Which Juicer is Right For You?
Are you ready to start juicing in 2019?
Amazing!
Juicing is an excellent way to build your immunity, cleanse your body and load up on rich nutrients!
If you’re just starting out, you probably have a million questions.
What is the best juicer to buy or what fruits and vegetables work best? If you’ve done any research, you’ve found out juicers come in different types, sizes, and price points.
And you’ve probably found a crazy number of recipes online too.
Here’s the thing, juicing is not a one size fits all! Ultimately, you need to find what works best for you. My hope is this post will help you along the way in starting your juicing journey!
So, Let’s Start with Juicing Basics
Along with the plethora of questions that come with starting anything new, you need to know the basics of juicing! Let’s start with the most obvious, shall we?
What is Juicing?
The method of separating the juices from fruits and vegetables, most commonly achieved by, you guessed it, a juicer!
Some Benefits of Juicing
· A great way to get in many servings of fruits and veggies
· Increases the rate of nutrient absorption
· Promotes a healthy gut from increased good bacteria
· Included with a healthy diet, aids in lowering cholesterol
· Assists detoxifying the body
· Can reduce blood sugar
· Healthier skin
Tips and Cautionary Notes
Ever hear that too much of a good thing can be bad for you?
Take note! Too much fruit equals too much sugar which in turn equals excess calories that could lead to weight gain.
Probably not what you’re in this for!
Try using an 80/20 ratio of vegetables to fruit, so you aren’t getting all those extra sugars and calories.
As for vegetables, well, yes, you can have too much of some of those as well. Try to avoid too many cruciferous veggies such as kale and cabbage.
Rotate your greens daily to ensure diversity of your nutrient intake.
You want to choose fruits and vegetables that contain high amounts of water. Leave the avocado and bananas for the blender. Instead try some zucchini, cucumber or celery.
If you are thinking of making large batches, put that notion aside as it would be harmfully counterproductive!
Here’s why:
Probably the most important thing you need to know about juicing is that you should only make the amount you can drink at one time. Unsafe bacteria develops quickly in freshly squeezed juice.
Just because you are taking in all those yummy nutrients don’t forget to eat a healthy
amount of vegetables and fruit. You still need the fibre that comes from them. Balancing it out ensures you are benefitting from both the nutrients and the fibre!
Ready to get juicing? Let’s look at the main juicer types next.
3 Main Types of Juicers
You may have noticed there are a ton of juicers out there. Online and in stores you will find all kinds of different ones ranging in size and price.
Like I mentioned, juicing is not a one size fits all. So, let’s look at the three main types to help you decide which will work best for your lifestyle.
All three essentially do the same thing, which extracts the juices from fruits and vegetables. However, they each have a different method.
Masticating (Cold Press) Juicers
Masticating juicers are slow juicers! Slow juicing is a good thing because there is less oxidation therefore keeping those important nutrients in your juice.
Ever slice open an apple and shortly after it starts turning a brown colour on the flesh?
This is oxidation.
When the insides of fruit and vegetables become exposed to oxygen, they not only have fewer nutrients (the stuff we want), but they are also less satisfying to the taste buds.
The masticating juicer uses an auger(similar to a drill) at a slow rpm to crush vegetables and fruit then presses them against a mesh screen for a high juice yield. The juice passes through the screen into one container while the pulp gets expelled to a separate container.
Personally, this is my favourite type of juicer. I really like the Omega Juicer (check out the amazon link), it has received great reviews, and it maintains the nutrients well as it is a slow juicer which prevent oxidation. It is a bit pricey (Around the 400.00 mark) but versatile as you can make nut butters as well.
If you are in a hurry, this may not be the best juicer for you. However, even though it is “slow”, you will get a higher quality juice that you can store for a more extended period (up to 72 hours), and you will get a more considerable amount.
Triturating (Twin Gear) Juicer
The Twin gear juicer uses two interlocking gears to shred and squash the juice out of fresh fruits and vegetables. The challenge with this type of juicer is that you need to put a significant amount of force to push the produce through the chute to enter the gears.
This type works best with the leafy greens but grapples with softer fruits. So, you will need something such as celery with a tougher pulp to help push out the softer stuff.
An advantage to this type is it can also be used to make nut butter, baby food and even sweet sorbets. A drawback is they are an investment and can cost quite a bit more than others. They are also among the heaviest machines available.
I haven’t personally used this juicer, but it has gotten great reviews online. Tribest Juicer.
Centrifugal Juicer
A centrifugal juicer uses a spinning blade at a high rpm to force the juices out of fresh vegetables and fruit. This type of juicer is known for its ability to quickly make small batches of juice, perfect for a single person on the go! Since oxidation is quicker, you need to drink that juice within 15 minutes, or it will require refrigeration. Since this machine takes in more air and oxidation starts faster you can only refrigerate up to 24 hours.
This machine doesn’t hold a lot of pulp because the catcher and shredder are in the same place. The basket fills quickly and may get clogged requiring emptying before you make another batch.
This type of juicer is smaller in comparison to others. And since it works so fast, you save time on prepping those pre-cut fruits and veggies.
Centrifugal Juicers tend to be less expensive than the other too, and you can get a decent one for under 200.00 like this Breville Juicer.
Doing Your Research Will Pay Off
Now that you have an idea of the different types and their abilities, you have an excellent basis for finding the one that is right for you!
These juicers also have sub-types worth looking into further. Again, they all come with different attributes that may or may not work for your situation. In most cases, a juicer is an investment so doing your checking around to find the right fit will pay off.
Tell Me How It's Going!
I would love to hear from you about your juicing journey!
Do you have any tricks or tips when it comes to purchasing a juicer?
What about a purchase that went wrong, what didn’t you know about your juicer that you want to share with us?
And of course, what’s your favourite recipe????
As always, if you have any questions for us, we’d love to help! Please get in touch!