Juicing Myth: Juicing Is Bad

Here’s a juicing myth for you: “Juicing is bad because you lose the fiber when you juice fruits and vegetables.” – You get fiber through many other foods. You can also add back in some of the pulp to your juice. I’m not saying just juice. I’m saying juice in moderation to supplement your body with the vitamins and nutrients it needs from fresh fruits and vegetables. Your meals should also include lightly cooked vegetables, raw fruit and legumes.

High Fiber Foods

1. Split Peas


2. Lentils


3. Black Beans


4. Lima Beans


5. Broccoli


6. Brussels Sprouts


7. Raspberries


8. Blackberries


9. Avacado


10. Pears

Squash that juicing myth!

According to the Department of Agriculture, 90 percent of the antioxidant action in fruit is in the juice, not the fiber. In my experience juicing is one of the healthiest, quickest and most delicious ways to help get the body back on track and maintain optimum health. Juicing concentrates the nutrients found in fruits and vegetables, extracting them from fiber—a job usually undertaken by your digestive system. You would have to eat gobs of fruits and vegetables to get the same level of concentrated vitamins and nutrients in one glass of juice.

I’m a strong advocate of getting enough fiber each day, but I wouldn’t discount juicing because it extracts the fiber much in the same way I wouldn’t discount aerobic exercise because it’s hard on  joints and cartilage. Moderation is key! The benefits for juicing far outweigh any negative aspects. Juicing is very good for your body so JUICE ON!

References:

WeightWatchers: Juicing: Raise A Glass to Your Health

Greatist: The 16 Most Surprising High Fiber Foods

Juicing Myth: Juicing Is Bad

The Juicing Bible Review

Juicing Bible

This is a must book for anyone who takes up juicing. Loaded with information and recipes.  Many of the recipes on my website come from The Juicing Bible. Don’t pass this one up! You can order it from a direct link here —>  The Juicing Bible and FREE shipping is available for Prime Members.

Product Description

A reissue of the bestseller that features 16 new, additional photographs.

The first edition of The Juicing Bible won the 2000 International Cookbook Revue Award and has over 300,00 copies in print. It continues to be one of the bestselling juicing books in the marketplace. In response to consumer demand, we’ve decided to reissue this successful seller with an additional 16 color photographs, which takes the total photo count up to 32. All the outstanding elements in this essential guide for anyone who wants to explore the wide-ranging nutritional and health benefits of juicing are still here:

• An astonishing 350 recipes — delicious fruit and vegetable juices, tonics, cleansers, digestives, teas, roughies, smoothies, milk and coffee substitutes and frozen treats.


• Information on the seven body systems, including their importance to good health along with diet and lifestyle changes that will keep each system working as well as it can.


• Details on 80 common health concerns, with recommendations on how to use natural foods to combat each condition.


• 128 illustrations of fruits, vegetables and herbs, plus information on their uses and healing properties, and advice on purchasing and storage.

297 of 298 people found the following review helpful.
This book has EVERYTHING!

By EMA

This is a great book. It is much more in-depth than your average juicing book. It’s separated into quite a few sections, ranging from simple juices to recipes for using the leftover pulp.

It starts off with a mini-encyclopedia listing herbs, fruits and veggies which can be used in your juicing. Offered is a quick summary of each item, how to use it in juicing, and health benefits of each (good for digestion, cooling, antispasmodic, etc.). Then, there’s a section on common health illnesses which lists juices (and other juice-type items, all of which have recipes in the book) that may help the ailments, as well as dietary tips, foods and herbs that may help the disorder, and some lifestyle changes to try.

The rest of the book has the following sections:

1. Fruit Juices

2. Vegetable Juices

3. Cocktails — these are juices with a little something extra, like yogurt, milks, spices, etc.

4. Frozen treats — most of these recipes utilize leftover pulp from juices

5. Roughies — these are actual food recipes, using the juicing pulp from other recipes

6. Smoothies — uses juices and frozen fruit

7. Digestive Aids and Cleansers — the title section speaks for itself

8. Milk substitutes — recipes for nut milks, apricot milk, fig milk, etc.

9. Coffee substitutes

10. Teas and Tonics — these recipes are mostly for medicinal teas which are geared towards alleviating body ailments and/or aiding and encouraging natural bodily functions and processes.

For those of you looking for a straight forward book that just offers simple, basic juicing recipes, this is not for you; all of the extras will definitely turn you off. But for those of you looking for something that goes beyond your standard carrot-apple combination, this is sure to please. This book really goes above and beyond your typical juicing guide, with options for those that want to add a little more to their juices and really utilize every part of produce used.

Click The Juicing Bible to purchase it.

The Juicing Bible Review

Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Review

Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain

This is one of the best juicers available on the market today. I’ve read  a lot about juicers and I’ve read a lot of reviews, and this is an exceptional juicer. It’s not overpriced and it’s highly recommended by purchasers.  You can usually pick up a used one or remanufactured one at a good discount too. The Breville 800 JEXL juicer is one of the highest rated with 1,580 customer reviews and a solid 4.5 star rating. You can view this juicer and more in my Amazon Associate Store or go directly to Amazon —> Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite 1000-Watt Juice Extractor

Product Description

The Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite with 1000 watts is super efficient. This model has an Italian made electronic motor that increases power under yield to maintain filter revolutions. It has two speeds for soft and hard fruits and a three inch feed tube which minimizes preparation and feeding time. Beautifully designed stainless die cast steel housing and motor body makes it a work of art on the countertop. While juicing, you may notice juice escaping between the plastic juicer cover and the stainless steel filter bowl surround. Try pushing the Food Pusher down more slowly and using the low speed. When large quantities of fruits and vegetables, especially those with high water content such tomatoes and watermelon, are fed into the Feed Chute at a rapid rate, the stainless steel filter basket coverts these into juice so quickly that the force may cause leaking.

