Juicing

[twe0708]

Just wondering if anyone does a lot of juicing. Not sure if "juicing" is the right word for it, but I just purchased a Breville Juicer and was wondering if anyone else makes juice out of fresh vegetables and fruits and what their feedback is on this? I have been reading about fresh juice from vegetables and fruit and how much more our bodies absorb vs eating our vegetables cooked. Just surprised I haven't seen any postings about juicing considering our bodies have trouble absorbing nutrients from our food due to our condition.

[MagpieWrites]

I have a juicer, and as the weather warms up, I'll bring it out more often (I'm one of those people that when it's hot, I usually have to be nagged to eat. Juicing keeps the husband from yelling at me! ). But it will never be a daily thing for me, for a few reasons.

One - they are a PAIN to clean. I don't have a dishwasher, so anything that has 8 parts (and at least 4 of those packed with pulp to scrap out and take to the composter) all needing to be scrubbed with tiny brushes to get clean... ah.... no. At least not often.

Second, and really the bigger reason for me - I don't know if its because my system is still healing or what - but a lot of juices just don't agree with me. Yeah, you can get a lot more nutritional bang for your buck, but if I have more than one a day (or two) I regret it pretty quickly. Without getting too graphic, the bathroom becomes a focal point in my day! I'm fine with fruits and veggies in their whole forms - but juiced, they just bash their way through my system too fast.

The last one is cost - my husband and I eat a LOT of fresh fruits and veggies, and try to get as much local and organic that we can. Juicing would require an even LARGER amount, and I just can't justify they cost for a daily thing. It is almost a 4/1 take to juice I've found. You need a lot to fill a couple of glasses, and the food that would make a substantial dinner in its whole form leaves you hungry and needing something more in a few hours if juiced.

I do use it some, and love being able to mix some of my own blends (blackberry pineapple ginger is amazing) but it just isn't something I could commit to on a daily basis.

[Mskedi]

I pretty much only use my juicer in the summer. It's good stuff, but it is a bit of a pain to clean, as someone else mentioned.

[Wenmin]

We use the juicer to juice blackberries that we pick ourselves. The juice is then frozen. Later in the year, we take the juice out to make blackberry dumplings. Haven't yet found a gluten free version of this. Maybe it will be a project of mine this summer......

Wenmin

[Korwyn]

We don't juice, but we have a blender in which I make 'green drinks'. Veggies, fruits, and berries all go in there and come out tasting wonderful. That is my primary source of fiber and my system is much happier. Plus the glycemic index of a whole food blending is much lower than that of a juicer because the fiber content slows absorption of the fructose.

[celiac-mommy]

We have a Power Juicer and we use it so often, it sits on the counter next to the Vitamix. I try to eat raw for the first 1/2 of the day, so juicing is great for me. 1 tip--juice the darkest greens you can find, like kale, and to take the bitterness away, also juice 1/4 of a fresh pineapple (with core). I commonly make this juice: 3 organic carrots, 1 organic apple, a bunch of kale or 4 big handfulls of baby spinach and 1/4 of a fresh pineapple. If I have other stuff I need to get rid of, I throw that in as well. I aim for about 24oz of juice. The Power Juicer is really easy to take apart and clean. I had a Juiceman juicer before and never used it because it was such a pain to clean!

Another great way I use it is to get the most from our garden. For example, it takes FOREVER to grate up all the extra zucchini we have, and then you're left with a ton of juice that you have to squeeze out if you're going to use it for breads and muffins. So I will juice the zucchini, bag the juice and pulp separately, then I have have perfect pulp to make breads, muffins, and pancakes and I use the juice as liquid for pancakes, quickbreads, stocks etc. I also do this with the tons of tomatoes we have.