Home
>
Nutrition
>
Juicing - A Beginners Guide

Juicing - A Beginners Guide

You can spot a juicer a mile off at the supermarket or greengrocer. Apart from the huge number of carrots and apples they are loading into their trolley, they also have that slightly smug, see-how-healthy-I-am look about them. Or is that just me?! Actually, I don't buy a lot of carrots and apples any more, because (other than my indiscretion with a packet of shortbread this week) I've radically reduced the amount of sugar I take in. My juice of choice is a vegetable one, a green one - but more about that later, first let's ask...

Why is juicing so good?

In my article Enzymes and Raw Food, I explained why eating enzyme-rich food is so important. If you are buying cartons (or bottles) of juice, even many of those labelled 'freshly squeezed' you are almost certainly missing out on the enzymes. Why? Because they are likely to be pasteurised. There are different methods of pasteurisation, but all of them involve heating to temperatures a lot greater than 118F - which is the point at which enzymes are killed.

Fresh juices, on the other hand, are packed with enzymes, vitamins, minerals etc. and they taste a zillion times yummier too. Plus if you invest in a good juicing book, you can select your ingredients based on your immediate health needs too. I recommend Superjuice: Juicing for Healing and Health by Michael van Straten.

Do I need a juicer to juice?

Wel, yes and no. There are so many juicers on the market and the prices vary radically. I always recommend that you start with a mid-priced model that is easy to clean. This is important. If cleaning it is a right old pain, you will be put off using it which is no good at all.

The US market is probably quite different, but for UK readers, I use the Breville AWT JE3 which retails at just under a ?100. It's by no means the best juicer on the market, but it is very good for the price and a doddle to clean. Plus the new model features two speeds, one for hard produce and one for soft fruits.

There is also the Magimix Le Duo which I understand to be better than the Breville AWT and is the same price.

If you are reluctant to invest in a juicer at the moment but you already have a blender, you could just stick to smoothies. Or for around ?5, you could buy yourself a nylon sprout/nutmilk bag and simply strain the juice from the pulp to create your healthy drink. Make sure you chop up the produce and add some bottled water too.

What should I juice?

If you have acid reflux/heartburn problems, candidiasis, thrush, diabetes, IBS or an IBD, then you should avoid going overboard with fruit and sweet veg juices eg. carrots. (Actually this strategy will benefit anyone with any health issue!)

The irony is that the sweet juices may be the ones you are most drawn to, but sugar feeds microforms (like yeasts, fungus, molds, bacteria and viruses) which thank us by excreting acidic, toxins into our blood stream when they 'digest' the food we give them!

Your best bet is to stick to green juices which aklalise the body. I really struggled with this to start with as the flavour is a bit of an acquired taste but then I discovered lemons! My favourite juice now is...

Claire's Green Goddess
100g of curly kale
2-3 sticks of celery
4-5 inches of cucumber
5-6 Green beans
A quarter of an unwaxed lemon (with peel)

The lemon really does do something special to the flavour. For those who are concerned about the acidity of lemon, here's an interesting thing; lemon is only acid outside the body. Once it goes in, it alkalises. Same is true of white grapefruit and lime. But not oranges or ruby grapefruit whose higher sugar content makes them more acid inside the body.

If you have a sweet tooth and the lemon isn't working for you, you could try adding an apple instead, but aim to reduce the quantity over time.

Should I peel?

Obviously, you will want to peel some fruits and veg, eg. a pineapple. But using organic produce means you need only give the produce a good scrub rather than peeling it which is recommended for non-organic produce.

And one final tip...

If you want to add ginger to a juice and your juicer tends to spit the chunk of ginger out without really juicing it, put it through your garlic press and stir in to the finished juice! Happy juicing.

................................................................................. .....................................................
Claire Raikes is a Wellbeing Coach, Speaker and Writer who 'cured' herself of a chronic, disabling and potentially life-threatening bowel condition without the use of steroids, surgery or any other traditional medical intervention. She now shares her passion for natural and vibrant health through coaching, speaking and writing about the importance and power of a truly healthy diet.

She publishes a free weekly eZine, In Essence and is compiling an eBook of Healthy Fast Food with 25% of the proceeds going to The Cancer Project, a charity set up by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and nutritionists to educate the public on the benefits of a healthy diet for cancer prevention and survival. If you have a recipe you would like to submit, visit http://www.liveinessence.com for further details. To book Claire to speak at your event, email her at http://www.liveinessence.com.

recurring cleaning service Mundelein ..

In The News:

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.

OpenTable now uses AI to track your dining habits and share insights with restaurants. Learn what data they collect and how to protect your privacy.

Google's discontinued Nest thermostats still secretly upload home data to company servers despite losing smart features, raising serious privacy concerns.

New Android malware NGate steals NFC payment codes in real-time, allowing criminals to withdraw cash from ATMs without your card. Learn protection tips.

Juicing - A Beginners Guide

Nutrition