Ok friends, let’s talk about juicing! Juicing can be SUPER intimidating for those who haven’t done it/tried it before. Trust me, I get it, I used to be one of those people. The crazy thing is it is super simple and once you do it all intimidation is gone and the real fun kicks in! 😉 There is so much information out there about juicing and rather than bore you with all the details like the different types of juicers and what they do, I just want to give you some simple tips to start you off on your juicing journey!
I have wanted a juicer for a really long time but I wanted a good one so decided to wait for my birthday to ask Tomas for one! He delivered and I got one that I love. He got me this juicer and it works amazing, thanks babe you’re the best (kissy face emoji),
The reason I LOVE juicing is it is such a fast and easy way to get a ton of nutrients in a small amount of time. Life is all about efficiency lately and if something takes time (showering, hair, cooking, makeup, whatever) chances are I am not going to do it 😉 . I can juice, clean the machine, and drink it in under 10 minutes so that’s a win for me.
I have been also juicing for Danae. This has been a life saver for her because she doesn’t have an appetite a lot of days but needs the nutrients for her little body to keep fighting. She won’t have much but she’ll drink juice! Double win!
The juicer does all the work for you! You just need to cut the fruits and veggies enough to fit down the chute, place them in with the juicer on high, and push the fruits and veggies further down chute with the cylinder top part. The fibers/pulp from the fruits and veggies go into a tub on the side of the machine and the juice goes into a container that comes with your juicer that makes it easy to pour! Wah-lah, done and done!
People used to tell me all the time that they hated juicing because of cleaning the juicing machine. It actually prevented me from buying one for a long time because I didn’t want to deal with it. Well peeps, I am here to tell you it is not a big deal at all. Mine comes with about 5 pieces, I rinse, scrub and set them in my dish drain and I’m good-to-go! It is seriously not a biggie, way more goes into making even a simple soup.
Tomas bought me these juice bottles and I love them! They are great because I usually drink my juice on-the-go so I can throw it in my purse without worrying about it spilling. You can store the juice in them in your fridge but the longer the juice sits (with my type of juicer) the more nutrients it loses, so I try to just juice and then drink.
Ok so here is the basics on juicing:
- Peel foods you normally wouldn’t eat the peels like oranges, lemons, pineapple, stuff like that. Apple, pear, and carrots can all have their peels left on. Stems on leafy greens are fine and are actually great because they contain a lot of nutrients like kale stems.
- If it is mushy it doesn’t go in the juicer. Think bananas, avocados, and basically foods that you can’t extract juice from them.
- Cut out the seeds from apples, they are carcinogens.
- There are tons of juice recipes out there but like you guys are pretty used to by now I am horrible at measuring and eye everything and just figure it out as I go along.
Foods that extract a lot of juice (AKA more bang for your buck):
- Carrots
- Apples
- Kale (buy the long leaves vs. chopped, they are easier to put through the chute)
- Pineapple
- Celery
- Cucumber
- Oranges
- Lemon
- Melons
- Sweet potatoes
- Broccoli
- Beets
Great for nutrients but you don’t get as much juice:
- Spinach
- Berries
- Collards
- kiwi
*Obviously the higher the water contents the more juice.
I stick to 2 parts veggies 1 part fruit and actually now I do like 8/10 veggie 2/10 fruit. People actually can and do gain weight from drinking juice if they juice a lot of fruits. That is SUPER high in sugar and it’s not bad but if you are not wanting to gain weigh I would stick more to leafy greens with a small portion of fruit high in sugar.
Some of favorite recipes: (remember I don’t measure but you can imagine 😉
- Kale (a ton)
- Spinach (a ton, spinach doesn’t give a lot of juice ;( )
- Pineapple (a small amount, a little goes a long way)
- Carrots (the full carrots like 5 of them)
- Carrots (like 10)
- Orange
- Ginger (like a small chunk just thrown right into the juicer)
- *Sometimes I sub out turmeric powder for the ginger. I just add it after I juice by sprinkling it on top!
- Kale (6 long leaves)
- Spinach (a ton)
- Collards (a ton)
- Apple (just one)
- Kiwi (just one)
Let me know if you guys have ANY questions! It really is really simple and fun!
*The amazing photos by THE Christina Wozz! Check out her stuff >>>>> here
