Thinking about giving juicing a try?
Juicing is definitely a good way to get more fruit and vegetables into your diet. If you find it hard to get your daily recommended intake of fruits and vegetables or if you’re not into fruits and vegetables, then juicing is most likely a good solution for you. It’s a great way to incorporate lots of nutrition, vitamins, and minerals into your daily diet. Using fresh fruits and vegetables to create your own juice ensures that you are getting the vitamins and nutrients you want or need without all the sugar or preservatives.
A majority of health conscious people are adding freshly juiced fruits and vegetables to their diet for a variety of reasons; either to supplement their diet, detoxify their bodies or for other health reasons. Know that juicing ALONE is not a cure-all for ailments. Lifestyle changes, a healthy eating, exercise and a juice regimen can improve or even reverse some health conditions.
To get the most out of your homemade juices, you want to ensure that you always have the ingredients that you need; else this can severely limit your juice production and minimize the health benefits you’d get from juicing.
Unlike blending, when you juice your fruits and vegetables, you don’t get the fiber that you would if you were to eat the fruits and vegetables whole. Juicing machines extract the juice and leave the pulp behind. The pulp is what contains the fiber and the fiber is what fill your stomach and make your body think that you’ve eaten a heavy meal. The fiber in vegetables keeps you feeling full for a long time and if you’re on a juice-only diet, you may not get enough fiber or protein to make you full and may be tempted to rebel.
If you’re not getting enough protein you may also be losing muscle mass. Make your juice more balanced by adding protein sources like almond milk, Greek yogurt, flaxseed, and peanut butter. If you don’t want to miss out on the fiber either, you can add some of the pulp back into the juice or use it in a cooking recipe.
Since the number of calories in your juice depends on what’s in it, consider vegetables that grow underground like carrots or beets contain a higher level of natural sugars than above ground veggies. While natural sugars are good for you, they must be taken in moderation like anything else. Calories may become a concern if you’re using a variety of fruits to make only pure fruit juice. If you use vegetables to juice, the calories will less and you can add an apple or kiwi for flavor. So keep a proper blend of upper and lower-ground vegetables, as well as fruits to prevent overdoing the sugars.
Juicing at home gives you control over what goes into your body and if you want to get healthy and feel better then juicing, along with a healthy diet and exercise is a great way to reach your goals.
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