Question- must decide now!

[Radiantly Raw]

I've been researching juicers forever now it seems! I know I want an Omega 8003 or 8005. And for the past few weeks I've been trying to come up with the $225 to buy one. With no luck.

So, tomorrow I start a juice fast. My church does a 21 day fast each year at this time. I'm committed to it & so I need a juicer ASAP! Tonight at the latest! This will be my first experience ever with a juicer and a juice fast.

I've spent the last couple days on Craigslist looking for one I can afford right now, knowing I'll upgrade to the Omega in a few months if I use it a lot.

With every juicer I've found, I have come back here and searched the threads to find opinions on them. So I know the generalities of each. I also googled juicer reviews and did separate searches on the ones I could find for sale. And yet, I'm still wondering what to do!:confused:

Here's my 2 choices -- A Jack LaLane power juicer (the white kind) with all accessories included, used 5 times, for $50.

Or go to WalMart/KMart/Target, etc and get an unused Hamilton Beach big mouth juicer. It's supposedly improved over past designs.

Now, ideally I really want to do leafy greens. I love kale and chard and spinach in smoothies & want to juice those. But I'm just not sure it's even an option in this price range (around $50) with these choices. That might just have to wait till I can afford the Omega.

I want to do celery & carrots & beets. Seriously, at this point my head is really spinning! :o Any words of wisdom before I decide? I have to call the person with the Jack LaLane juicer by 5:00.

Thanks everyone!:)

[Nayeli_Raw]

Im not sure about the Juicers, but I my mom got me the Jack Lalane version of a vita mix for christmas this year and my dad got me a Breville juicer. Now to be perfectly honest I haven't tried either of them yet. So really I dont know why I am even telling you about this. Ummm if you go to Target and it breaks you will probably have a warranty, but if you buy it used you may not get a warranty.


BTW.. I just looked at your blog.. I love the progress pics.. you guys are doing great!!

[Radiantly Raw]

Thank you Peytonamoura, good points! I think I thought about warranty stuff hours ago, but not since then. It's so silly to be going back and forth so much. I'm so confused. Probably cause I know neither is the best option, but it's what I can afford, you know?!

Thanks for checking out my blog, and for your kind words! I appreciate it so much!!

[Carlsbad]

I have the Jack LaLanne juicer, and it juices veggies and leafy greens just fine. It also goes in the dishwasher, which is nice, and isn't very hard to clean by hand either. I use just a hand held juicer for one glass kinds of things, but when I want a big jug of juice, Jack's juicer works really well. I would get that if I were you.

[Radiantly Raw]

Carlsbad- Thank You!!! So good to hear it can do leafy greens! Is there a trick to it?

[eachpeachpearplum]

On Shazzie's DVD she demos greens in a not so powerful machine. She alts leaves with carrots or celery etc. Also she recommends wrapping said veg with the greens and feeding it through always ending with a veg that will flush any green goodness out.

GOOD LUCK!

[FreeLily]

I love my Jack LaLanne Juicer...I know someday I'll upgrade but it does just fine for now :)

[GoingtoRAW]

I have the Jack LaLanne juicer, and it juices veggies and leafy greens just fine. It also goes in the dishwasher, which is nice, and isn't very hard to clean by hand either. I use just a hand held juicer for one glass kinds of things, but when I want a big jug of juice, Jack's juicer works really well. I would get that if I were you.


I have a Jack LaLanne juicer too and I agree - it works just fine and is very easy to clean! I bought mine at Target almost 2 years ago!:p

[Radiantly Raw]

Thanks everyone!!! So great to know, I really appreciate it! :D I'm going to look at The Jack LaLane juicer right now. I'll get it unless it's not really in the condition he said it was, you just never know. I'll let you know later what happens!

[subbacultcha]

Sorry I don't have any input on the juicer front as I am looking to change mine myself - but I just wanted to say how fantastic you look in your latest pictures on your blog Radiantly Raw! You do look really radiant, living up to your username :)

[Radiantly Raw]

Thanks subbacultcha! How sweet! That means a lot!!:D We're sure trying. The changes are more subtle and weight loss is slower, but we're doing it!

So, I got the Jack LaLane, it's in great shape! Seems brand new. And the guy was literally within walking distance form my house! What a nice surprise.

