Juicing Lessons

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Lesson # 4: What to juice

If you are new to juicing, try to start with the fruits you enjoy eating. This way, your body would already be familiar with its pleasant taste.

Step 1: Start with the more common fruits first which are easier on your stomach, like apples, oranges or watermelons.

Step 2: After juicing these fruits a few times, and you feel ready to add something new to your menu, try adding carrot juice, celery, cucumber or beet.

On lazy days, I like to juice one carrot, one apple, one tomato and one orange altogether. These have all the best ingredients that when combined, provide a synergy of the nutrients which are powerful in keeping me in my peak.  And they taste delicious.

I try to add at least one or two medium-sized beet root per week in my juicing diet. Beet roots are both powerful cleansers and builders of the blood and kidney, therefore, its consumption should be limited.

Once you are familiar with fruit juicing, you may feel ready to move on to vegetable juicing. Vegetable juices may not be palatable to some people in the beginning and takes some time to get used to, but their health properties are immense.

Step 3: The greener the vegetables, the more nutritionally valuable they are, and less palatable. When you think you are ready for green vegetables, you may add lettuce, spinach, endive and cabbage for a start.

Step 4: You are well on your way when you have achieved Steps 1, 2 and 3 above. You may now start to experiment with all other kinds of fruits and vegetables. But first, check out the list of fruits/vegetables and their health benefits; then try out the combination recipes.

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Lesson # 5: Rotate fruit/vegetable juices intake for best results

To maintain and promote optimum health, our bodies need adequate amounts of the following:

• Essential amino acids

• Vitamins

• Minerals

• Enzymes

• Essential fatty acids

• Carbohydrates

• Fiber

• Water

We need all these sufficiently, constantly, and variedly in order to help accelerate and enhance the process of restoring nutrients to your nutrient-starved tissues.

When we regularly eat a mixed-variety of these fruits and vegetables, the vitamins, minerals, enzymes and all the abundance of health-building elements from these juices work together in a synergy. The results of these combinations on your health can be simply amazing!

While we may not get all the above-mentioned essentials from fruits/vegetables alone, there are some other healing foods that you may add to your dietary to ensure balance.

Some suggestions of other healing foods that you can add to your dietary:

• Protein powder: I do not agree in getting protein from milk. Consider taking protein powder which contains glutamine, an amino acid which plays an important role in protein metabolism.
   

• Cod liver or fish oil: The green vegetable juices that you drink is abundant with vitamin K which helps to "stick" the calcium to your bone matrix. But, in order for this to happen, you need some fats (from cod liver or fish oil) to assist with the vitamin K absorption.
   

• Chlorella and spirulina: Fruits and vegetables contain very little or no vitamin B. You may add chlorella and/or spirulina in tablet/powder form as a supplement. These two algae have very high content of vitamin B.
   

• Seeds and nuts: Many seeds and nuts contain protein and fat that is needed to fuel the body. They also contain important amino acids for the brain and the immune system. These can be eaten as they are, or ground and blended with your juices.

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Lesson # 6: How safe are fruit juices?

The concerns I am going to mention below are not major concerns. We have come this far and understand that the abundant health benefits of fruits far outweigh these little-understood issues.

A common nagging question for most people who want to start a juicing lifestyle is, "how safe is it to drink fruit juices?" I've been there too, so I can understand these concerns.

Concern 1: The sugar

Of course, if you don't fall into the category of those suffering the conditions I mentioned in Lesson # 1 above, there is simply no need for you to avoid fruit juices.

The natural sugar in fruits can be easily assimilated and digested, unlike table sugar which is totally harmful to the body. They generally have low glycemic index (GI), which means that it doesn't make the glucose level in the blood rise as fast and as high as a high GI food.

However, only when drinking some very sweet fruit juices do I suggest you dilute them with water. When giving any fruit juice to young children, always dilute them with water. For very young kids, do not give more than half an apple as apples has some natural laxative effect that too much may cause diarrhea.

Examples of very sweet fruits are like pineapple, grapes and mangoes. For these, dilute them according to taste.

A word of WARNING, though: These natural sugars
and fruit acid, when left in the mouth,
may corrode your teeth enamel.
Therefore, it's important that you
rinse your mouth after your "juice fix".