If you have this juicer, what are your thoughts on it?

What Others Say: Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Review

420 of 423 people found the following review helpful.
This juicer is perfect if you’re like me………………

By Toast

We want to juice quickly and get on with our day.

I’m not a vegan, i’m not a juicing purist, or is interested in the centrifugal vs masticating debate. I just want to increase my health by drinking one big glass of fresh juice and get on with my life.

I’ve owned other juicers, but this one is a monster. At high speed, it’s loud no doubt, but it’s power is without equal. I make a monster glass of juice (close to a quart) with 7 fruits and vegetables. It rips through all of them as if it were a joke. All the vegetables take about a minute, then i’m done.

Now cleaning does take much longer than juicing, but the machine is made so well, that it’s incredibly easy. It also works out perfect for me, because while i’m slowly consuming my juice, I wash out the parts by hand. You may think this machine is a lot of money, but if you want to have a juicer with real speed and a strong motor, this is the way to go. Not only that, but it’s very attractive to look at as well. This is money well spent in my opinion, and i’m glad I took the advice of other customers on this website.

 

Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite 1000-Watt Juice Extractor

Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Review

Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Review

Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain

This is one of the best juicers available on the market today. I’ve read  a lot about juicers and I’ve read a lot of reviews, and this is an exceptional juicer. It’s not overpriced and it’s highly recommended by purchasers.  You can usually pick up a used one or remanufactured one at a good discount too. The Breville 800 JEXL juicer is one of the highest rated with 1,580 customer reviews and a solid 4.5 star rating. You can view this juicer and more in my Amazon Associate Store or go directly to Amazon —> Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite 1000-Watt Juice Extractor

Product Description

The Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite with 1000 watts is super efficient. This model has an Italian made electronic motor that increases power under yield to maintain filter revolutions. It has two speeds for soft and hard fruits and a three inch feed tube which minimizes preparation and feeding time. Beautifully designed stainless die cast steel housing and motor body makes it a work of art on the countertop. While juicing, you may notice juice escaping between the plastic juicer cover and the stainless steel filter bowl surround. Try pushing the Food Pusher down more slowly and using the low speed. When large quantities of fruits and vegetables, especially those with high water content such tomatoes and watermelon, are fed into the Feed Chute at a rapid rate, the stainless steel filter basket coverts these into juice so quickly that the force may cause leaking.

If you have this juicer, what are your thoughts on it?

What Others Say: Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Review

420 of 423 people found the following review helpful.
This juicer is perfect if you’re like me………………

By Toast

We want to juice quickly and get on with our day.

I’m not a vegan, i’m not a juicing purist, or is interested in the centrifugal vs masticating debate. I just want to increase my health by drinking one big glass of fresh juice and get on with my life.

I’ve owned other juicers, but this one is a monster. At high speed, it’s loud no doubt, but it’s power is without equal. I make a monster glass of juice (close to a quart) with 7 fruits and vegetables. It rips through all of them as if it were a joke. All the vegetables take about a minute, then i’m done.

Now cleaning does take much longer than juicing, but the machine is made so well, that it’s incredibly easy. It also works out perfect for me, because while i’m slowly consuming my juice, I wash out the parts by hand. You may think this machine is a lot of money, but if you want to have a juicer with real speed and a strong motor, this is the way to go. Not only that, but it’s very attractive to look at as well. This is money well spent in my opinion, and i’m glad I took the advice of other customers on this website.

 

Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite 1000-Watt Juice Extractor

Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Review

PRIME Juicers Blog - Benefits of Juicing

This is a CommentLuv Premium enabled website. Our blog is a WordPress blog dedicated to juicing, health, wellness and good nutrition. Here you’ll find articles and posts on recipes, juicers, books, software, the benefits of juicing, weight loss, health, nutrition, videos and more. Our PRIME Juicers blog is easy and fun to use . Please join us and leave your comments. If you have your own website you’ll LOVE commentluv. Posting to this blog will improve your websites ranking and visibility on the web with commentluv. So please join us and post your comments!

 

 

The Benefits of Juicing

Breville JE98XL Juice Fountain

The recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables is somewhere between the number of 5 and 9 servings (depending on who you ask). I find it difficult to manage to eat only 5 servings per day and that’s one reason why I juice. Studies show, only 20 percent of Americans eat five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables, and a mere 5 percent consume seven servings. When I juice I consistently get between 5 and 9 servings per day. This blog is designed to help you get the same benefit out of juicing and to live a happier and healthier life. So juice on! There’s No-Thing Better For You Body Than FRESH Fruit & Vegetable JUICE.

 

PRIME Juicers Blog - Benefits of Juicing

Dr. Oz Green Drink Recipe

The Healthy Green Drink Diet

I watch Dr. Oz occasionally when I’m at home working. I like his guests and my girlfriend, Virginia, really likes his show. Here is the drink Dr. Oz swears by! This “green drink” is low-calorie and rich in vitamins. I can vouch for this recipe, it’s great and my hat’s off to you Dr. Oz.

Dr. Oz Green Drink Recipe

• 2 cups Spinach


• 2 cups Cucumber


• 1 head of Celery


• 1/2 inch of teaspoon of ginger root


• 1 bunch parsley


• 2 Apples


• 1 Lime


• 1/2 Lemon

 

Let"s Talk Juicing and Fiber!

Does juicing concentrate the sugar and eliminate the fiber? Yes. But first, sugars in fruit are naturally occurring sugars including fructose. Fructose has traditionally been regarded as a healthy sugar.

When you drink FRESH all natural juice the fructose is absorbed from the intestines and is taken to the liver to be broken down into glucose. Fructose has the lowest glycemic index (GI = 19) of all the natural sugars.

