In today’s fast paced world, it is difficult for us to slow down long enough to eat all the fresh fruits and vegetables that the experts recommend. Juicing and smoothie making can help to make this easier. You can grab a glass of fresh juice quickly in the morning, anytime of the day to enhance the rest of your dietary intake. This allows you to consume a high percentage of necessary nutrients in just a matter of minutes. Fresh juice is the best for this and you will need to invest in a juicer if you do not have one. Much like smoothies, juice drinks can be great for fast and safe weight loss – will be sharing some of these recipes with you later if you’re looking to lose a few pounds.
What Is Juicing?
Juicing is the act of processing fresh, raw fruits and vegetables for the purpose of extracting their juice and separating it from the pulp. There are different styles of juicers on the market today with which to accomplish this task. Centrifugal and masticating juicers are just two of the most popular styles on the market today. The centrifugal style is less expensive, but may produce lower quality juice than some of your other options. Masticating juicers on the other hand, produce a higher quality and quantity of juice from any ingredients they process. These are higher in price so if you are on a tight budget, you may try the centrifugal ones first.
Why Is Juicing Healthy?
The fresh, raw juice derived by juicing is healthy because it is chocked full of minerals, enzymes, antioxidants and vitamins that your body needs to function correctly. You do not diminish the nutrients by adding heat as you do when you cook fruits and vegetables to eat them. We traditionally have cooked the nutrients out of our vegetables leading to less nutritional value. Traditional fruit desserts are laden with sugar, which spoils any nutrition left in the fruits. Juicing keeps the nutrients in the fruits and vegetables to allow your body to receive a larger dose of them for your efforts.
Juicing is probably no healthier than eating fresh, raw vegetables and fruits. However, as we said earlier it is difficult to eat the recommended servings for each on a daily basis with our busy schedules. This means we cheat our bodies out of important nutrition. Therefore, juicing allows us an easy, convenient and healthy way to add additional servings of both raw fresh vegetables and fruits into our diets compared to what we would otherwise eat.
What Are the Benefits?
Juicing provides numerous benefits to the body and these include:
It allows you to consume a higher volume of raw fruits and vegetables than you typically will in the traditional manner. Remember, that most health experts recommend six to eight servings daily of fruits and vegetables each day. Be honest, do you eat this quantity of these foods on a daily basis? Don’t feel bad because most of us don’t.
The nutrients from raw juices are easier for your system to absorb since juicing basically predigests the fruits and vegetables for your system. Over the years of improper eating, your body’s digestive system may not work at optimal performance too, which means this is an important benefit.
Juicing strengthens your immune system because you are adding valuable minerals, vitamins and antioxidants to your diet each day. Any increase in all these items will help the immune system function with a higher level of efficiency.
It is easy to enjoy a wider assortment of fruits and vegetables with juicing than it is with whole foods. All of us are guilty of eating only our favorite fruits and vegetables. However, this limits our nutrients since each one of the various fruits and vegetables offer its own unique combination of nutrients. Additional choices in these foods will provide the body a fuller array of nutrients.
Another benefit to consuming raw juices is that they take the place of unhealthy beverages such as soft drinks. Soft drinks contain harmful ingredients and have zero nutritional value.
Juicing increases the body’s ability to produce energy. This is not the short-lived boost of energy people feel from caffeine or sugar either, as it lasts throughout the day. Since the fruits and vegetables are predigested through juicing, the body absorbs the nutrients quicker and this helps the boost of energy happen almost instantly upon consumption.
Studies show that consuming raw vegetable and fruit juice helps adults lose excess body fat than those adults who do not consume this juice on a regular basis.
These are the main benefits from juicing. However, everyone’s body is different, which means your body may receive other benefits as well as the one listed above when you drink raw juice on a daily basis.
Loss of Fiber
One concern for people about juicing is the loss of fiber since the pulp is separated from the juice during the juicing process. However, you can eliminate this concern by adding the pulp back to your juice or using it in your cooking recipes. The pulp is ideal as an addition to breads, sauces, stews, casseroles and even desserts depending on what foods the pulp comes from as a result of juicing.
How Is Juicing Done?
