Looking for an energizing drink, but don’t want the unhealthy refined sugars, synthetic colorings, artificial flavors, chemicals, and caffeine of a Red Bull or soda? You’re looking for a fresh juice.
Fresh juices are nature’s concentrated elixirs. They pack the enzymes, nutrients, and antioxidant compounds of literally pounds of fresh, energetic produce into one deliciously nourishing drink.
The Science
Juices are concentrated nutritional elixirs. Incorporating juices into your diet encompasses a vast smorgasbord of tastes and flavors. There is something for everyone. Imagine eating a meal of spinach, parsley, sprouts, tomatoes, lemon, celery, radishes, green pepper and cucumber. Ordinarily, considering the woeful state of America’s digestion, we would be lucky to digest half of it. But once you separate the cellulose from the liquid portion of these vital foods, even those with weak digestion, will be able to absorb and assimilate its maximum food value. The beauty of properly extracted and filtered juice, is that it demands little to no digestive effort from the stomach. This condensing of pounds of valuable foods into a single glass while simultaneously maximizing assimilation is what makes drinking juices special.
One pound of carrots, for example, makes 10 ounces of carrot juice. Even the most frail could easily drink that in about a minute. But who can consume a pound of carrots? Yet the enzymes, water soluble vitamins, minerals and trace elements in those carrots are condensed into a glass of fresh squeezed carrot juice.
All plants sprout.
It’s what seeds are designed to do. Legumes, cruciferous veggies, nuts, leafy greens, herbs, root veggies—they all go through the baby stage of sprouting. And in this early stage of growth, they contain a greater density of easily digestible nutrients than their full-grown counterparts. Some sprouts contain nearly 40% protein and are generally rich in essential amino acids, active enzymes, antioxidants, vitamins, and essential minerals. But that’s not the only reason sprouts are so magical…
But Isn’t Fiber Good?
Yes, fiber is wonderful! Keep eating a regular diet rich in whole foods and plant fibers. But that doesn’t mean fresh juice doesn’t have a place in your diet, too.
The beauty of properly extracted and filtered juice is that it demands little to no digestive effort from the stomach. Take carrot juice, for instance. Juice a pound of carrots and you get a small glass of carrot juice. Now, there is no way you could actually eat a whole pound of carrots in one sitting. But, drinking a glass of juice? Easy! Juicing is an excellent way to therapeutically complement your diet with more nutrients than you could ingest through chewing alone. So enjoy all the fresh, whole fruits and vegetables you can and think of your fresh juices as medicinal supplements.
What About Sugar?
We all know that consuming too much sugar is not healthy. There’s no debate here.
But, it is important to note that there is a major difference between drinking fresh juice and other forms of sugar, like hyper-sweet sodas, which skyrocket blood sugar levels with their highly refined and inflammatory sweeteners. A freshly pressed juice, on the other hand, still retains all the vitamins, minerals, and healing plant compounds of the produce—just without the fiber. But isn’t it the fiber that keeps our sugar levels balanced? Yes, and a small amount of soluble fiber remains behind, which works with the nutrients to moderate the absorption of the natural sugars into our bloodstreams. It’s much more manageable.
That being said, if you are really concerned about sugars—even natural ones—you can still juice. Those with insulin sensitivity and other metabolic disorders should focus primarily on green juices that contain very low quantities of sugar. Lemon and cucumber are excellent cutters for the bitterness of pure green juice. These are ideal alternatives if you have been told to follow a very low-sugar diet or cannot tolerate most fruits.
Patients with low blood sugar, hypoglycemia, diabetes, candida, parasites, or other sugar sensitive conditions should avoid sweet juices just like they avoid sweet foods. Cravings for carrot, orange, watermelon, grape and other sweet juices is often an indication of a sugar sensitive condition.
A Note on Blending vs. Juicing
Smoothies are not juices. Don’t conflate blending and juicing. You CANNOT make juices in your blender—those drinks still retain the fiber to the produce, so they are technically smoothies. They are also healthy, but have different therapeutic value from juices.
Also it’s important to note that you can’t juice all fruits. Juicers work by separating the pulp from the water content of the fruit. However, due to the nature of the fruits below, this cannot be done, so don’t waste your produce trying. The following fruits make great smoothies but cannot be juiced:
Choosing a Juicer
It can be overwhelming to shop for a new juicer—they can get very expensive very fast! But, the most important thing is to consider what you’ll be juicing. Will you primarily be juicing wheatgrass? Then you’ll need a Samson juicer. Juicing for one? Try the affordable new Tribest Shine Juicer. Just juicing citrus? A Tribest Citrus Star will do you just fine.
But beyond price, you also want to factor in clean-out and ease of use. If you hate cleaning your juicer and find it to be a hassle to set up, you’ll never juice. So don’t set yourself up for failure. Look for a juicer that is easy to clean, easy to use, and conveniently sized for storage (or living on your countertop). If you buy a $1000 juicer but only use it once a week, it just isn’t worth it.
We offer a diverse selection of juicers to suit your needs and budget. From our off-the-grid hand-crank Z-Star juicer to the Green Star Elite, we have a machine to fit your needs.
Need more support? Feel free to reach out to our customer support team via email or phone anytime here. We are more than happy to help you take the first steps towards a happier, healthier lifestyle.
Looking for recipes?
You came to the right place! We have some excellent juicing recipes in our books Sproutman’s 7 Day Just Juice Diet, Power Juices Super Drinks, and Juice Fasting and Detoxification.