We want to be careful though (especially if you’re diabetic or have a history of diabetes in your family, so please consult a physician if this is the case). Juicing and consuming too much fruit at one time can overwhelm the body’s capacity to process fructose and spike your blood sugar. That’s not what we want.

Too much of any one thing (fruit juice) is bad, so we want to juice a variety. I strive for sensible juicing. Green juice is nutritionally the best for us.

Did you know fiber helps our bodies maintain normal sugar levels? So we want to get plenty of fiber in our diets.

Juicing and Fiber, Really???

Unless you’re strictly juicing for the benefit of the juice (nutrients) being absorbed on an empty stomach (and lots of people do that), then I say, feel free to snack on the produce.

(When you’re cleansing or juice fasting, you don’t want fiber.)

When I feel like it, I snack on the produce. I say to myself, “Man those apples look good”, so I take a bite. “That spinach looks fresh”, so I have some. “Those carrots are awesome”, you get the idea. Munch on what you’re juicing. It’s that simple. You can make a good raw food meal out of it and that’s good for you!

Juicing usually doesn’t extract all of the fiber either. Depending on the type of juicer you use and the produce you’re juicing, you may find pulp (fiber) in your juice. If you want, you can add a little more pulp back into the juice you make. I like pulp in my orange juice. Some people don’t and that’s fine. It’s a personal preference.

You get fiber you need from the meals you eat throughout the day. How much fiber do you need? According to WHFoods website, you should strive for 25 grams of fiber each day. Check out their dietary fiber page, the links are below. For breakfast I enjoy oatmeal after I have my juice. Sometimes, just almonds. Both are good in fiber.

For a snack I have an apple, banana or an orange and maybe some more nuts. At lunch I enjoy salads. Mid-afternoon I snack on some more almonds. There you go, more fiber.

At dinner I enjoy steamed or lightly cooked vegetables and sometimes beans or legumes. I’ll also try to have some more fruit.

When juicing regularly if I eat healthy whole foods with my meals and snack on whole foods like fruit or almonds, I get plenty of fiber.

It’s something to consider each day though and just to be sure you’re getting the fiber you need, you can check out WHFoods Food Advisor. It’s a helpful tool.

So when someone says to you, what about fiber? You have the answer and remember you can tell them, “There’s No-Thing Better For Your Body Than FRESH Fruit and Vegetable Juice!”  Have fun juicing and juice on!

References
The Detox Specialist: Is Healthy Juice Bad For Detox?
WHFoods: How much dietary fiber do I need?
WHFoods: fiber, dietary

Let"s Talk Juicing and Fiber!

Rocket Fuel | Carrots, Parsley, Apple Juice Recipe

Rocket Fuel, my go to favorite. I know there are a few juice recipes named Rocket Fuel, but here’s my simple and easy to make morning juice that I love because it gives me so much energy.

This Rocket Fuel juice recipe first came to me by the free juice recipe software that I use. I’ve made a couple of small modifications though. I added an apple and the quantity of carrots is also different. I want my recipes to produce enough juice for two people. Virginia (Health Juice Fanatic ‏@healthyjuicers) loves this recipe too.

Rocket Fuel by Rich

I think just about everyone I talk to about juicing loves carrots. I get asked the question about whether or not to juice the greens, and juicing the greens is fine with fresh carrots. However, when I get store (grocery) bought carrots that come in a bag, I cut the big ends off. I don’t know exactly why, but the end of those carrots just don’t look appealing to me.

Of course whether or not you juice the carrot greens is left entirely up to you. Experiment and find what works best for your taste buds!

Makes 20 ounces

• 2 lbs. of fresh carrots


• 1 handful of parsley


• 1 red apple

The flavonoids in parsley—especially luteolin—have been shown to function as antioxidants that combine with highly reactive oxygen-containing molecules (called oxygen radicals) and help prevent oxygen-based damage to cells. In addition, extracts from parsley have been used in animal studies to help increase the antioxidant capacity of the blood. – whfoods.com

Thank you again for reading and please let me know what you think of this recipe by commenting below.

Sources:

FREE Juice Recipe Software

Parsley – WHFoods.com

P.S. Please remember to subscribe to my blog. You’ll only receive e-mail when I post a new article and nothing else. No Spam!

Rocket Fuel | Carrots, Parsley, Apple Juice Recipe

5 Quick Tips for Juicing

Tips for Juicing

I’ve been juicing for years and have probably made as many mistakes as anyone, but juicing is really simple and easy to do. Once you get your own system down, you can really start enjoying the process of juicing. Here are some of my favorite tips for juicing.

Here are 5 quick tips for juicing:

1. Add some fruit to your greens to sweeten it up a bit and smooth out the taste. Personally I love apple. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s a granny smith apple or a red delicious apple, I love apples. I think apples work the best, but you could use a pear too. It makes the juice more enjoyable and boosts the vitamin and mineral content of green juice. When you start green juicing, you might need to do this just to make it palatable. I didn’t like green juice at first, but now I love it!

2. Use the freshest produce and use organic if possible. I know not everyone has access to organic produce, but it really is better for you. Organic produce will be pesticide and chemically free. Using the freshest will make a difference also. The fresher the produce the healthier and tastier your drinks will be. If you have access to a farmers market, use it. You won’t be sorry!

3. Leave the skins on when you juice. That’s where a lot of the nutritional value is. I peel my citrus fruits like oranges, but I leave the pith on. I use a peeler to do it quickly. Apples, carrots, grapes and the like I don’t peel at all. Cucumbers, it just depends if their waxy or not. Do it the way that suits YOU. Have fun, experiment and enjoy it.

