Juicing is a tremendous way to bring a new sense of health and vitality to your life. Knowing the best juice combinations for optimal health is key to maximizing the benefits of raw foods. Follow these tips and you will soon be on your way to making delicious, healthy drinks for your whole family.
Juicing is a great way to remain healthy and have fun creating your own concoctions. Using fresh fruits and vegetables to create your own juice can ensure that you are getting the vitamins and nutrients you want or need without all the sugar or preservatives. This is also a way to save a lot of money on juice!
Make sure to let your juicer rest and clean out extra pulp if you are making a large batch of juice, especially when you are using harder fruits. Juicers tend to be expensive, and you do not want to burn your juicer out by overworking it or clogging the juicer.
Look into getting a system for vacuum sealing your jars if you are planning on making larger quantities of juice at the same time. Being able to fully vacuum seal your container means you will be able to store it for much longer periods of time without suffering a loss in quality or health benefits.
Put all your fruit on one shelf in your refrigerator, preferably the top shelf. This way, nutrition and juicing will be the first thing on your mind when you open your refrigerator every day. You’ll also be able to keep an eye on how fresh the fruit is, and remind yourself to use it before it decays.
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.
You don’t have to buy a fancy juicer to start juicing, you can use a blender or food processor just to get the hang of it. In fact, a food processor can do just as good a job as a juicer! I also picked up an inexpensive citrus juicer, though, as I found doing it manually hurt my hands.
Check out farms near where you live to pick up the produce you need for juicing at amazing bulk prices. Many items can be kept in a cool, dark place for longer periods of time. So those are the foods you want to pick up on the farm in larger amounts.
When juicing leafy vegetables like spinach, ball the leaves together. If you form your vegetable leafs into a ball, like crumpled paper for instance, you will give a more solid mass for the juicer to work with. This will prevent small pieces of leaves from showing up in your juice and affecting the consistency.
Keeping juice in the refrigerator can be handy, but the juice may turn color. A juice that started off bright orange, but now appears a dull gray simply isn’t appetizing. What you can do in order to maintain the bright color is to add around two fresh teaspoons of lemon juice. Lemon juice has the ability to keep the juice fresh without affecting its taste.
Try adding chopped ice to your juice to make it a cool treat in the summer! It’s like drinking a smoothie while actually knowing what ingredients are in it and where they came from (and how clean they were when they went into the juicer!) What a tasty way to chill out.
If you absolutely must store your juice after you make it, make sure to store it in a completely air-tight container. Letting air get at it will start a process which breaks down the nutrients in the juice, leaving a tasty but empty drink that won’t provide you with the healthy benefits you were looking for in the first place.
When it comes to juicing, one thing that you want to keep in mind is that the best times to drink it are either in between meals as a snack or any other time where your stomach is otherwise unoccupied. This is important because it will help to keep you content as well as provide the best situation for nutrient absorption.
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.
When it comes to juicing, one thing that you want to keep in mind is the amount of fruits and vegetables you are purchasing in relation to the amount of juice that you wish to produce. A good rule of thumb is that one cup of juice will result from approximately a pound of product.
If you must use non-organic fruits and vegetables in your juicing, peel it. It is not safe to ingest the skin even if you clean it well. Heavy metals and other dangerous things can permeate the skin, meaning cleaning won’t actually remove it. The skin of fruit and vegetables is very good for you, so you are much better off buying organic and including its skin in your juices.
The health benefits of juicing are something nobody should be without. The best way to enhance your health through juicing is to gain a thorough understanding of the vitamins and minerals you can extract through different types of foods and how to make the tastiest combinations. Use this advice to your benefit and you will be able to receive nutrients that you were missing before.
