If you’ve noticed one of your co-workers walking around looking zen, glowing with health and having noticeably lost a few pounds recently, chances are you’ve a juicer in your midst!
We’ve talked before here about the questions we regularly get when conducting our fruit delivery around Dublin city, like ‘are there any easier or tastier ways to get more fruit in?’. Lack of variety seems to be a recurring theme.
So with that in mind, what is juicing, and why is it starting to become so mainstream?
Firstly, it’s important to say that we aren’t advocating ‘juice diets’. Without the required knowledge, these craze diets can be dangerous, ill thought out and often defeat their own purpose (many follow the diets for a short period, see some weight loss, and then go straight back to their own diet).
However, embracing the juicing revolution by doing it once a day can add another way to deliver some fruit into your diet, clean up what you eat and without making a drastic change.
Blending v Juicing
So what’s the difference between blending and juicing? Well, when juicing, the machine extracts the juice (this is the water and most of the nutrients the produce contains), leaving behind the pulp. When blending, there is no left-over pulp. Blenders pulverize the whole produce to make a smoothie. Of course, both are great, but when you juice you are removing the insoluble fibre – the pulp. The theory goes that fibre can slow down the absorption of nutrients. When you juice, you are extracting up to 70% of the nutrition right into your glass, and without the insoluble fibre your body absorbs 100% of these nutrients.
The Benefits?
If we take it as a given that we should all be eating a variety of colourful, leafy and tasty greens, fruits and veggies each day, yet most find it a struggle, juicing can help. It’s a fun and different way to improve your diet. Think about it. Would you be able to eat 8 whole kale leaves, 1 large cucumber, 2 apples, a lemon and a large handful of spinach in one sitting? Probably not, but you can drink all of it at once!
Juicing also offers many life-enhancing health benefits including a faster, more efficient way to absorb immune boosting nutrients naturally found in fruits and vegetables. It provides a way to access digestive enzymes typically locked away in the fiber matrix of whole fruits and vegetables. Most commercial juices are processed and lacking in nutrition while freshly juiced fruits and vegetables are loaded with an abundance of vitamins, minerals and nutrients.
NutriBullet
There are plenty of excellent, low cost and easy to use juicers on the market at the moment. A good juicer really is half the battle, and will help you embrace the great habit. Perhaps the best known of these is the ‘NutriBullet’. It claims to ‘break down ingredients in to their most nutritious, most absorptive state’ and indeed ‘extract superfood’. While these claims might be a little OTT, it is quick, easy to clean and most importantly, relatively affordable. It also comes with a handy recipe book, with plenty of great options for tasty juices.
Oh, and it’s easy to carry to and from work too, so when our fruit delivery comes in once a week, you’ll have some nice easy ideas for juices.
Other, more high tech juicers on the market can be found at Juicers.ie, an excellent site with a nice selection. As a rule of thumb, you should be looking for slower speed juicers, or ‘masticating’ (careful!), juicers. A masticating juicer means you are getting the best juice possible in terms of yield, nutrients, flavour and colour. It ‘chews’ the fruit or vegetable, breaking down the fibres at a slower speed, giving you a higher yield, nutrient-rich, living juice. These are the only type of juicer able to juice the superfood wheatgrass, and thought they may cost a few bob, they’re worth it. These are the types of juicers that the pros use. Try Super Chef if you’re looking to splash out this Christmas!
The benefits of juicing are obvious, and juice cafes are popping up across Dublin city and elsewhere. But these can be expensive, and difficult to get to daily. So what better way to save a few bob, use our fruit basket deliveries in the smartest way, and get more fruit into your diet this Winter?
Take a look at juicing. We promise, you’ll find it helpful, easy and most importantly, tasty!