4. Use a variety of ingredients. It’s best not to juice just fruits, because of the sugar content. If you’re diabetic, please consult your physician before juicing fruits. Work toward drinking as much green juice as you can. The greens are nutritionally the best for you. The fruits are especially good for an energy boost and cleanses. Just be careful about how much of them you juice and drink at one time.

5. Wash, scrub and rinse your fruits and vegetables. Not just because of chemicals and pesticide, but because it’s been handled by others. Buy a vegetable brush from my Amazon Associate Store. It’ll make you feel good

I hope these tips for juicing help you and remember have fun juicing!

More Tips for Juicing

Carrot Deep Cleanser | Carrots, Beet, Kale and Apple

This is almost exactly like the Carrot Cleanser I previously wrote about. Both recipes are in the book The Big Book of Juices: More Than 400 Natural Blends for Health and Vitality Every Day, but the Carrot Deep Cleanser is better in my opinion.

The Carrot Deep Cleanser recipe didn’t make as much juice as I normally like, but it is very good. You can do like I did and add the 1/2 apple, 1/2 beet and a couple of more carrots to get 20 ounces.

If you are at all wary of having beet or kale juice, start with the Carrot Cleanser.

Kale, also known as borecole, is one of the healthiest vegetables on the planet. A leafy green, kale is available in curly, ornamental, or dinosaur varieties. It belongs to the Brassica family that includes cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, collards, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts. One cup of chopped kale contains 33 calories and 9% of the daily value of calcium, 206% of vitamin A, 134% of vitamin C, and a whopping 684% of vitamin K. It is also a good source of minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus.

Carrot Deep Cleanser +

The plus (+) stands for more carrot, apple and beet.

Makes 14 ounces

• 3 carrots


• 1/2 apple


• 1/2 beet


• 1 stick celery


• 3 large kale leaves

If you want more juice for your effort, add the 1/2 apple, 1/2 beet and a couple of more carrots. I think this tastes better and you’ll get about 20 ounces. Enough for two people or save some for later.

.

NUTRIENTS

Beta-carotene, folic acid, vitamins B3, B6 and C. Calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, sulphur.

This is an excellent detox juice recipe. Try it!

Thank you again for reading and please let me know what you think of this recipe by commenting below.

Sources for this article include:

The Big Book of Juices: More Than 400 Natural Blends for Health and Vitality Every Day

Web MD: The Truth About Kale

P.S. Please remember to subscribe to my blog. No Spam!

Carrot Deep Cleanser | Carrots, Beet, Kale and Apple

Carrot Cleanser | Carrot, Apple, and Kale Juice

The Carrot Cleanser comes from one of my favorite books, The Big Book of Juices: More Than 400 Natural Blends for Health and Vitality Every Day.

Even though I wouldn’t consider this a simple recipe, I wanted to try it. I’m used to making recipes with just a few ingredients and this one contains six ingredients. It also leaves me with halves, which I don’t care for.

However, using the halves, I stumbled on to an interesting juice combination. I juiced the leftover 1/2 apple and 3/4 beet (see below) and added 3 carrots. Easy recipe and tastes good. I think it’s better over ice.

When juicing you never know what you’re going to get when you try something new. These more complicated recipes are a little harder to make and require more preparation, but it’s worth the while when you consider the benefits of the juice. The juice recipes from The Big Book of Juices make me feel great.

Carrot Cleanser

Any juice using beet or kale can take getting used to for the vegetable-juice initiate, but once you’ve had it, you can fully appreciate it’s cleansing properties.

I enjoyed the Carrot Cleanser. It does take a little getting used to, but after a few sips I really enjoyed it. It has a slight orange/tangy taste and I didn’t detect much of the kale. That’s a good thing for me Overall, I’d say it’s worth trying.

Makes 16 ounces

• 3 carrots


• 1/2 apple


• 1/2 orange


• 1/4 beet


• 1 stick celery


• 2 large kale leaves

NUTRIENTS

Beta-carotene, folic acid, vitamin B3, B6 and C. Calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, sulphur.

This is an excellent detox juice recipe. Try it!

Thank you again for reading and please let me know what you think of this recipe by commenting below.

Update – I’ve discovered steamed Kale. I know this doesn’t have to do with juicing, but I thought I would share it since it’s so delicious. I just started steaming Kale since I’ve been growing my own.

Kale can provide you with some special cholesterol-lowering benefits if you will cook it by steaming. The fiber-related components in kale do a better job of binding together with bile acids in your digestive tract when they’ve been steamed. When this binding process takes place, it’s easier for bile acids to be excreted, and the result is a lowering of your cholesterol levels. Raw kale still has cholesterol-lowering ability—just not as much.

Sources for this article include:

The Big Book of Juices: More Than 400 Natural Blends for Health and Vitality Every Day

The World’s Healthiest Foods – What’ New and Beneficial About Kale

Additional reading on the benefits of kale: Top 12 Health & Nutritional Benefits of Kale

P.S. Please remember to subscribe to my blog. No Spam!

Carrot Cleanser | Carrot, Apple, and Kale Juice

Apple Cleanser Juice Recipe | Apples, Kale and Beet

Wonderful! Delicious! Healthy! The Apple Cleanser is a beautiful red sweet juice that’s full of nutrients and great for detoxifying the body.

You won’t want to miss this recipe. It has five ingredients, but is so easy to make. I used my Omega J8004  and from start to finish it took me about 20 minutes. That includes washing my produce and cleaning up afterwards.

With the Apple Cleanser you get beta-carotene, folic acid, vitamin B3, vitamin C, calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur.

Apple Cleanser My Way

The Apple Cleanser comes from one of my favorite books, The Big Book of Juices: More Than 400 Natural Blends for Health and Vitality Every Day. However the recipe doesn’t specify some things. For instance I used a few of the stems and leaves of the beetroot. Also, I didn’t peel my cucumber. It was a homegrown cucumber. Whatever you do with those two things I’m sure it will come out wonderful

The fruitiness of the apples offsets the more challenging taste of the greens to produce this beautifully red detoxifying juice.

