A Beginner’s Guide to Juicing

Juicing is all the rage for boosting nutrition and health; here’s an introduction to why and how to add juice to your diet plus 3 recipes to get you started

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Juicing has become a trend in the health and fitness industry over the past few years. Some nutritionists swear by it, while others say it can actually be detrimental to your health. This inconsistency can leave consumers in a grey area of confusion about the topic altogether. 

There’s more than just one side to juicing. 

It isn’t a miracle cure for a disease, but it is definitely a great way to get extra nutrients in your diet without much effort. 

If you’re open to the idea of squeezing more nutrition into your diet, here’s what you need to know to get started. 

Pros & Cons of Juicing

As its name suggests, juicing is the process of extracting nutrient-dense juice from fruits and vegetables. It varies from blending in that a juicer extracts the pulp and leaves you with a beverage that, for its size, is incredibly nutritious. 

The Pros

1. It’s Quick

If you have the right juicer, you can make quick work of a fridge full of vegetables. To get good quality juice, it isn’t necessary to go out and buy the most expensive juicer you can find, but you should go with one that’s easy to clean, and effective. 

2. It’s a Great Way to Get Nutrients Into Your Diet

If you use a cold press or masticating juicer like any of these, you get an incredibly high nutrient yield. Cold press and masticating juicers use a slow crushing technique that pulverizes the fruits and vegetables to press out just the nutrient-dense liquid. 

Other types of juicers, like centrifugal juicers, are still useful, but rather than slowly cold pressing the fruits and veggies, they spin and chop, which ultimately leads to slightly less nutrient density.

Using either of these juicers will help you add a substantial amount of nutrients to your diet since the juice created packs so much into such a small drink.

The Cons

1. It Can Be Too Much of a Good Thing

The biggest thing nutritionists warn people about when they start juicing is to be wary of it being too much of a good thing. 

Kale is one of the most nutrient-dense vegetables you can buy and is a very popular ingredient. It’s high in protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and especially Vitamin K. (Source)

While kale is no-doubt a superfood in its own right, if you’re on certain medications like blood thinners, juicing kale can overload your body with vitamin K, causing potential health risks. 

Make sure you always start slowly to see how your body reacts to a change in your diet, especially if once you start, you drastically ramp up your vitamins and minerals intake. 

2. No Fiber

By the very nature of juicing, you’re removing all the fiber from whatever you juice. The fruit and vegetable fiber is the ‘waste’ that is extracted when the juicer does its job. 

With this being said, juicing is not something that can completely sustain you, and doing a ‘juice only’ crash diet isn’t a smart idea. 

Juice is best added into your diet, and because of the lack of fiber, it shouldn’t replace the need to eat whole fruits and vegetables altogether.

So, Is Juicing for You?

Now that you know the basics, it’s time for you to decide if juicing is right for you. If it falls in line with your personal nutrition goals, then get started right away! 

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3 Quick and Easy Juice Recipes

1. Apple Carrot & Kale Juice

This easy 3-ingredient recipe is a staple. It provides a well-rounded and delicious juice. 

Ingredients:

• 4 Green Apples
• 4 Large Carrots
• Small bunch of Curly Kale (Around 10 Large Leaves)

Directions:

Chop up the apples into slices, and depending on the size of the food chute on your juicer, you may have to cut up the carrots as well. 

Add all of the ingredients in then juice away! The end product is a nutrient-rich, sweet, and tasty blend that is palatable even for beginners. 

2. Cucumber Apple & Celery Juice

This is another delicious 3-ingredient super juice that not only tastes great but is low calorie and full of nutrients. 

Ingredients:

• 1 head of celery divided into stalks
• 4 small cucumbers, washed with the ends removed
• 2 apples, red or green, sliced

Directions:

Before adding the ingredients to your juicer, you’ll first need to slice the apples into 1/8th slices. Take your head of celery and break off all of the pieces into individual stalks, and cut off the ends of your cucumber. 

Add all of the ingredients to your juicer, and let it do the hard work!

3. Simple Pineapple Juice

This sweet juice is as refreshing as it is healthy. It’s a great option if you want something other than a green juice that still offers great nutritional benefits. 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of cut pineapple
• 1 green apple
• 1 small cucumber (or 1/2 of a large one)
• A small bunch of kale (Around 4-5 big leaves with stems)

Directions:

First, cut up fresh pineapple into chunks that will fit in your juicer. Do the same with the apples and cucumbers. Then, select a few leaves of bunchy kale and add them in as well. Let the juicer do its job, and you’ll be left with a sweet, nutritious drink.

Closing Thoughts

Depending on who you ask, juice has a great reputation or it has a terrible one. As with most changes to your diet, you should start slow and see how your body reacts. 

Juicing can provide a plethora of health benefits that we simply can’t achieve with whole fruits and vegetables alone, because we can consume a high quantity of nutrients without the filling fiber.

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You may also enjoy reading 6 Health Benefits of Juicing by Helen Sanders