Many types of juice you find in stores are packed with calories and sugar that do more harm than good to the human body. Even when commercial juices are made with fruit and vegetables, the bad can outweigh the good if you are trying to live a natural lifestyle and control your nutrition and weight.
An alternative to store-bought juice is making your own juice at home with a specialized appliance designed to extract pure juice from real fruits and vegetables. In this article, we explore the basics of juicing and the best foods to put in a juicer for optimal health benefits.
What Is Juicing?
The process of juicing involves squeezing, pressing, and grinding foods in a machine. Juicing provides quick access to the nutrients in healthy food in a form that is easy to digest and enjoyable to drink.
Juicing strips away much of the pulp and seeds from whole fruits and vegetables, leaving behind the liquid that contains most of the natural nutrients. However, it does not maintain the integrity of the entire fruit when you drink the end result. Centrifugal and cold-press juicers are popular options for cleansing, detoxification, and supplementing a standard diet.
Benefits and Risks of Juicing
Juicing is not necessarily healthier than eating whole fruits and vegetables, but it can be just as beneficial depending on what you put in your small appliance. Juicing is a good option for people who do not enjoy eating raw fruits and vegetables for meals and snacks throughout the day. It can be easier and more convenient to drink your produce instead if you have a juicer. You might find yourself consuming more nutrients if you have a juicer and a healthier cardiovascular system because pure juice may increase nitric oxide levels in the blood to help control blood pressure.
However, there are downsides to using a juicer if you aren’t careful what you put in it and how you balance juice with the other foods in your diet. For example, you might start consuming more calories without realizing it if you drink juice frequently. To counter this risk, monitor your portion sizes and keep track of calories in the juices you make. To avoid consuming more sugar in your diet, focus juicing recipes on vegetables more than fruits. It is also important to get enough fiber and protein in your daily diet and not solely rely upon juice as a source of nutrition because juice alone is no replacement for balanced meals.
Best Foods for Juicing
Although you can put many different foods in a juicer to add variety to your diet, certain foods are better than others if you are serious about juicing. Here are some good options for fruits and vegetables to use in a juicer for better natural health:
If you don’t want to invest in a high-cost juicer or just want an easier approach to drinking your fruits and vegetables, pick up a container of Seagate’s unique, freeze-dried powders, such as Carrot Powder or Lemon Powder. These options are more convenient and affordable than juicing and have many applications beyond just making healthy drinks because of their potential in delicious recipes.