Makes 20 ounces

• 2 apples ( I used gala)


• 2 kale leaves


• 1 stick celery


• 1/2 long cucumber (I didn’t peel mine, garden fresh)


• 1/2 beet ( beetroot, I used a few stems and leaves)

This is an excellent detox juice recipe. Did you ever wonder what do do with the other halves of the leftover produce? I juiced them. 1/2 of beetroot combined with 1/2 cucumber isn’t so bad and it produced 8 ounces for me. Try it!

Update 8/26/2014 – Popular Types of Kale

Curly Kale is probably the most recognizable kale sold in bunches at your local grocery store. It is usually bright or dark green or purple in color, has tight ruffled leaves and fibrous stalks that can be difficult to chop, but easy to tear if fresh. It has a noticeable pungent flavor with peppery and bitter qualities, so seek out younger looking leaves for less bitterness.

Lacinato Kale (also known as Dinosaur) is a kale variety that features dark blue-green leaves with a slightly wrinkled and firm texture. The hearty leaves of Dino Kale are tall and narrow and retains its firm texture even after it has been cooked. It has a slightly sweeter and more delicate taste than the curly kind with its flavor described as deep and earthy, but not so bitter with an almost nutty sweetness.

Red Russian Kale has flat, fringed leaves that resemble big oak leaves, large arugula leaves, or the outer leaves of a mature cabbage. Its leaves can have a red tinge and a reddish-purple tinge to the stems, and has a great flavor that is described as sweet and mild with a little bit of pepperiness. Although Red Russian Kale is one of the sweetest kales, be sure to remove as much of the stems as possible before cooking. It has incredibly tough and woody fibrous stems that are difficult to chew and swallow and could cause stomach upset.

Redbor Kale is beautiful and dark red in color that can look a deep purple, slightly resembles a tightly curled rainbow chard near the tops of its leaves. While this type of kale is edible, it also crosses over to being an ornamental plant. It is so pretty, why not grow it as a garden decoration and pick leaves as you need! Redbor makes a great addition to a meal, or even as edible plate decor. – OneGreenPlanet.org

Thank you again for reading and please let me know what you think of this recipe by commenting below.

Sources for this article include:

The Big Book of Juices: More Than 400 Natural Blends for Health and Vitality Every Day

Onegreenplanet.org – Popular Types of Kale and Their Health Benefits

P.S. Please remember to subscribe to my blog. No Spam!

Apple Cleanser Juice Recipe | Apples, Kale and Beet

Jolly Green Giant Juicing Recipe With Kale And Spinach

Jolly Green Giant

Okay this is a great juicing recipe, very beneficial. You can see that by the first two ingredients, kale and spinach. Kale is one of the healthiest foods on the planet. Yeah I said it, not only me but Web MD.  One cup of kale contains 36 calories, 5 grams of fiber, and 15% of the daily requirement of calcium and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), 40% of magnesium, 180% of vitamin A, 200% of vitamin C, and 1,020% of vitamin K. It is also a good source of minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus.

So how about spinach? It’s got flavonoids — a phytonutrient with anti-cancer properties abundant in spinach and  flavonoids have been shown to slow down cell division in human stomach and skin cancer cells. Furthermore, spinach has shown significant protection against the occurrence of aggressive prostate cancer.

So here it is, the Jolly Green Giant Juicing Recipe! Enjoy!

Ingredients

4 large Green Kale Leaves

2 handfuls Green Spinach

1 Green Apple

1 handful Green Mint

1 small Green Lime (peeled)

2 Green Celery Stalks

1 medium slice Ginger (*optional)

Directions

Buy Organic (why juice pesticides?)

Prep your produce: Wash, peel, cut, de-seed

Send all ingredients through your juicer

Enjoy!

Update 8/18/2014 – Kale is a hardy, cool-season green that is part of the cabbage family. It grows best in the spring and fall and can tolerate all fall frosts. Kale can be used in salads or as a garnish and is rich in minerals and vitamins A and C. – Almanac.com

Planting

You can plant kale anytime from early spring to early summer. If you plant kale late in the summer you can harvest it from fall until the ground freezes in winter.

Care

Water the plants regularly but be sure not to overwater them.

Harvest/Storage

Kale is ready to harvest when the leaves are about the size of your hand.

References

Jolly Green Giant: Juicing Recipe | Freshly GrownFreshly Grown

Web MD: The Truth About Kale

Health Diaries: 11 Health Benefits Of Spinach

Almanac.com: Planting, Growing and Harvesting Kale

Jolly Green Giant Juicing Recipe With Kale And Spinach

Simply Green Juice | Reboot With Joe Recipe

I was looking online and found this simple recipe on the Reboot with Joe website. It’s called Simply Green Juice.

This is from Stacys Juicebar in Boston and one of her most popular juices.

I made this one morning and found it delicious. The green apple really adds to this juice, making it sweet and a little tangy. To be honest I only used one granny smith apple and the recipe calls for 1 1/2 apple. I don’t core the apples either  😕

“This juice is perfect for breakfast, a quick pick me up any time of day or that afternoon lull for an energy boost. The nutrients in cucumber, kale and spinach include antioxidants for vibrant skin and a healthy immune system. The green apple adds a touch of sweetness and soluble fiber to help digestion and keep cholesterol in check. – Stacys Juicebar”

Simply Green Juice

Makes 16 ounces. Ingredients: 1 ½ green apples 1 cucumber 2 stalks kale 2 large handfuls of spinach Directions: 1.) Wash all ingredients well 2.) Core apple 3.) Add all ingredients through juicer, juice & enjoy!

