There’s a right way to juice…and most definitely a wrong way. And the latter can result in adverse health effects and wasted time…so here’s your official intro to juicing the right way.
- For optimal health benefits, always try drinking juice immediately (or at least within six hours). Plant enzymes die over time due to the oxidation process, so juice that’s eight hours old is not as nutrient-dense as fresh juice.
- Only juice apples, pears, lemons, or limes with vegetables. Mixing other fruits with vegetables can cause digestive issues (gas, bloating), because the juice mixture ferments in the gut.
- For efficiency, you’ll want to alternate vegetables/fruits as you juice them. (i.e. carrot, beet, kale, cucumber, carrot, kale, beet, ginger.) Also for efficiency, juice watery produce (like cucumbers or celery) after juicing a leafy vegetable (i.e. kale leaf, celery, parsley, celery, kale leaf, cucumber, parsley, cucumber.)
- Chard has a light flavor, so you may want to begin with that rather than collard greens or kale. Chard make juices taste a little lighter and sweeter. Kale and collard greens are more nutrient-dense (and are great for alkalizing the body) but have very strong flavors that can dominate juice.
- Raw ginger is extremely healthy and delicious but incredibly strong-flavored and spicy, so start with maybe a 1” piece, taste, and then adjust to your preference.*
- Fresh juice is a natural blood thinner, so if you take a daily aspirin or other blood thinners, talk to your doctor about juicing. (Some people that take aspirin as a blood thinner do not have to take it on days when they’ve juiced.)
- Carrot juice has a high Glycemic Index ranking compared to other vegetable juices–something to keep in mind if you are drinking copious amounts of carrot, carrot/apple, or carrot/apple/beet juice. Take a look at this site and search ‘carrots’–see how their GI rankings change as you consume them whole, sliced, cooked, or juiced.**
- Juicing can initially cause “digestive changes” (like diarrhea), and possibly headaches as well. These symptoms should dissipate after a few days (but check with your doctor if they persist).
- If you take any medications, make sure you consult with your doctor about juicing. Some vitamins and minerals inhibit proper absorption of medications, so you may want to wait a period of time before consuming your vitamin-rich juice.
- If you don’t think vegetable juices taste delicious at first, it’s probably because many of us are accustomed to excess sugar (which is common in a typical Western diet). Once you’ve spent some time restoring your body (and perhaps weaning off a sugar addiction), these juices will taste wonderful and nourishing.
- Juices do not provide fiber, so they should not entirely replace whole vegetables and fruits in your daily diet.
- There are several great books that provide juice recipes to address specific health concerns. To call The Juiceman’s Power of Juicing thorough would be an understatement–he has a juice to remedy graying hair, outlines the nutritional properties of countless fruits and vegetables, and even provides instructions on how to grow wheatgrass.
My typical juice is a delicious alkalizing green juice you can find, here.
Happy Juicing!
*Ginger is a major blood thinner. Visit this site to learn more about other natural blood thinners, including Cod Liver oil, nuts, and cayenne pepper.
**Raw whole carrots have a GI of 15, but when juiced, their GI ranking increases to 43. To find out more about the Glycemic Index and search more of your favorite foods, visit the University of Sydney’s International GI Database.
Sources:
Joshi, Nish. Dr Joshi’s Holistic Detox. Hodder Mobius, London. 2005.
Kordich, Jay. The Juiceman’s Power of Juicing. Warner Book, New York. 1993.
The University of Sydney. http://www.glycemicindex.com/foodSearch.php. June 21 2012.