I'm heading out to get more organic apples & that huge bag of organic juicing carrots I've always seen other folks buying! WooHoo!:D

Thanks so much everyone for helping me decide! I was so lost, I knew I could count on you all!!;)

[buffalogal]

Hi Radiantly Raw!! Just wanted to tell you that I have used my Jack LaLanne juicer almost every day for over a year now and I am very happy with it. Of course, I have never used any other kind of juicer, so I have nothing to compare it with, but I think it's done a great job on anything I've thrown into it!! I know there's always those who say that a masticating juicer is better than a centrifugal one (saves the vitamins and nutrients, blah, blah, blah), but it was what I could afford at the time, and I figured a centrifugal juicer was better than no juicer!! It also does not take up as much room on my counter or weigh as much as a Champion, Green Star or Omega. And the juice is delicious!! Anyway, I'm happy with it and hopefully, you will be too!!! Happy juicing!!:)

[mulberryrose]

Yes, radiantly raw...you do look radiant. :) Thanks for being an inspiration.

[jacsam]

Hi Radiantly Raw!! Just wanted to tell you that I have used my Jack LaLanne juicer almost every day for over a year now and I am very happy with it. Of course, I have never used any other kind of juicer, so I have nothing to compare it with, but I think it's done a great job on anything I've thrown into it!! I know there's always those who say that a masticating juicer is better than a centrifugal one (saves the vitamins and nutrients, blah, blah, blah), but it was what I could afford at the time, and I figured a centrifugal juicer was better than no juicer!! It also does not take up as much room on my counter or weigh as much as a Champion, Green Star or Omega. And the juice is delicious!! Anyway, I'm happy with it and hopefully, you will be too!!! Happy juicing!!:)
I have never had anything but a champion....it does a great job but it is very heavy and I think that it's time consuming when it comes to cleaning...I have to say that I sometimes avoid using it. I have a juicer for citrus alone and it is wonder full. What type of citrus juicers does everyone else have?

[Radiantly Raw]

Just wanted to say that we're liking the Jack LaLane just fine.:D I'm know there are better options, but this is doing very well & it was what I could afford! We've been having fun experimenting with different combos. I have to wear a kitchen towel like a bib though, it's quite messy coming out of the spout and splashes! I ruined one shirt with carrot juice on my first try!:rolleyes: Oh, and so far it's handled baby spinach and black kale well.:D

Thank you again for helping me decide!!!!:)

[raweater]

I haven't read all replies but I'll reply to the original post:

I myself got a Breville centrifugical juicer 1-2 years ago for about $120 and deeply regreted it. The juice (I'd call it more of a colored/sugared water) is nearly tasteless due to the destruction of vitamins. These make very unatural, almost pasteurized juice (I wouldn't consider them raw, raw means with it's original vitamins, centrifugical juice is NOT with it's original vitamins, so even though it's not officially cooked, it's not really raw either, even though the nutrition in destroyed in another way then by heat, it shouldn't matter).

So my advice if you can't buy a non-centrifugical juicer is to get the cheapest centrifugical juicer you can find, as you will want to get rid of it. Also consider that juice, especially from centrifugical machines, is a highly refined product like white sugar and spikes your blood sugar just like white sugar, so if you're doing this for health then this type of juicer does pretty much the opposite.

Juice from better juicers is also obviosuly refined but since it has it's vitamins, you're going to feel full after not that much juice, whereas centrifugically made juice can be drank like water (and that's why you get very high sugar doses with no nutrition, just like white sugar).

I just thought of a cheap alternative though, the auger type juicers, but a hand crank models, those are normally $40-80, will make nearly as good juice as most auger juicers, and about the same price as a cheap centrifugical one.

Now that was about the solutions for a low cost juicing option. When you're ready to get a good juicer, I'd recommend the Green Star, I did lots of research and decidd on the green star even though they start at $340, I thought it was worth the cost. The only common complaint on this one is how hard it is to clean, but it can still be cleaned in less than 5 minutes which is good enough for me.

I avoided the singler auger type juicers like the Omega since they have a very common issue of the plastic auger chipping and grinding itself into a powder that may very well end up in the juice (and/or pulp).

[raweater]

I have never had anything but a champion....it does a great job but it is very heavy and I think that it's time consuming when it comes to cleaning...I have to say that I sometimes avoid using it. I have a juicer for citrus alone and it is wonder full. What type of citrus juicers does everyone else have?

I currently have a regular $1 glass citrus juicer, but I ordered a green star and studies have show it extracts TWICE as much juice as a PROFESSIONAL citrus press. So I will be using my green star for citrus as I'll get much more than double the juice I have now. One of my friends said it was a marketing scam to say you can make orange and citrus juice in other types of juicers than a citrus juicer, but if it gets double the juice of a restaurant's professional citrus press, I'm the one that's gonna be saving (I didn't receive the green star yet) over 50% on my citrus juice, and my friend's the one paying over 100% more.