Want to start to introduce juicers into your diet but don’t know where to start? Here is a quick look at the two type of ways to get greens into your diet.

GREEN JUICERS

To make a green juice, you will need to purchase a juicer. People at  https://naturopress.com.au/collections/commercial-juicers can guide you on this. The benefits of juicing, are that the fiber which is unable to be digested by the human body has been removed, allowing your body to have immediate access to all the nutrients contained in the vegetables you are juicing. Little digestion is required, making juices great for those with compromised digestion.

With green juices the body gets access to a much larger quantity of nutrients than through every day food, because the fiber has been removed and you can easily drink more than you can eat. You want to use very little fruit, carrots or beetroots as these become pure sugar to the body without their fiber to slow their absorption. Stick to green vegetables such as leafy greens, broccoli, cabbage, celery, cauliflower, zuccini, etc – the list is endless. When you do add fruit or root vegetables such as apple, carrot, beetroot, don’t allow these to make up any more than a quarter of your juice, this will avoid your juice becoming a sugar cocktail.

Cleaning a juicer takes more time than a blender!

GREEN SMOOTHIES

To make a green smoothie, you need a jug blender, the benefits with smoothies are that you do take in the fiber, which we need in our diets to support digestive function. Green smoothies are also much quicker to make and easier to clean and so can be made within minutes.

To make green smoothies, you only use the leafy parts of any vegetable, such as the leaves of celery, leaves of the beetroot, leaves of cauliflower, kale leaves, spinach, parsley, lettuce, coriander etc. Initially don’t use more than one or two variations of greens as the combinations may be too strong for your digestion. Unlike juicing, with smoothies, you can add fruit, and avoid the sugar hit, that occurs with juicing, because you are blending the whole fruit with its fiber. Although you still want to watch that it dosen’t become a fruit smoothie instead of a green smoothie, so add a piece of fruit and increase if needed. If you are a beginner you may like to start with a couple of pieces of fruit, which will sweeten it enough until you get used to the greens.

Green smoothies may not be well tolerated by those with certain digestives issues, even though the fiber has been broken down, it can still be challenging with some conditions – its a case of you need it, but can’t quite handle it yet, till digestion begins to improve. Generally they are great for adding extra fiber and nutrients to the diet, quick to make (and quick to clean the blender!) and quite filling and so you can replace a meal, ideally breakfast which will assist detoxification.

A QUICK OVERVIEW OF SOME OF THE BENEFITS OF JUICERS AND SMOOTHIES?

– They can reduce sugar cravings

– They can reduce food cravings

– They are an integral part of improving and increasing detoxification

– They can assist with weight loss

-They provide high nutrient intake for low calorie consumption

– They increase energy

– They can reduce inflammation and support the immune system

– Cabbage juice positively impacts ulcers

– The Gerson Insitute have been using juices as the core part of their cancer therapy for years

TIPS AND TRICKS

– You can can add superfoods in, such as spirulina, barley grass, wheat grass, red berry powders, bee pollen, various powdered herbs

– Add garlic if you have cough, cold, flu or if you have high blood pressure or high cholesterol

– Use organic produce if possible – otherwise nutrients don’t become the only thing you get when juicing/blending, you also get a high

– If you find the greens too overpowering, add lemon or lime to take the edge off

– Use pure water to your green smoothies, ice and mint to make them refreshing

– Add some coconut water if you need those extra electrolytes

– The sooner you drink them the fresher they are (they can last for 24 hours in the fridge)

– Juicers and Smoothies should be covered and kept in air tight jars (the less oxygen and light they are exposed to, the fresher they will stay)

– Juicing tumeric, with lemon/lime makes a great anti inflammtory drink

Enjoy 🙂