The key to juicing is freshness. Each morning process the juice you will drink that day. Place your ingredients into the juicer and process according to the recipe’s directions. It is best to drink the juice as quickly as possible after making it. However, make sure to store whatever juice is leftover from the juicing in a glass container with an airtight lid and place it in the refrigerator. The cold will keep nutrients from diminishing as fast as they would at room temperature. You should drink the juice on an empty stomach about 30 minutes before you eat your meal. Your system will absorb all of the juice’s vitamins and minerals this way. We advocate adding this fresh juice to your normal, healthy diet instead of just doing juice fasting.
If you are going to participate in fasting, you will need to make the juice at least twice a day to have it fresh enough for it not to lose any of its nutrients. In addition, provide yourself enough calories in your juices to sustain your health throughout the fasting. You may also need to drink additional water to help supplement your needs.
Place a higher percentage of vegetables in your juices than fruits because fruits contain fructose and this makes them a bit higher in calories than vegetables are. In addition, if you have any medical conditions such as diabetes, you need to monitor your sugar intake closely. Pure vegetable juice is always an option without any fruits. If you do straight fruit juice, limit your intake to once or twice a day. The joy of juicing is that you choose the ingredients that go into your juice. Always use the freshest ingredients and preferably organic ones.
How You Can Lose Weight Juicing
The first thing to remember about losing weight is you have to consume fewer calories than your body burns to do it effectively. For example, if your body only burns 1200 calories in day and you consume 1800 calories that day, you will not lose weight. This fact holds true for whatever plan that exists today for losing weight. Make sure always to be active enough to effectively burn calories each day for this fact.
You can replace 1 meal a day with fresh, raw juice to cut down on calories to help you lose weight. Remember that the rest of your dietary intake on a daily basis needs to include only healthy, low calorie, low-fat foods. This is probably the easiest way to start using juicing to lose weight. Other juicing advocates recommend juice fasting for no longer than 10 days for shedding excess pounds. Then there are those advocates who prefer replacing 2 meals and any snacks each day with fresh, raw juice. With this choice, you would have a low calorie supper. This is your choice. However, the best methods for weight loss are the ones you can stay on over the long term. Fasting is not ideal for the long term, as your cravings typically reoccur and make you veer off your path for losing weight.
In addition to juicing lowering your calorie intake, it provides your body with the necessary nutrients for it to burn calories with greater efficiency. This also leads to weight loss. However, just juicing will not do it all for you, as you also need to exercise for true success with weight loss. Activity boosts the metabolism for as much as 24 hours afterwards.
List of Ideal Foods for Juicing
You may be wondering which foods are ideal to use in juicing if you are new to the idea. Check out the list below for some ideas:
Apples
Arugula
Blueberries
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Collard Greens
Cranberries
Cucumbers
Ginger
Grapefruits
Kale
Kiwis
Mint
Lemons
Limes
Romaine lettuce and other lettuces
Oranges
Papaya
Parsley
Pineapples
Spinach
Strawberries
Tomatoes
Turnip Greens
Watermelons
Wheatgrass
These are just a small sampling of foods you can use in your juicing. Since you will be creating your own juice, the choice of foods is entirely up to you. In addition, you can add protein powder to most any juice to add to its nutrition. Do not be afraid to experiment. Make sure to balance your nutrition with your juices by adding a variety of foods to your juices. This increases your nutrient intake. However, in the next section you will find 8 recipes to start you off with juicing for weight loss.
8 of Our Best Healthy Juicing Recipes for Weight Loss
The majority of juicing advocates recommend only organic produce for making fresh, raw juices. This eliminates any possible problems from pesticides or other additives used in traditional agricultural methods. A number of choices are available for organic produce today compared to past years. Check out the following juicing recipes to learn how to use this organic produce to shed excess fat:
1. Green Delight Recipe
1 bunch of kale
1 bunch of spinach
2 whole carrots
1 large cucumber
1 small bunch of parsley
1 medium apple
Process ingredients by alternating the greens in between other ingredients. Stir to blend thoroughly and drink immediately or store in an airtight glass container in the refrigerator.
