Fresh fruits and vegetables are the healthiest foods around, and one great way to unlock their nutritional bounty is through juicing. Converting vegetables and fruits into liquid form preserves all of their great benefits and makes them more palatable and easier to consume. Here are just a few of the ways that juicing can contribute to a healthier diet:
Use apple to sweeten juices made of primarily vegetables. Apple will sweeten most juices without adding too much to the flavor of the juice. Apple also mixes well with nearly every fruit and vegetable combination, unlike many other sweet fruits. This can be very helpful when using tart or otherwise slightly unpleasant vegetables in your juices.
Keep all the tools you use in juicing, like your cutting board, knives, measuring cups, juicer, etc. together in their own place so you always know where they are. The one reason you won’t continue juicing is because you’re not keeping your things organized, leaving you feeling frustrated and overwhelmed.
The best time to fire up your juicer is a half hour before any meal. Drink the fresh juice on an empty stomach. Drinking juice on an empty stomach is helpful to absorb the most nutrients quickly and effectively. Fruit juices should be consumed in the mornings because digestive energy is the lowest in the mornings.
Keep a toothbrush handy to clean the strainer after juicing. Scrubbing the strainer with a toothbrush will displace any lodged particles which can grow rapidly into mold. Regular cleaning in this fashion will increase the life of your juicer as well as make your life healthier.
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.
Are you gluten intolerant? Anyone with celiac disease will love juicing as it’s a healthy way to have a treat in your diet. You can even include wheatgrass and it’s nutritional benefits as gluten is only found in the seed of the plant, not the stem or grass leaves. Enjoy!
When it comes to juicing, one thing that you want to keep in mind is that you will want to keep your juicer out and in sight at all times. This is important to ensure that you use it on a regular basis and that it does not become one of those items that gets stored away in the back of your cupboard.
A single cup of juice will be equivalent to a much larger amount of actual vegetables or fruit, meaning one cup of juice can also be equal to make more servings on the food pyramid. For example, a single cup of carrot juice is equivalent to four cups of diced carrot!
When it comes to juicing, one thing that you want to keep in mind is that not all fruits taste good when combined with each other. This is important to consider in terms of taste and overall enjoyment of your juice. Probably the most difficult fruit to mix would be certain types of melon.
Incorporate spices into your juicing. There are a variety of spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic, ginger and others, that can can boost the flavor output of your juices. If you have flavors you want to experiment with, look for recipes online or you can look for spices that work well with fruits or vegetables. Be sure to check their health and nutrition values.
Want to know another way that juicing will save you money? You’ll be able to skip the expensive anti-wrinkle and deep moisturizing skin treatments you’ve been buying at the department store! Juicing fruits and vegetables leads to healthier, better looking skin as they are full of moisturizing compounds. The anti-oxidants found in many produce items also can slow down the aging of skin itself.
When juicing, consider using vegetables or fruits that would not normally appeal to you and use other components to mask their flavor. This is a good way to get nutrients and vitamins from healthy aliments you might not like. Mask unpleasant flavors by adding some lemon or apple to your juice.
Use cranberries! In regards to juicing, it is important to consider the benefits that cranberries can provide! As long as you care for their taste, cranberries will assist with infections of the urinary tract, as well as, the everyday benefit of helping to remove toxins from your body. Also, cranberries provide a great distinct taste that compliment many other foods.
Juicing and coupon use can go hand in hand, as long as you know what you’re doing. There are many coupons available for fruit, in fact I have some here right now for lemons and bananas. Use them when the fruit is on sale to increase your discount and keep as much money in your pocket as possible.
Doing a meal plan every week can save you tons of money on your juicing needs. For example, if you plan to use broccoli every day in juices and in meals, you can buy more of it, especially if it’s on sale this week! In fact, check flyers and include sales items as often as possible for the biggest budget savings. Many stores have them online for ease of use.
Citrus fruits often have skins containing toxins that can be harmful to you. When creating juices using citrus fruits such as grapefruits and oranges, you must always peel them first. However, the area of these fruits with the largest concentration of valuable nutrients is the pithy parts just under the skin. You want to try to keep as much of this as possible while peeling away the rest.
Juicing is a great nutritional process that can be just as simple or as complex as a juicer wants to make it. Quick, cheap techniques can offer dramatic health benefits, and a greater investment of time and money can provide even bigger results. Hopefully, the tips presented above can be of use in starting or improving a great juicing routine.