Kale is quickly becoming my favorite leafy green to juice. It’s hard for me to find organic kale in Pierre, SD and I’m hoping that I can grow it this year in my garden.

UPDATE: My crop of kale has been excellent! I’ve grown Red Russian kale in my garden since early June of this year and have had some of the best green juices to date. It’s so easy to pick and few leaves, wash them and then juice. Wow! What a blast!

From the Burpee website: This delicious grey-green kale is pretty enough to plant among the flowers. Much larger than regular kale (2 to 3′ tall), the stems are purplish and the leaves are shaped like big oak leaves and colored a velvety gray green. The purple colors become richer after frost, when the flavor becomes sweeter. Surprisingly, the big leaves are very tender and delicious. Garden Hints: Kale requires good cultivation; mulch or hoe frequently to keep soil loose and weed-free. Plants may be left outdoors all winter. Frost improves flavor.

Kale is so easy to wash and juice. My Omega J8004 Masticating Juicer gets the most out of it too! ( I still love my spinach though 😉 )

Simply Green Juice uses two kale stalks. Kale is high in iron, high in vitamin K and filled with antioxidants. You can’t go wrong with this recipe!

Thanks for coming by and visiting my blog. Do you have a favorite recipe you would like to share? Please do so by commenting below. Best wishes to you and your family. Happy Juicing!

Sources for this article include:

Reboot With Joe: Simply Green Juice from Stacys Juicebar

Burpee: Red Russian Kale

Simply Green Juice | Reboot With Joe Recipe

Metabolic Cooking Smoothies

What are Metabolic Cooking Smoothies? I love smoothies, and who doesn’t. If you don’t like smoothies, you’re in the wrong place.

As you know, I’ve been reviewing the Metabolic Cooking program. I highly recommend this program to anyone who wants  to eat healthier, look better, feel better and/or lose weight. One part that you’ll receive from the Metabolic Cooking program is “53 Fat Burning Smoothies and Milkshakes.” This is the part I love.

Of course I can’t review all of the cooking recipes or smoothie recipes because that wouldn’t be fair to the authors, but I think it’s okay to share something about it. After all this is a review!

One of the main concepts of Metabolic Cooking is eating a diet higher in protein. Protein provides the building blocks for the body to build muscle. Protein also requires more energy from the body to digest, thus increasing your metabolism.

High Quality Protein= Muscle and increased metabolic rate.

Metabolic Cooking Smoothies

Metabolic Cooking smoothies are high in protein. Once you sign up for the Metabolic Cooking program you’ll be introduced to Biotrust a low carb, protein supplement. This is an excellent choice. You can use others, but be sure to read the ingredients. Look for a protein supplement with all natural ingredients and no artificial colors or sweeteners. Also check the sugar content. Low sugar is very important to me. I don’t want to add a lot of sugar to my smoothies. See the link below for other protein powder suggestions.

To make these high protein smoothies you’ll not only need a protein supplement, but you’ll also need a blender or my personal choice, a  NutriBullet Pro. It’s so easy to use and cleans up quick!

Remember, simple recipes, that’s what I like. So next week I’m going to review a simple high protein smoothie recipe from Metabolic Cooking.

For more information on the Metabolic Cooking Craze see my review here. Thanks again for reading and please comment below. Have you used a protein supplement in your smoothies?

Sources:
6 Healthiest Protein Powders For Your Smoothie

Metabolic Cooking Smoothies

Juicing Tips: Preparing Your Produce For Juicing

We will call this Rich’s Juicing Tips, because I’ve been working on more juicing tips for you. Prior to this I had posted Juicing Tips for Beginners and that article included choosing a juicer, recipes, grocery list and storing juice. I hope those juicing tips help.

In this article we’ll look at some more interesting juicing tips and specifically how to prepare your produce for juicing.

Rich’s Juicing Tips

I recommend washing everything thoroughly before juicing. You can use a commercial wash solution or something as simple as sea salt. Add one teaspoon of sea salt for every cup of water used to fill the sink. (I’ll be the first to admit that when I’m in a hurry I will just rinse my produce. That’s really sufficient with me if it comes from my garden.)

Pat dry everything and then it’s almost ready to juice. Some produce requires the pit or stems removed. Other produce requires the skin peeled.

Juicing Tips – List of Produce

Here is a general list:

• Apples – Use the entire apple peel and all. Many other juicing enthusiast recommend removing the seeds and the stems. However, I personally don’t remove the seeds. If this is a concern for you, then you can core the apple before juicing.

• Apricots – Remove the pit, juice.

• Beets- We do not skin our beets for our juice recipes. We just cut off the small tail part of the beet if there is one left and also cut some of the top part off where it is or was connected to the beet stalks, which extend to the greens. If you’re getting the beets with stems and leaves you can wash everything thoroughly and juice all of it.

• Bell peppers – Rinse and remove the stem. It’s fine to juice the seeds.

• Blackberries and Blueberries – Juice it all.

• Broccoli – Juice it all.

• Carrots – You can juice your carrots with the greens and skins still on.

• Celery – Use the entire celery stalk (even the tops).

• Cucumbers – Cut the cucumber in half and push through juicer. No need to peel unless coated with wax (See below).

• Grapefruit – Peel and keep as much of the white pith on as possible since the pith is nutritionally good for you.

• Grapes – Remove the stems and juice.

• Kale – Just wash and juice.

• Lemons – No need to peel if organic and when juicing the peel experiment with how much you use. I normally peel mine leaving as much of the white pith on as possible (See below).

• Limes – Same as lemons.

• Melons – Cut into wedges and remove outer skin (netting on cantaloupe) with a knife or peeler.

• Oranges – Peel and try to keep as much of the white pith on as possible.

• Peaches- Remove the pit and juice.

