JUICING 101

Juicing is important for two reasons. First of all, it can be difficult to go local and eat enough micronutrients all the time. Research published in 2001 showed that conventionally grown fruit and vegetables have about half the vitamin content of their counterparts in 1963. So, unless you ALWAYS eat local, homegrown organic vegetables, you are only getting about half the nutrients your grandparents received.

Secondly, we tend to eat the same vegetables all year round. This violates the principle of seasonal food rotation and increases your chance of developing an allergy to certain foods. Wild humans were nomads; they moved around and ate seasonally in order to survive. When you juice, you can use a wide variety of vegetables that you may not normally enjoy eating whole.

When choosing a juicer, make sure it is easy to clean, has a slow grind (masticate) setting and fits within your budget. Ultra Bullets or Baby Bullets are also a good way to juice.

The advantage of using a grinding, pressing, masticating juicer is that tough, leafy vegetables such as spinach, beets and greens can be juiced. These and other similar vegetables would not yield a large amount of juice by simply pulverizing them in a centrifugal juicer.

By using a masticating juicer, the abundance of vitamins found in leafy or fibrous vegetables can be added to a variety of juice recipes. (Note: Juice should be consumed within 12–24 hours, otherwise it will oxidise, making it less nutritious. Always store your juice in glass containers rather than plastic.)

If you are new to juicing, start out with these vegetables, as they are the easiest to digest and tolerate:

• Celery

• Carrot

• Cucumbers

• Apples or oranges for taste

These vegetables aren’t as nutrient dense as the dark green vegetables. Once you get used to the vegetables listed above, you can start adding the more nutritionally valuable, but less palatable, vegetables into your juice.