Sometimes I start writing about a subject and realize a few minutes into it that it is too large of a topic to cover in one healthy eating tip. This is one of those cases. There are two things to talk about concerning juicing. The first is the mechanics of juicing, and the second is the rationale or reasons to juice or not juice. Today I am writing about the mechanics of juicing, and next week will discuss the rationale for juicing.
When I first got involved with lifestyle modification in June of 2003, I tried absolutely everything that I heard might be even moderately good for my health. Juicing was no exception. Naturally, I went to it as a chef and mastered the production of juice.
There are two different types of juicers; centrifuge or blenders and cold press or masticating juicers.
Centrifuge juicers are blenders that spin and cut with a blade. Not all blenders are the same! Less powerful blenders have trouble with large pieces of hard vegetables and never really separate the juice from vegetable or fruit solids. Therefore, most centrifugal juicers employ a filter that the juice goes through to separate the juice from the pulp. You can purchase a juicer that looks pretty cool but is only suitable for juicing. These are very inexpensive but don’t expect your $49.99 juicer to last very long. It might last as long as your interest in juicing does, maybe not. I bought one of these and quickly realized that it was nothing but a weak blender with a screen. If you purchase a high-quality blender, it can be a valuable kitchen tool that you also use for blending. If you are serious about centrifuge blending, then buy the best machine you can afford. The gold standard for blenders is called a Vitamix. These blenders will chop and juice whole vegetables like apples, carrots, cucumbers and pineapples quickly and entirely without raising a sweat! As with everything, you get what you pay for. These buggers run between $300 and $700 depending on how much power the motor spins with. Professional models have two horsepower motors and cost $700 or more. Those will chop pretty much anything. Cheaper Vitamix models will chop almost anything but will labor a bit on things like whole carrots. Better to chop those up some to help the machine along. It will last longer that way. I suggest the Vitamix 5200 as a good compromise between price and motor power. The one I purchased in 2003 is still in my kitchen right now. You should only need to buy one in a lifetime. A Vitamix also raises the production of a blended cocktail like a margarita or daiquiri to an art form, and that alone is enough reason to have one!
Single-purpose juicers all seem to have a lot of moving parts and are difficult to clean. A blender, on the other hand, runs underwater and is clean in two seconds. The speed of the entire juicing process with a powerful blender is one of the main advantages. If you are efficient in a kitchen, you can be all cleaned up and reading the paper with a glass of juice in under five minutes! A single-purpose juicer will take you twice that long or more to just clean.
I chose to start with a masticating juicer because centrifuge juicers spin at a very high rate of speed, causing oxidation that destroys enzymes and nutrients, especially in antioxidants, which is one of the primary purposes of juicing. That is the main disadvantage of centrifuge juicing. I was also making juice from something called wheatgrass that I grew on my back porch, and you need a masticating juicer for that.
Cold press or masticating juicers retain the most nutrients possible by moving very slowly, thus not allowing any oxidation. Masticating juicers all have a platform that holds the material that you run through the juicer, a tube-like mechanism with an auger in it, and places for both juice and pulp to come out. I am not suggesting you purchase this juicer, but it allows you to see all of the parts and functions. What is evident by looking at this machine is that it is a nightmare to clean! I can verify that. Sometimes just getting it apart can take 4-5 minutes. Cleaning a masticating juicer is such a chore that it can deter you from juicing. You have to be highly motivated to drag this thing out every day!
As I was learning about nutrition on my own before going to school to become a registered dietitian, I learned about the benefits of fiber almost immediately. What I didn’t realize when I started juicing with a masticating juicer is that the pile of pulp you toss away contains all of the fiber that is in the vegetables and fruits you just juiced!
So, is juicing something worth doing? As with everything, there are at least two good answers to that, but that is a topic for next week!