• Pears – These can be juiced whole or slice to fit into your juicer.

• Pineapples – Twist the top off. Slice lengthwise, cut out the woody core, peel the skin, and juice (See below).

• Plums – Remove the pit and juice.

• Raspberries – Wash and juice.

• Spinach – Was and juice.

• Strawberries – Wash and juice.

• Sweet potatoes – Was and cut into pieces.

• Tomatoes – Remove stem and any leaves.

• Watermelon – Cut into wedges and remove the skin and rind. You can keep the seeds in.

• Wheatgrass – Wash and juice.

These are not hard and fast rules – juicing tips.

For instance, sometimes I juice the skin of my pineapple when I’m using my masticating juicer. The skin helps push the pulp through.

I hardly ever de-seed apples. Seeds may fall out when I’m cutting them in half.  😀

I almost always peel my cucumbers, unless I grow them myself. It really can depend upon the recipe to. If I think it warrants the strong flavor of the skin I’ll leave it on. So cucumbers, peel if waxy. If organic leave it on if you think the recipe will be better with it.

Lemon and lime. I almost always peel mine. It’s hard for me to find organic ones and if I do, the skin is still very strong, so I might use the peel but less lemon than the recipe calls for.

How about you? Do you have some juicing tips when it comes to preparing produce for juicing? Please leave me a comment below. As always, thank you for reading and Juice On!

On a side note, I’ve also been guest blogging on another site. See my article, “Why You Should Avoid Processed Foods”

 

Juicing Tips: Preparing Your Produce For Juicing

Juicing Tips for Beginners

Are you ready to try juicing? It’s not hard and it doesn’t take a lot of time, especially if you have some help.

Juicing is a great way to get you daily servings of fruits and vegetables if you’re a person on the go. Use the healing properties of food and improve your health today with juicing!

Let’s get started.

Juicing Tips for Beginners #1

Selecting your juicer. Are you going to be juicing leafy greens like spinach, kale and lettuce? I recommend you do, because those ingredients are very nutritious. The best type of juicer for leafy greens is a masticating juicer like the Omega J8004. It juices fruit great too. The other type of juicer is a centrifugal juicer. That’s the type I started out with. In the beginning I juiced a lot of carrots, apples, oranges, pineapple, and grapefruit. Lets not forget watermelon! My centrifugal worked great but I outgrew it after about a year. It just didn’t do a very good job on leafy greens, so I felt I was wasting too much. Along came my Omega J8004 and I haven’t stopped juicing since.

Recommendations for juicers:

Masticating – Omega J8004 Nutrition Center Commercial Masticating Juicer (Best overall in my opinion)

Masticating Vertical –Omega VRT330S 80RPM Masticating Juicer (Choose the VRT350 for a heavy duty screen, but at a higher cost)

Centrifugal – Breville JE98XL Juice Fountain Plus 850-Watt Juice Extractor (Good all around juicer, lowest price, but not good for leafy greens)

Juicing Tips for Beginners #2

Once you have a juicer, find delicious recipes. Keep them simple at first and make one’s that you know you’ll like. You can experiment with powerful ingredients like garlic and cilantro later. There are so many websites with so many recipes it’s hard to know which to choose from. That’s why I recommend getting a book on juicing and juicing recipes. When I started, I started simple. I had some free software that gave me some excellent suggestions. You can find it here.

Once I had exhausted the software I started buying books. I also found a few good simple recipes on websites, but I was cautious. Many are so complicated that I knew I didn’t want to make them and many have ingredients that are way too hard or impossible to find. Below are a few good books that will help you get started.

Before going to the grocery store, use your list of recipes and make a grocery list of what you’ll need. This will simplify things. Buy organic when possible and buy the freshest produce. If you’re able to, grow your own. That’s the best way!

Recommendations for books:

The Juicing Bible

Juicing, Fasting, and Detoxing for Life: Unleash the Healing Power of Fresh Juices and Cleansing Diets

The Healthy Juicer’s Bible: Lose Weight, Detoxify, Fight Disease, and Live Long (Excellent for beginners)

Juicing Tips for Beginners #3

Let’s get juicing! Prepare and area for juicing and preparing your produce. My juicer sits close to my sink and garbage disposal. I also sometimes use a colendar for rinsing.

To wash your produce all you need is fine-grain sea salt and water! First, wash the fruit or vegetable with water. Prepare the solution in a large bowl (or sink) by mixing one teaspoon of sea salt to each cup of water and stir it to dissolve the salt. Soak your produce for two minutes. (Scrub with a vegetable brush) Rinse the produce under fresh water, pat dry.

Cut up your produce for your juicer. Mine needs to be cut up fairly small since I have a narrow chute (Omega J8004).

When juicing, alternate between hard and soft produce. This will help keep it from clogging.

If you have leftovers, like I almost always do, store it in airtight mason jars, then refrigerate. You can keep them up to 24 hours and it’ll still be fresh. I’ve found that the juice I make in my Omega J8004 stores longer, and tastes better longer than what I make in my Breville JE98XL.

That it for juicing tips for beginners. Simple enough huh? Have fun juicing!

More Reading:

Omega J8004 Review

Breville JE98XL Review

The Juicing Bible Review

Juicing Recipes

On a side note, I’ve also been guest blogging on another site. See my article, “Why You Should Avoid Processed Foods”

Juicing Tips for Beginners

Cantaloupe and Pineapple | Simple Recipes

Cantaloupe and Pineapple??? I didn’t think cantaloupe and pineapple would go together well, but I discovered this sweet surprise one morning while juicing leftovers. Cantaloupe and pineapple do go together well! It’s delicious and refreshing especially served over ice.

