Spring Time Juice
As we move in to summer, the usual ‘Get Fit for Holidays’ advertising appears in magazines and newspapers. Bikini bodies and which spray tan is best. I notice that those of you who haven’t started juicing yet are asking the same questions that were covered in this blog back in January, as you are feeling a summer ‘cleanse’ would be a good idea, I feel a little up date is needed for the many people out there wanting some easy to follow advice.
I often post information on Face Book and Twitter, but realise that not all of you look at those sites, so here we go! An update.
Your first point of contact is Juice Master Jason Vale – He is our King Of Juicing. An excellent website with many links and videos to get you started. After all, I didn’t know anything about juicing until I was introduced to it a few years ago. Since then I have developed my own juicing programme, and have to admit that I have never followed a full juice only detox as explained through the Juice Master website. Jason makes it very clear that you have to find the system that works for you, and although I have many clients who have done the full three, five and sometimes seven day detox, personally I use juicing as a nutritional boost each morning rather than a total juice detox.
So the questions that I get are generally about fibre.
With a juicer, as opposed to a super blender like the Nutribullet, people are concerned that they won’t be getting enough. Here’s the ‘thing’, if you are over weight and generally needing to improve your diet, you won’t be eating enough fibre anyway, so leaving the fibre out of a pile of veggies during a three, five or seven day plan won’t do you any harm. After all, you are getting more vitamins and minerals than you’ve had in a long time. The idea is to rest and re calibrate your digestive system. Allow it to come alive again after too many processed foods, caffeine and alcohol. Get the vitamins into your system FAST! There is plenty of soluble pectin – gel fibre – in the the apples. Taking a juice cleanse for a few days is perfectly okay.
If you need a thicker more filling juice, take your juiced veggies and fruit, and add to a blender with an avocado. Superb nutrients and essential fatty acids in this super food, that then bulks out your juice and fills you up more. Or, do the ‘soup and juice’ programme which is a recent addition to the Jason Vale detox options and has been very popular with my clients.
I must add, I’m a great fan of juicing, and I juice every day. I don’t live on juice. It’s my vitamin fix and morning ritual.
The other question I’m always being asked is which one?
Cost is a big factor, but if you are new to juicing, there is no point spending £300 on a super duper Masticating Slow Juicer, if it’s going to sit in the cupboard gathering dust. I started juicing over three years ago and the trend then was FAST. Large chute that takes whole apples and pears, with no need to peel even pineapple. Short work made of beetroot and parsnip. Zoooom! Juiced! A little noisy, but we didn’t mind as it was fast! Now there has been a shift. A change in trends and we are more aware that slower is better. The slower the motor of the juicer, the better quality juice you get. So a masticating one is by far the best. But very expensive, and your fruit and veg needs to be chopped first.
So, we give you the Fusion. Philips have come up trumps with this little beauty. It’s a mixture of the two. A good price – about £89.00 and with a slower motor that extracts a better quality juice.
There are lots of little hints and tips I could tell you about, but the best way is to have a go. I buy a large Super Juicing Box every two weeks from Abel and Cole and have it delivered – Great Value! Other veg box companies are available, but this is superb value per kilo. I then add extras when I do my supermarket shop. The renowned Ginger Shot is a must…. but if you don’t have time for two juices, just add ginger to everything! You’ll soon get used to different flavours and what works best. We’ve all had an eye watering moments with over enthusiastic spicing with limes or ginger!
It doesn’t take long to juice either. This is another concern for many of you. I can have my juice made, and juicer rinsed out within four minutes. You just need to be organised and know what you need in advance. No good scrabbling round in the fridge at 6.30 am ‘thinking’ about what to do! You’ll soon go off the idea. Work with what fits for your lifestyle. If you need to follow a book or plan, do so. You can make juices the night before and store in airtight containers in the fridge, and you can also freeze them. If you need to. The Juice Master has a great app apparently, although I haven’t needed to use it myself.
I could talk about Turmeric too…. but that was in the previous blog in quite some detail – so just scroll!
My last quick tip for all you newbies – The floppier the veg, the more difficult it is for the juicer to extract all the juice. Make things like spinach more dense by squishing it in to a ball, or wedging it between apple halves.
#health #nutribullet #summer #turmeric #juicing #detox #ginger #JasonVale
