers. Cancer patients should only use organic fruit.
Soak the vegetables for about 10 minutes, and you’ll start to notice a change in the water. It means that the pesticide had already come off. Rinse the vegetables with warm water a couple more times, and then they’re prepared for juice. Try the same for berries and clean with a smooth cloth.
Concern 3: What happens to the wax on fruits?
Apples typically produce a thin layer of wax that coats and protects the skin. Nevertheless, before they are prepared for shipment, they are coated with vegetable-based, edible oil to retain their moisture, keep them from drying and weight loss. Most fruit nutrients are most concentrated under the skin.
7: Listen to Your Body
Lastly, it is vital to listen to your body. After consuming the juices, your stomach should be peaceful throughout the day, not growling and churning and leaving you with an uneasy feeling. If this occurs, your body is alerting you that you have eaten something that your stomach is not accustomed to. In the future, you will prepare your stomach by doing the same stuff in smaller doses and slowly growing the sum.
Conclusion
Although juicing alone is not a diet or a lasting remedy to health issues, it is more than a fad. It is versatile enough to blend into the diet every day or use it as a juicing detox. There are a plethora of recipes that are balanced and tasty. By adding daily juice into your diet, you can quickly learn that rejuvenating the body with a high amount of antioxidants is one of the most important things you will do for your health.