Choosing The Right Juicer

Adding a fresh vegetable juice into your daily routine is a terrific way to gently begin to detoxify your system. Fresh juice contains an abundance of nutrients that will energize your body, build your health and help you fight disease. Scientists are now showing that the phytonutrients found in plants may be even more important for our health than vitamins and minerals. Without these life-giving substances, found primarily in vegetable and fruit, our immune systems weaken and we become subject to imbalance. So, what are you waiting for ... get Juicy!

There are several different kinds of juicers out there, and the names alone can be confusing – centrifugal ejection, masticating, manual press, single-auger, and twin-gear press, just to name a few! My experience with daily juicing, and in working with clients has shown me that ultimately it comes down to what you’ll be juicing, cost, how easy it is to clean, and the quality of the juice it produces. My juice recipes are primarily vegetable-based and because vegetables have tougher, more fibrous cell walls than fruit does, they require greater mechanical power to render the juice. That automatically narrows your list of options. With that in mind, there are three types of juicers I recommend to my clients. They’re described below, listed from least to most expensive. 

Centrifugal Ejection Juicer

How it works: As produce is pushed through the feeder tube, it hits a spinning shredder disk, releasing the juice into the strainer basket. The basket spins at a high rate of speed, forcing the juice through it. The pulp is ejected out of the side of the machine into a collection basket.

Brand worth considering: Jack LaLanne

Price point: As low as $100 online

Pros: It’s easy to use and easy to clean, and at a good price if you’re not yet convinced you’ll be making juices on a regular basis.

Cons: This type of juicer operates at higher rpm than the other two juicers, which has two drawbacks. First, the higher rpm oxidize the produce to a greater degree and once juice starts oxidizing, it begins losing nutrients. Second, this juicer is much louder then the other models.

Dual-Stage Single-Augur Juicers

How it works: In stage 1, the juicer crushes the produce into the walls of the juicer, extracting some of the juice. The pulp then continues on to stage 2, in which its pushed through a finer screen to pull out more of the juice.

Brands and models worth considering: Solo Star II and the Omega 8003

Price point: As low as $219 online

Pros: Lower rpm translate into (1) less oxidation and thus a higher-quality, more nutrient-rich juice and (2) a quieter machine.

Cons: They’re more expensive and slightly harder to clean than the Jack LaLanne. (The Omega is easier to clean than the Solo Star, but it costs slightly more.)

Twin-Gear Press Juicer

How it works: The produce is pushed through two gears that shred and then squeeze the pulp to render juice.

Model worth considering: Green Star

Price point: As low as $399 online.

Pros: The gears turn at a very low rpm, minimizing the oxidation of the juice. This model is ideal for people who want to go beyond juicing and make nut butters, sorbets, apple sauces, and so on.

Cons: Price, the manual pressure required to feed the fruits and vegetables into the machine, and the fact that these machines have the most pieces to clean after juicing. 

Be sure to check out the website http://discountjuicers.com/ for some great deals. Once your juicer arrives, you'll be ready to get juicy! Here's a few recipes to get you started:

Miracle Detox Juice

1 beet

1 carrot

¼ inch ginger root

1 apple

1 pear

Ultimate Cleanser

1 cup broccoli

¾ cup kale

1 cup parsley

1 apple

2 sticks celery

Add pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds or phsyllium husks to help with constipation

Colon Cleanse Juice Cocktail

1 cucumber

1 handful spinach

1 handful parsley

½ medium lemon

Or try

No Really, I Need to Poop!

2 handfuls of parsley

2 ribs of celery

2 apples

1 pear

Beauty Juice

1 medium parsnip

1 green pepper

Small bunch watercress

½ cucumber

1 tbs mint to garnish

Lymphatic Detoxer

1 ripe jalepeno or orange habanero pepper

5 ribs bok choy

10 kale leaves