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Concern 2: The pesticides

We know that commercially-grown fruits and vegetables are sprayed with pesticides and other chemicals. This is not something that we can avoid, as not all of us are blessed with easy access to organic or pesticide-free produce.

One very effective way I've found to remove these toxins from fruits and vegetables is to soak them in clean water with a mixture of a small capful of apple cider vinegar and some sea salt.

Vegetables tend to catch more of the pesticides. When preparing them, tear (not cut) them up from their bunch and soak them in this solution.

Soak it for about 10 minutes and you will start to notice the water smell. This means the pesticide has come off. Rinse the vegetables a couple more times and it's ready for juicing. Do the same thing for fruits.

To ensure you minimize the pesticides and chemicals in your juice, invest in a good gear juicer. Learn how a gear juicer can eliminate much of the toxic chemicals from your juice.

Concern 3: The wax

What about the wax on fruits, like apples? Again, no concern here, really.

The thin layer of wax used on fruits is applied to contain its moisture, prevent it from shriveling and weight loss, therefore, improving its storage life. The wax used on fruits are non-petroleum based, natural and edible.

In most fruits, nutrients are most concentrated just under the skin. So, if you peel the skin off, you lose all those precious goodness. Some people, however, would prefer to just peel off the skin and recover the precious goodness by eating more fruits.

The decision is up to you, but in this case, neither option is harmful.

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Lesson # 7: What about the pulp?

The pulp, or the fiber, is also known as roughage or bulk. These are the parts of the fruits/vegetables that your juicer retain behind when it separates the juices from the plant foods.

There are two categories of fiber - soluble and insoluble fiber. Your body needs both of these. When consumed, these fibers do not get digested but passes through your digestive system unchanged. On its way to being eliminated from your body, it adds bulk to your stool and soften it, preventing constipation.

Depending on what I'm juicing, I sometimes add the pulp back to the juice for its fiber. It may take a slightly longer time for digestion but it is also very healthy. A high-fiber diet may lower your risk of hemorrhoids, irritable bowel syndrome and diverticular disease (formation of small pouches in the colon).

The soluble fiber has been known to lower blood cholesterol levels and slow the absorption of sugar, reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

So, where possible, add the pulp back to your juice for these added health benefits.

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Lesson # 8: Listen to your body

Juicing should be a pleasant experience. The juices should taste pleasant and not nauseating. I can't emphasize enough, the importance of listening to your body.

After drinking juices, your stomach should be calm the whole day long, not churning and growling and leaving you with a queasy feeling. If this happens, your body is telling you that you have probably consumed something which your stomach is not accustomed to. You can condition your stomach by taking the same thing in smaller amounts in the future, and slowly increasing the amount.

When you start noticing pains and aches with your new juicing dietary, do not stop juicing. Read Lesson # 2 again and understand what your body is doing.

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Lesson # 9: Drink your juices right away

With good juicing equipment, preparation of fruits, cutting them up, juicing and washing up should take only about 15 minutes (not including the fruits "de-pesticide" soaking time).

Once juiced, juices do not keep as long as its natural whole form. When it gets exposed to the air, it starts to lose its nutrient rapidly and quickly spoil, so must be consumed almost immediately after being juiced.

If you must juice and keep it for 'later', you can do so by carefully keeping the juice in a thermos flask, or an air-tight glass jar. Fill the juice to the brim, leaving very little space for air as the oxygen in the air can oxidize the juice.

If using a glass jar, wrap the glass jar in aluminum foil to block out the light, and store it in the refrigerator for no more than 24 hours. Light destroys enzymes. Take the juice out 30 minutes before drinking as it's best to drink your juices at room temperature.

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Lesson # 10: Clean your juicer properly.

One of the more important factors when you choose a juicer, is that it must be easy to assemble, dismantle and clean. If it takes you 10 minutes to juice and another 15 minutes to clean up, you will not enjoy juicing. My juicer, an Oscar (a Samson 6-in-1 equivalent), takes under 5 minutes to wash, and I simply love it.

Fruits/vegetables residue left behind on your juicer can easily contaminate with mold growth. To prevent this microbial proliferation, clean your juicer as soon as you can, after use.

To clean, dismantle the juicer parts and rinse it under running tap water. For the strainer, use an old toothbrush to get the remnants out. When you juice citrus fruits, the juicer tend to have a slight oily feeling. Simply clean this with a mild detergent solution. Rinse well.

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