I love juicing. I like to say that I drink my veggies and eat my fruit. Juicing is a simple and easy way to add more veggies into your diet. It's easy to eat fruits, but I rarely see people stuffing their face with raw celery and spinach—it doesn't really scream "delicious snack", does it?
However, if you mix your greens with some apple, ginger or lemon, it suddenly goes from appalling to appealing. Don't believe me? Try it for yourself! Sure, you can still taste the vegetables but the right combination makes the taste mild and pleasant.
Don't be afraid to experiment with your juicer and try different combinations. It's quite hard to mess up—if there're too many greens, simply add an apple or lemon.
Learn all about juicing and try out my favorite green juice recipe and let me know how you liked it in the comments below or on social media!
What's the difference between a juice and a smoothie?
It's quite simple. Smoothies are blended drinks with all the fiber present and juices are the juice of fruits and vegetables without the fiber. The fiber you discard when juicing is simply the pulp. And you don't have to throw out the pulp! You can make raw crackers with it either in the dehydrator or in the oven at low temperatures. (I have yet to try this, though—I usually don't bother and throw the pulp out. But it's a great idea, because you don't waste anything.)
What is better? Juice or a smoothie?
Both are equally good. If you want to have more fruits than vegetables, it's good to blend them instead of juicing them. Why? Because when you juice them, you lose all the fiber present. Fruits are naturally higher in sugar than vegetables and the fiber helps to release the sugars slower so you don't have sugar spikes.
If you're a beginner, you can add more fruit into your juices to make the taste more pleasant and to help you to get used to drinking green juice.
I used to do 2 apples, 1 pear, 1 cucumber, 2 handfuls kale, 1 handful spinach. But now, I tend to skip the pear and add only one apple, preferably green. Some people like to have a big jar of orange juice for breakfast and although oranges contain a lot of nutrients and it tastes delicious, I don't think that juicing 10 oranges and drinking it all on the spot is a great idea. Each their own, but it's way too much sugar and without any fiber, it goes straight into your blood.
What fruits and vegetables can you juice?
As for vegetables, be creative. There's not much you can't juice. I wouldn't juice sweet potatoes, although some people do. And, well, I wouldn't juice normal potatoes either, but I don't think anyone does that. Other than that, you can probably juice any vegetable you can think of. You can even juice garlic for extra healing kick, I know I have.
Great fruits to juice are apples, pears, citrus fruits, and other harder fruits. I wouldn't recommend juicing mangos, bananas, berries, or other soft fruits because you might lose more than you'd gain. You don't get much juice from those and the pulp is always too wet, not to mention their pretty high in sugar content.
What juicer is the best?
I use a slow juicer. The shute is smaller so you have to cut the fruit up but it's so worth it.
You can either buy a slow juicer or a centrifugal one.
A centrifugal juicer is much faster, you basically don't have to cut anything because the shute it bigger and the juicer can take it. That is a plus if you're making juice for more people. However, centrifugal juicer grinds up the vegetables using heat which might destroy some of the enzymes and nutrients present in the veggies. That's a big downside for me. I'd rather spend more time cutting the veggies, juicing them, and washing the machine, rather than have it all fast and easy but with fewer nutrients.
I've never had a centrifugal juicer, my first one was a slow juicer so I can't really compare the two but I'm pretty happy with what I've got.
A slow juicer cold presses the vegetables through a strainer which is the big difference. There's no heat involved, it's much slower and much more gentle. A slow juicer juices green leaves much better than a centrifugal one. With a centrifugal juicer, you have to put the greens in between something bigger so they actually get juiced and don't just stick to the sides inside the juicer. With a slow juicer, you could juice straight up only parsley and you'd have great results!
Also, as there is heat involved when juicing with a centrifugal juicer, the juice might oxidize quicker.
A centrifugal juicer is probably more convenient for bigger families, but I would personally always choose a slow juicer simply because you get more nutrients that way, and that's the main reason why I juice—to extract the nutrients.
This recipe really is my go to green juice. I always include cucumber, spinach, and celery. That's the basis. If I have an apple, I add it for a little bit of sweetness or I don't on days I don't feel like adding any fruit. I add kale if I have it on hand, ginger, mint, parsley, cilantro, or other greens—the options are endless. If I want to make the drink even more powerful, I pour it into my NutriBullet and add ¼ avocado and 1tsp chlorella, blue-green algae, spirulina, or other green powder, and blend that up for extra detox power. But just to warn you, all that doesn't taste as pleasant as the simple juice recipe I'm sharing with you today. And if you're a beginner, I have to warn you, adding algae into an already green juice isn't for the faint-hearted haha. It's worth it, though! It's alkalizing, detoxifying and the nutrients are absorbed very well.
Drink up!
📖 Recipe
Green Juice with Ginger
- Yield: 1 1x
- Category: Juice
Description
This is my go-to green juice when I want to fuel my body with a great amount of nutrition. The taste is very pleasant and refreshing. Ideal for a light snack!
Ingredients
- 1 cucumber
- 1-2 green apples
- 1 big handful spinach (baby or regular)
- 2 kale leaves, stems removed (or 1 more handful spinach)
- 2 stalks celery
- ½ lemon or lime, peeled
- 3 cm(1 inch) ginger root (or to your liking)
- a few mint leaves (optional)
- water (optional)
Instructions
- Wash everything well and peel the cucumber if not organic.
- Cut the vegetables and fruits into smaller pieces, depending on what juicer you're using.
- Juice everything, pour into a nice glass or jar and add water if you like.
- This makes about 600ml (20 fl oz) and I like to pour it into a big jar and add 1-2 cups water to dilute it so I can drink it throughout the day.
- You can double the recipe and have some with every meal of the day.
Jen