New juicer and liking it so far

[Deathstar]

My wife and I bought a juicer a few days ago and finally decided to actually juice something and drink it. I went out last night to a farewell party for my friend that is deploying to Afghanistan and I really felt bad this morning. After I rolled/fell out of bed and my vision steadied I remembered that I had a juicer and that some kind soul may have put a recipe online that would help me. i found a recipe and headed to the store to get my ingredients. I bought all organic items as I heard that those were the best for juicing. I fired up my juicer, ran the stuff through, strained out what little pulp there was and was immediately impressed with the end result. My hangover was gone very quickly and I had a very nice energy boost. My skin felt great and I was actually less stressed even if for only a few hours. I will be juicing much more often now and cant wait for my next experience. I would like to know how many times a day I can juice and if I should avoid juicing at any certain times. Which apples, oranges, and other types of fruits are best. When i say that I mean there are a ton of different apples like fiji apples, washington apples, and so on and I want to know which ones to get and to avoid.

[Arky]

Hi Deathstar,

it's great that you're embracing juicing as part of a healthier lifestyle; I'm always pleased to see folks taking positive steps to take responsibility for promoting their own good health.

In order to help you best, however, I'm going to give you a shortcut which you may not like at first, but I'm doing you a huge favour in telling you this now rather than letting you find out the hard way for yourself.



The only major issue with juicing is (and you're not going to like me saying this!) don't rely too much on fruits - fruit juices can be cleansing but, in excess, are not health-promoting because, although they contain vitamins and flavanoids, they are so high in fructose - this is stressful to the pancreas and can lead to fluctuations in the levels of calcium and phosphorous in the blood, which increases likelihood of dental decay (plenty of raw vegan dogma disputes this but philosophical objections do not trump scientific facts, so choose your convictions carefully, on the rawfood path). I would personally drink no more than a tumblerful of fruit juice per day (and it'd be better to consume the fruit whole than in juice form). So I'm not saying fruit is unhealthy, I'm just saying whole fruit is healthier than juiced fruit, and fruit should not be consumed as a major proportion of the diet (cue the fruitarian fundamentalist objections..! ;-) )

However, vegetable juices are mineral-rich and very, very healthy to consume regularly. Like fruit, sweet starchy vegetables such as beets and carrots should be juiced only in moderation - in terms of promoting health, carrot and beet juices are wonderful for cleansing the liver, but the mainstay of a juicing regimen should be dark green leafy vegetables. It may take time to become accustomed to the bitter taste of green juices, but that is because the modern food industry conditions us to seek only fatty, salty, or sweet foods, and to avoid bitter ones. Look around you and see what state society's health is in, particularly in the US of A. Bitter greens are where true health lies. Anyone who truly understands nutrition will not dispute that. So it's a choice for each of us - juice for our sweet tooths (in which case we won't have teeth much longer! ;-) ) or learn the reasons why bitter greens are the way to good human health and use that understanding to re-condition ourselves, over a period of time, to accept and even enjoy the taste of bitter greens.

[Arky]

P.S. there'd be no harm in adding a small proportion of fruit juice to a bitter green juice. For example, the Gerson cancer therapy utilises an equal mixture of carrot and apple juice (they claim the two are synergistic with each other) with other vegetable juices being added to the 50-50 carrot-apple foundation, so that the final juice to be consumed is not actually 50% carrot or 50% apple juice overall.

I highly recommend you obtain a copy of 'Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices' - Norman W. Walker, it's a very informative book.

[johnr55]

Sounds like right now you're just doing fruit. Why? Mainly what you're doing is concentrating sugar and water. If you have to juice fruit at all, do it to cut the bitterness in some green juices. Otherwise, eat them - you'll be healthier and it may cure your sugar addiction. I agree with Arky - Walker's book is great, I read it 35 years ago and still go back and re-read periodically.

But get off those sweet juices!

[teb]

My wife and I bought a juicer a few days ago and finally decided to actually juice something and drink it. I went out last night to a farewell party for my friend that is deploying to Afghanistan and I really felt bad this morning. After I rolled/fell out of bed and my vision steadied I remembered that I had a juicer and that some kind soul may have put a recipe online that would help me. i found a recipe and headed to the store to get my ingredients. I bought all organic items as I heard that those were the best for juicing. I fired up my juicer, ran the stuff through, strained out what little pulp there was and was immediately impressed with the end result. My hangover was gone very quickly and I had a very nice energy boost. My skin felt great and I was actually less stressed even if for only a few hours. I will be juicing much more often now and cant wait for my next experience. I would like to know how many times a day I can juice and if I should avoid juicing at any certain times. Which apples, oranges, and other types of fruits are best. When i say that I mean there are a ton of different apples like fiji apples, washington apples, and so on and I want to know which ones to get and to avoid.

WHat kind of juicer?