Ready to Start Juicing? Let`s Do This

Ready to start juicing but not sure where to begin? This quick overview of making healthy and tasty green juice should do the trick.

Photo Credit: dlisbona

Eight months after I made the leap to go vegan I stumbled upon the world of juicing. I was surprised I knew so little about it because I began to find more information than I knew what to do with.

The Basics

I don’t intend to overwhelm you with all the possibilities, options, or health facts about vegetable juice. This post will help you jump in the deep end at your own pace. No need to panic. Juicing is not rocket science and it’s not hard.

What is Juicing? The process of juicing involves squeezing the liquid out of fruits and/or vegetables, which removes all of the fiber, and then you drink all of the liquid. Juicing can be completed with a mechanical juicer or you could just squeeze a carrot with your bare hands. Good luck with the latter.

What’s wrong with fiber? Nothing! Fiber helps move toxins out of the body. However, the whole point of juicing (as opposed to smoothies) is that you flood your body with LOTS of nutrients very quickly. Fiber slows digestion and makes it harder to absorb all the nutrients. I’m not advocating you never have fiber, just that you also include juices in your diet as often as possible.

Is it good for me? YES! Juicing removes the fiber and leaves many or all of the natural vitamins, minerals, and nutrients in tact, especially if you have a high-quality juicer. Many people credit juicing as the reason they overcame a range of illnesses and diseases, including cancer.

How much should I drink? As much as possible. I’m not going to give you an upper-limit because you would likely never drink that much. A healthy place to start is 16 ounces (.5 liter) a day, but feel free to drink more.

Is it expensive? Depends on how you view the price of food vs. traditional western medicine. If you were diagnosed with cancer, heart disease, or diabetes you would likely spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars (USD) over the course of many years. Juicing doesn’t cost that much – not even close.

No, really. How much does it cost? If you drank nothing but vegetable juice for 24 hours straight, you would spend around $40.00 for that day. The price will vary based on which ingredients you buy, where you live, and if you buy in bulk. The cost of an average 16-ounce juice is roughly $4.00.

Does it taste good? Do you like drinking dirt? I’m just kidding! Juice is like alcohol – it’s an acquired taste. There are endless ingredient possibilities so you can always make a juice sweeter by simply adding more natural fruit sugar. Vegetable juice is normally a little bitter and can take a while to get used to.

How much time does it take? Including setup, juicing, and cleaning up afterwards, I can make 32 ounces (1 liter) of juice in about 25 minutes. The longest part of the process is the cleanup. If you can delegate this task to your children, spouse, or a handy-man, do it.

Are there any side effects? Yes. Juicing floods the body with healthy nutrients, which dispels toxins into the blood stream. Toxins will float around your blood for a while and then exit through your bowels and urine. It is common to experience mild headaches, gas, bloating, diarrhea, cramps, nausea, or vomiting. Mild symptoms are totally normal and expected. Severe reactions are not normal. Start slow and add more juice as needed.

Can I freeze the juice? Yes, but not for very long. Juice is best consumed immediately because it will oxidize and many of the nutrients will be lost. I normally make a juice, pour it into a thermos, put the thermos in the freezer, and then drink the juice within 24 hours.

Can I trust you? I have been successfully drinking vegetable juice for three years now. I once completed a 10-day juice feast where I drank nothing but freshly-squeezed vegetable juice and water. I frequently make juice at home and it makes me feel more alive than just about anything else I do.

When can I get started? TODAY! All you need is a decent juicer and some vegetables. You can also improvise and use a blender to breakdown the produce. Then just filter out of the fiber with a nut milk bag.

Quick Guide to Juicing

1. Buy a Good Juicer
   • I really want to tell you that a cheap juicer will work, but it won’t. Juicing requires a really good juicer. Here is a guideline: any juicer that costs less than $100 is a waste of money. Spend more.
   • The key is to get a juicer that slowly squeezes the juice. Don’t get a centrifugal juicer that spins the veggies to death and heats them up. That process kills the nutrients, wastes juice, and costs you more money in produce at the grocery store or farmers market.
   • I love my Hurom Slow Juicer (in the picture above) and you can get the upgraded model for around $330 USD.
2. Buy High-Quality, Organic Produce
   • Don’t buy cheap plants. The joy of pure vegetable juice is that it is pure. Avoid pesticides and chemicals with organic food. You can find organic produce just about anywhere now, so dig in!
3. Start with a Tasty Recipe
   • If you don’t like the juice you make, I doubt you will ever juice again. Refer to the tasty recipe options below.
4. Experiment
   • Juicing is amazingly fun! Experimenting with a bunch of recipes or just making up your own on the fly is a great way to find juices you love.

My Weekly Produce Feast

Tasty Recipes

I usually include four ingredients in my juice: (1) carrots, (2) apples, (3) cucumber or celery, and (4) green leafy vegetables. This combination provides tasty sugar from the carrots and apples, a little salt from the celery and cucumber, and a bunch of hard-core nutrients from the leafy greens.

These recipes should each make about 32 ounces (1 liter) of vegetable juice. The size of the produce and amount you choose will vary. The ratios here are what’s important. You should aim for less than 25% of the juice to include dark greens. If you go higher than one-quarter, the juice may be too powerful to drink and could cause some undesirable results.

1. Power Kale
   • 8 Carrots
   • 2 Apples
   • 1 Cucumber
   • 1 Big Handful of Kale
2. Beet Surprise
   • 8 Carrots
   • 2 Apples
   • 4 Stalks of Celery
   • 1 Large Beet
3. Garlic Explosion
   • 8 Carrots
   • 2 Apples
   • 1 Cucumber
   • 1/2 Small Onion
   • 1/2 Bulb of Garlic

Juicing Toolkit

1. The Juiceman’s Power of Juicing [book] by Jay Kordich ::: great for recipes and learning from the father of juicing
2. Hurom Slow Juicer for high-quality juice extraction
3. Nut Milk Bag for filtering out additional fiber
4. Thermos for storage and transportation of juice
5. Food Matters [documentary] ::: for learning about the power of food and making healthy choices more often

Your Challenge for Today

If purchasing an expensive juicer has put a dent in your plans, forget about it for now. Start making green smoothies instead. Blenders are much cheaper and you can get all of the glory of juice from a smoothie if you filter out the liquid with a nut milk bag.

The goal is to get started today. No excuses.

I Know You Have Questions

Go ahead, send me an email. You will more than likely have many questions as you get started. I’m all ears. Let me know how I can help.