7 Tips For First Time Juicers

As of late I’ve been juicing my butt off, and I mean that literally!

Juicing is the best way for me to start a new and intense exercise regimen without starving my body. With juicing I can be sure I’m getting all the vitamins and nutrients my body needs to prevent it from going into starvation mode. If you’ve ever been on a strict diet and rigorous exercise routine and suddenly you just stop loosing weight or maybe even start gaining it, your body most likely went into starvation mode. 

Well it’s happened to me and it can be frustrating. Putting in all the work and discipline with stagnant results can feel defeating!

When you have an unusual drop in calories with an increase in activity, your body tries to hold on for dear life, it feels starved. Your metabolism drops and you’re stuck at a plateau.

If this has never happened to you good, but before it does you should  consider juicing. You get all the vitamins and nutrients from a bunch of veggies that you would not be able to ingest otherwise.

Juicing leaves your body wanting for nothing!

Here’s some tips to help first time juicers or anyone who may be thinking about taking the leap. 

1. Juice a little Ginger

This is especially important for those of us with weak stomachs! When I first started juicing greens I would immediately fell nauseated. When I started adding ginger however, no matter how disgusting the drink was the nausea would be warded off. Not only does ginger counteract nausea it’s great for indigestion, heartburn, gas,  and bloating. Just be careful and don’t use too much I made that mistake and ended up with an inedible too hot to trot juice. You only need a half an inch of the fresh ginger root to 1 cup of fresh juice.

2. Chew your juice

It can be VERY tempting as a beginner to want to hurry and gulp down the fresh juice! I would do this often to avoid tasting all those concentrated raw and non seasoned veggies. :/That also lead to instant heartburn and a not so comfortable feeling belly. When you eat a piece of fruit or carrot you chew it up, as you chew your glands release saliva. If you remember anything that happened in Anatomy class besides sexual functioning, than you should remember the importance of saliva for proper digestion and absorption. Just swish it around a bit or move your jaw up and down to get those mouth juices flowing!

3. Wash those veggies GOOD

If you’ve ever really looked through greens and fresh herbs before you wash them you’ll clearly see bunches of dirt! Be very thorough with your produce cleaning. Take some time to carefully sort through and clean your fruits and veggies. I use a natural produce soap and scrub them bad boys GOOD. For my fresh herbs and greens, I cover in water, let them sit a while and wait for all the dirt to float off. Remove  the greens  from the bowl and rinse off any missed dirt. 

5. Clean up

Juicing has tremendous benefits but if you are as busy and time crunched as me, the time and effort needed to juice can sometimes be a bit discouraging. You have to wash your produce, peel (i.e lemon), and cut. Then after you finish juicing them you are left with some big machine with pulp and misplaced juice hiding in nooks and crannies you can’t possibly reach! 

To save some hassle make sure you tend to the cleaning immediately. I let mine soak in a sink bath of warm water and dish soap. That way I’m not rushing through the cleaning process and missing pieces of leftover fruit that will turn into mold. Fill the water so the juicer can be fully emerged into the  bath and let it sit for a few minutes. If you have to leave,  that’s fine  just make sure to clean it when you get back. I promise this step will save you a lot of time and frustration later. 

6. Use the pulp

I was raised on a no waste diet. Meaning you eat everything on your plate and we don’t throw away food. It’s kind of stuck with me which makes it hard to see all that good pulp go to waste. So I use it!

Juice the veggies or fruits you want to use, remove it from the juicer and continue juicing. 

I use leftover pulp to make vegetable broths, muffins, cakes, or sauces.  This Five Spice Carrot Muffin recipe goes perfect with my morning tea and utilizes leftover and essential pulp. Fiber! Fiber! Fiber!

7. Add just a LITTLE something sweet!

 Raw veggies can be hard to stomach if you are not used to it. In the beginning I would just add a bunch of pears and carrots to help add some sweetness to an often bitter juice.

Be careful!

You need to pay attention to the amount of sweet produce you use, it will spike your sugar (insulin spike)!

Let me give you an example coming from a girl who has no major blood sugar issues. When  I was new at juicing I loved carrots, and would juice those bad boys to death! Well quickly I started having headaches, dizziness and just overall discomfort.  I knew it had something to do with the juice. I was spiking my blood glucose levels exponentially. Needless to say I fell back on the carrots and fruits. 

I still use something sweet. As a general rule of thumb no more than 1/5 of my fresh juice will contain a sweet produce. 

Do you juice?

What’s some tips you’ve learned along the way?

Plus try this Supa-Powers Green Juice, it’ll give you… SUPA-POWERS