So, you've heard a lot about juicing but haven't taken the plunge? Juicing is a health and wellness trend that has been around for many years. While there are several fresh-pressed juices on the shelf ready to drink, one of the best parts about juicing is making the juice yourself. By making juices at home, you can customize each to your taste preferences and individual needs. Curious about how to start juicing? Keep reading to discover the many benefits of juicing and how you can start today!
How Does Juicing Work?
When you eat any food, your body works to break it down, extracting nutrients on the way. These nutrients are an essential part of staying healthy and providing your body with the energy it needs to keep moving. So, while the saying you are what you eat may not be literal, it does have some truth to it.
When juicing in particular, the juicer works to extract the nutrients from your fruits and vegetables quickly. This saves your body energy since it doesn't have to break it down itself.
The Benefits of Juicing
While there are many benefits of juicing regularly, here are a few of our favorites.
A Quick Way to Get Nutrition Into Your Body
Like we mentioned earlier, juicing is quick, and it helps your body break nutrients faster. When you put those delicious fruits and veggies into your juicer, it extracts the juice from the fiber, leaving you with a nutrient-rich drink that's easy for your body to absorb.
Juicing Preserves Heat Sensitive Nutrients
Have you ever wondered if cooking your food affects it? Heat enables many vegetables to become easier to eat. However, it can also affect the nutrients in them. In the process of preparing and heating certain vegetables, many micronutrients are destroyed as their chemical composition is changed. By juicing raw vegetables, you may receive their highest possible nutritional value.
A Great Way to Increase Your Vegetable Intake
Not a fan of eating your veggies? Juicing is an excellent way to incorporate more veggies into your daily meal plan. This past year has brought to light the importance of staying healthy and treating your body well. With all of the different germs floating around, getting your daily intake of fruits and vegetables is becoming increasingly important. Whether you choose to make a veggie-based juice or hide the vegetable flavors in a sweet fruit juice, it's a great way to add greens to your routine.
Juicing Boosts Energy
It's true that the better you eat, the better you feel. When it comes to living a healthy lifestyle, what you eat plays a large role in it. There are many wholesome foods with energy-boosting properties, fruits and vegetables being some of them! Drinking freshly juiced fruits and vegetables is a great way to boost energy and improve your mood. Fresh produce is flourishing with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that work hard to keep you feeling your best.
An Excellent Way to Boost Your Immune System
Great tasting fruits and veggies don't just make for a tasty breakfast; they may also boost your immune system. Our immune systems work hard daily, coming into contact with a significant amount of stress from our diets, environments, and lifestyles. The best way to keep your immune system healthy is by fueling your body with good-for-you foods. By juicing fruits and vegetables, you can keep your immune system running better than ever and enjoy a great-tasting drink.
Juices Can Be Enjoyed by Everyone
Unlike caffeinated and energy drink beverages, juices can be enjoyed by individuals of all ages. Learning how to make healthy juices is incredibly easy. Just place your favorite fruits and vegetables into a juicer and create a combination that tastes great to you. Because freshly made juices are so great for you, they're also excellent for children. Children's young bodies need loads of nutrients, and juicing is a great way to ensure that they receive them. Keeping a juicer in the kitchen and including your children in the juicing process is a great way to introduce them to new flavors.
Fruits vs. Vegetables: What's Better for Juicing?
Now that you know the benefits of juicing, you'll likely want to try it out yourself. So, how should you get started? A question for many first time juicers is what they should juice first, fruits or vegetables. What you choose to juice varies from person to person and their unique health needs.
In short, fruits will naturally produce sweeter juices. However, juiced fruits also contain a lot more sugar than juiced vegetables. Because fiber is removed from the fruit during juicing, the release of sugar is slowed down. This slow release of sugar could potentially increase the level of insulin in your body. While vegetables contain much less sugar, they're also much more bitter than fruits. An all-vegetable juice may be great for you, but the bitterness is often overwhelming.
When making a healthy fresh juice at home, the key is to use both vegetables and fruits. Doing so will help create a liquid that's overflowing with nutrients yet still sweet enough to enjoy. If you had to choose just one, we'd encourage you to stick to vegetables as they provide more nutrients but contribute less sugar (if any).
Best Vegetables for Juicing
Ready to get started? Here are some of the best vegetables for juicing.
Beets
Beets are one of our favorite vegetables to juice. Besides being an excellent source of vitamins like Vitamin A and C, they're also incredibly colorful. Add beets to your next veggie-based juice for a boost of nutrients and a great looking drink!
Carrots
Who doesn't love tasty carrot juice? When juiced, carrots become a satisfyingly sweet vegetable. High in beta carotene, carrots are great for your skin and add powerful antioxidants to the mix that your body will thank you for. Drink carrot juice alone or mix it with other tasty veggies to create a superfood blend.
Celery
Drinking celery juice in the morning is trending in the health and wellness tabloids. It's powerful digestive properties help your body run at top speed while also reducing unwanted symptoms like bloating. Topping the charts as one of the most popular detox trends, even celebrities add celery juice to their daily routine.
Cucumber
We love juicing cucumbers, and here's why: cucumbers work wonders for hydration! Full of water, cucumber juice is a great way to stay hydrated during exercise or on a hot day. And like carrots, cucumbers are also great for your skin. Make a bit of cucumber juice before your morning workout and refrigerate to enjoy after. We're confident that you'll love the refreshingly sweet taste.
Best Fruits to Juice
When it comes to juicing fruits, nearly every fruit tastes delicious. However, some fruits are more nutritious than others. Keep scrolling for a few of our favorite ingredients to juice.
Apples
Apples are by far one of our favorite fruits to juice. Adding just a single apple to a vegetable-heavy juice recipe can sweeten up the flavor and turn it into a drink even children would love. A great way to boost your immune system, apples are loaded with antioxidants and incredibly beneficial to your health.
Berries
When it comes to juicing fruits, it doesn't get much better than berries. Cranberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries are all jam-packed with antibacterial and antiviral properties that will keep you healthy and strong. Add a handful or two to your favorite juice recipe to boost the health benefits even more.
Citrus Fruits
No juice list would be complete without the mention of citrus fruits. Loaded with juicy goodness, citrus fruits are easy to juice and bring a wildly delicious flavor to any juice recipe they're added to. Recognized for their large amounts of vitamin C, these fruits are a fantastic juicing option if you're feeling a bit under the weather.
When it comes to creating the perfect juice, it's truly what you make of it. Now that you know the benefits of juicing and the many fresh produce items you can add to your recipes, it's time to test it out for yourself. We can't wait to see what you come up with. From everyone at Bob's Red Mill, have a healthy and happy day!
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