This juice provides you with calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, sodium and other nutrients ideal for the health of your body. All the ingredients provide a boost to your metabolism. Ideal juice to start the day or to drink anytime during the day.
2. Sweet-Sour Green Juice Recipe
1 cup of collard greens
1 cup of spinach
Juice from 1 lime
1 whole lemon with peel
1 piece of ginger about 1/2″ in length
1 Ambrosia apple for sweetness
Process all ingredients except the juice from the lime through your juicer. Stir in this juice after the juicing process is complete. This is a sweet and sour juice with just a little kick from the ginger. Great to drink for any meal or time of day, but is exhilarating to drink in the morning. All the vegetables and fruits in this juice help with weight loss and provide numerous nutrients.
3. Watermelon and Apple Juice Recipe
1 cup of watermelon cut into chunks (seed or seedless varieties)
1 Honeycrisp apple (or your favorite apple) cut into quarters
Process the apple after the watermelon in your juicer. Stir to ensure the two juices thoroughly blend together. This fruit juice is ideal for removing water retention. It also provides a boost in energy from the apple first thing in the morning. Both fruits are low in calories and encourage weight loss. Ideal for breakfast, snack or lunch. Avoid later in the day only because it could encourage overnight bathroom trips.
4. Kale/Apple Combo Juice Recipe
2 cups of kale that is coarsely chopped
3 medium apples quartered
1/2 cup of sweet butter lettuce leaves
Kale is great source of calcium. Apples provide vitamin A, vitamin C and other important nutrients. Sweet butter lettuce provides vitamin A, phosphorus, carbohydrates and more to nourish your body. All these elements fortify the body, which in turn helps it burn calories with added effectiveness. This leads to your shedding excess fat.
5. Spinach and Beet Juice Recipe
2 cups of baby spinach
1 medium beet
1 apple
1/8 of a head of cabbage
1 lemon
Process the cabbage and spinach in the middle of the lemon, apple and beet in the juice machine. Beets are natural fat fighters thanks to their calcium content. Cabbage is high in vitamin C and potassium. Potassium helps to flush excess fluid from the body. This juice is ideal to have even before breakfast or in place of breakfast.
6. Skinny Cocktail Recipe
2 peeled, medium oranges
1 medium beet
1/2 peeled lemon
6 carrots
1 piece of ginger root about 1″ in length
1 cup coarsely chopped kale
4 stalks of celery
Process the chopped kale after the other ingredients in your juicer. Stir the juice before drinking. You can add ice if you like it colder than it comes out of the juicer. This juice eliminates toxins, stimulates your metabolism and aids the digestive tract. Ideal to drink day or night to facilitate your loss of weight.
7. Cucumber-Kale Juice Recipe
1 large cucumber
2 handfuls of kale
6 celery stalks
1 bunch of parsley
1/2″ piece of ginger
1/4 of a lemon
Process the kale in between the cucumber and celery. This just helps the kale go through the juicer with ease. Cucumber-Kale juice will energize your body and this kicks up your metabolism enabling your body to burn calories efficiently. Cucumbers also flush excess fluids from your body. Ginger provides disease-fighting nutrients, celery provides sodium necessary for body health and lemon provides vitamin C. Drink this juice in the morning even in place of coffee to get you moving.
8. Power Juice Recipe
5 florets of cauliflower
4 florets of broccoli
4 to 5 leaves of kale
2 medium apples
1/2 cup blueberries
1 large cucumber
1/4 head of cabbage
1 lemon
Process the kale in between the harder vegetables in the juicer. It is difficult to include all the benefits with this juice because it in packed with such a large amount of beneficial nutrients from antioxidants to calcium. Each ingredient provides your body with something special to help you shed excess weight. Ideal before any meal, as a snack or meal.
These 8 delicious recipes are just a sampling of the ways you can combine healthy, fresh, raw foods into beneficial juices to help you shed your excess weight. The combinations are limitless. Use your creativity in thinking up new and exciting recipes along the way with juicing, also check out other juicing sites such as rebootwithjoe or the video below for more ideas. Remember that raw, fresh vegetable and fruit juices also are an ideal way to enhance your nutritional intake.
Juicing Video:
