Juicing For Your Health

Image via JuiceGeneration.com

We know sometimes it’s hard to eat our fruits and vegetables. Juicing is a delicious way to get them in! Juicing also gives your stomach a break from digesting solid foods while still in taking more essential vitamins, antioxidants and nutrients.

Not all juices are created equal. The best and most nutritious kinds of juices to buy are those that are organic, cold pressed, and contains no added sugars or other ingredients. Cold pressed juices taste better and are more nutritious than regular juices because during the juicing process, enzymes in the fruits and vegetables are not destroyed. When we are out and about, we like to grab Suja’s organic, cold-pressed juices.

If juice is something you would like to incorporate into your diet more regularly, it would be beneficial and financially more sound to invest in a juicing machine. There are three types of common juicers:

• Centrifugal juicers: These machines are the least expensive option. Centrifugal extractors chop and crush the input with a high spinning blade, extracting juices from the pulp using centrifugal force. However, the blades generate a lot of heat, which destroys the enzymes in the input, rendering the juice less nutritious. This is a great blender if you’re looking for something that does the job and not picky about lost nutrients.
• Masticating juicers: These juicers crush your input and squeezes out as much juice as possible. That being said they extract juice at a much slower rate. Masticating juicers also process nuts so you can make your favorite plant-based milks. They are quitter than centrifugal juicers and more efficient.
• Triturating juicers: The best of the best, but also the priciest! Triturating juicers have twin gears that crush the input in between, producing the maximum amount of juice and a very dry pulp. There is little to no foam in the juice and it preserves almost all nutrients.

Image via SujaJuice.com

Many juice bars sell one, three, or five day juice cleanses. Juice cleanses don’t necessarily “detox” or “clean” our bodies nor will they help us lose sustainable weight. In essence, you are simply consuming fruits and vegetables without their fiber for however many days. But done with the right intentions, juice cleanses can be a great tool to resetting your body from previous eating habits. They also give your stomach a break while still being sustained by the nutrients and vitamins of the juice.