We have been getting some good cantaloupe and pineapple here in South Dakota lately and I’m finding it easy to juice them. Lately I’ve just been peeling the outer skin (netting) off cantaloupe with my OXO Good Grips Swivel Peeler. This seems to work very well and with some of the greenish skin still on the cantaloupe it goes through my Omega J8004 Juicer really nice. It doesn’t over power the juice either.

With the pineapple, lately I’ve just been washing them and juicing with the skin. This adds some bulk and helps it go through the juicer. If I push pineapple through the juicer too fast it clogs it up. However, with this recipe I had about 1/2 of fresh pineapple cut into pieces and I juiced it that way. No skin! Alternating between the cantaloupe and pineapple worked good. The pineapple didn’t get backed up into the juicing chamber.

Cantaloupe and Pineapple

Makes 10 ounces – Very good served over ice. 1/2 cantaloupe (outer skin peeled) 1/2 cup fresh pineapple Alternate pushing cantaloupe and pineapple slowly through the juicer to avoid clogging.

 

Benefits of Cantaloupe and Pineapple

Cantaloupes are packed with beta-carotene, vitamins A, B6, B1, B3,  and C.

Bromelain in Pineapple is a natural antioxidant and an effective anti-inflammatory. Pineapple is also full of vitamin C.

Combine these together and you have a fabulous nutritional juice.

Thanks for coming by and visiting my blog. Do you have a favorite recipe you would like to share? Please do so by commenting below. Best wishes to you and your family. Happy Juicing!

Sources for this article include:

Juice Recipe Builder

Cantaloupe and Pineapple | Simple Recipes

Integrating Juicing Into Your Diet

I have been asked many times, should I just juice or should I eat when I juice? When you only juice basically what you’re doing is a juice cleanse or juice fast. What I wanted to do when I started juicing was to intergrate juicing into my daily meals. That’s where I believe the real long term benefits of juicing are.

Integrating juicing into your diet will improve your overall health.

Studies show, only 20 percent of Americans eat five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables, and a mere 5 percent consume seven servings. Integrating juicing into your diet will help you get those needed servings of fruits and vegetables.

The only thing you’ll be missing is the fiber and you can get fiber from other foods you eat. I’m not suggesting you juice all of your fruits and vegetables. Supplement your diet with juice.

For a complete diet you need the whole foods too. Raw or lightly steamed vegetables and raw fresh fruit are part of a healthy diet.

Integrating Juicing Into Your Diet

Lately I’ve been using a diet from the book, Juicing for Life: A Guide to the Benefits of Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Juicing. When integrating juicing into your diet I believe it’s best to follow a plan at first. Once you get into the routine, it’s easy to continue. “Repetition is the father of all learning”, I don’t know who said it first, but it’s true.

Breakfast Juice of your choice Hot cereal Whole grain toast Tea

Lunch Juice of your choice Salad Bean or pea soup Sandwich

Dinner Juice of your choice Salad Stir-fry with vegetables and meat, poultry or seafood Baked potato Whole grain roll

 

 

 

In addition to the above I have snacks between meals which can include fresh juice, yogurt or nut butter on whole grain crackers. Celery, carrots and apples are great healthy snacks too.

I prepare my juice in the morning and store it in mason jars for later in the day. I don’t keep it for more than 24 hours, it just tastes better fresh  😎

I try to drink my juice about 20 minutes before my meal, so I have it on an empty stomach. This gives my digestive system time to absorb those fantastic and powerful nutrients.

If you’d like to see the diet plan in it’s entirety, please pick up the book, Juicing for Life: A Guide to the Benefits of Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Juicing. You’ll be glad you did.

More diet plans in the book, Juicing For Life:

• The Sugar Metabolism Disorder Diet


• The Immune Support Diet


• The Elimination Diet

Also, cleansing diets and weight-loss diets!

Thanks for dropping by and happy juicing!

Integrating Juicing Into Your Diet

Water Cooler | Watermelon and Grapefruit Juice Recipe

Man do I love grapefruit in my juices like the Water Cooler juice recipe, but I just don’t like peeling them. The best way I’ve found to peel grapefruit is to use my hand peeler. It’s like this one – OXO Good Grips Swivel Peeler.

This beautiful, sweet, but tart juice recipe comes from one of my favorite books, The Big Book of Juices. I made this one in the mornings for Virginia and she used to say, “Ewwweee! You’re juicing the rind on the watermelon?” And of course I said, “Yes, I’ve always done it that way, because the rind helps to push the watermelon through the juicer.” Maybe this juice would be better without the rind for you. I think it’s a matter of personal preference, so try it without the rind if you’re thinking, Ewwweee!

Water Cooler

The trick to this one is getting the thick slice of watermelon right. Personally I like this one a little more tart, so I use a smaller slice and I juice the rind. Try it and taste as you go along to get it right for yourself. It’s a real energy booster and 4 out of 5 stars for immunity in the book,  The Big Book of Juices.

Makes approximately 32 ounces (depending on how big your watermelon slice is)

• 2 grapefruits


• 1 thick slice of watermelon

Watermelon health benefits: Watermelons are mostly water — about 92 percent — but this refreshing fruit is soaked with nutrients. Each juicy bite has significant levels of vitamins A, B6 and C, lots of lycopene, antioxidants and amino acids. There’s even a modest amount of potassium. – Livescience.com

Thank you again for reading and please let me know what you think of this recipe by commenting below. I try to keep the recipes simple.

Note: If you’re taking medication consult your health care professional. It’s been known for some time that grapefruit juice can interact badly with some medications.

Resources:

The Big Book of Juices

Watermelon: Health Benefits, Risks & Nutrition Facts – Livescience.com

P.S. Please remember to subscribe to my blog. You’ll only receive e-mail when I post a new article and nothing else. No Spam!

Water Cooler | Watermelon and Grapefruit Juice Recipe