JUICING
WHY JUICING?
Juicing can be a controversial topic. This happens if we unknowingly refer to 'unreliable' or 'biased' educational sources. However, this space is not dedicated for that.
I became interested in juicing in 2010 and was super daring to order my very first cold pressed juicer from South Korea through eBay! If I can recall, I went foreign as cold pressed juicer brands were unavailable in Singapore - it costed me SGD650 back then. Thanks to Google, I found one particular genuine and honest website that introduced me to the world of juicing, as its educational contents aligned very much to the Science of Nutritional Immunology.
Back then, I juiced because I love the taste of cold pressed thick juices, not so much to juice for any ailments. The juicer however, became a white elephant for 5 years - until I underwent a 23 Days juicing program. All of a sudden, I was making well over 100 Liters of cold pressed juices for myself and family for 4 months, which made it quite an extraordinary experience. I was amazed it did not break down after it took such a long holiday break. Lol!
If you have already read the food page, most people do not eat enough plant on a daily basis. If experts are constantly promoting healthy eating by incorporating more vegetables and fruits in our diet, why not consider supplementing (not replacing) our daily diet with more of it through juicing? And based on the Science of Nutritional Immunology, phytonutrients from plants have long been proven in promoting healthy functioning of the human body's immune system. I decided to give serious juicing a try, after realising I have not been feeding myself and my family 'enough' greens and fruits. Also, my health was becoming in tatters in 2020.
BENEFITS OF JUICING
Some of the benefits of juicing that I have compiled from a few 'trusted/ qualified/ experienced' juicing experts:
- An easy way to introduce a variety and greater quantity of vegetables and fruits in juice form
- The fastest way of getting nutrition (i.e. vitamins and essential minerals) into our body
- It protects heat-sensitive nutrients, hence delivering optimised micronutrients for our body
- Juicing allows easier consumption and quicker digestion of fruits and vegetables, compared to solid food that takes 4 - 6 hours to digest and absorbed by the body
- It's a great way to get kids (even some adults!) to eat their greens by disguising them in their favourite juices
- It can help with weight loss and better weight management
Here, I am sharing to consider introducing juicing as an added benefit to supplement our daily healthy plate that could be lacking vegetables and fruits. Not a substitute for whole foods.
While you may have heard of juice fasting/ detox or juice feasting, for this - it is always best to seek advice from a genuinely qualified juice expert where they are aware of your underlying health condition and help customise your juices using proven and 'safe' juice recipes.
Never believe if some experts claim juicing alone is a 'miracle cure'. Plenty of natural healthy plates packed with wholesome nutrition (coupled with perseverance and commitment) however, can be!
And, it's not the juices that detox our body. It's our organs that are doing the detox job.
HIGH SUGARS from JUICING?
You may have often heard the comment that juices has a lot of sugar! The answer is Yes and No.
It is true that juices has a lot of sugar if:
- You buy commercial packed juices off the supermarket shelves (i.e. the 'bad' sugars), and/ or
- You unknowingly picked the 'wrong' type of fruit and turning it into a 100% pure fruit juice (i.e. 'overdose' from 'natural' sugars), and
- You did not know about the 'special' juicing rule that gives you 'safe' juices.
It is true that juices will not have a lot of sugar if:
- You know the 'special' juicing rule that has been proven and tested by thousands of people globally, regarding their demographics and health conditions.
THE 'SPECIAL' JUICING RULE
This 'special' juicing rule is the 80:20 juicing rule, using 80% vegetables and 20% fruits.
I may not be a juicing expert but learning from my juicing mentor, knowing how to juice 'right' is equally important. This special formula is to avoid over-consumption of juices with a high volume of fruit to avoid potential disruption to our blood sugar levels.
Similarly, this same 80:20 rule is highly encouraged for the daily healthy plate.
IS JUICING EXPENSIVE?
If you are a beginner, you first need to invest in a good juicer. If you already have one and know about juicing, good on you!
Whether juicing is expensive depends on how we look at it. If we intend to keep the spending on current non-green items, juicing may add-on to our monthly grocery bill. But what if we consider re-allocating some of our monthly budget from non-plant foods or 'junk foods' for more greens? Would that be a different story?
It's all a choice on how we want to spend the money and time on what becomes important to us.
IS JUICING EASY?
Everyone is different, so the answer can be a Yes and No. And you do need to first learn and understand the basics to juicing.
From my personal observation on people who are new to juicing, or on some who had juiced before and gave up entirely - juicing is never easy for them because they missed focusing on what is the end goal. And you will hear more complaints from this group as everything is just 'difficult', 'troublesome' and they have 'no time' for it. Some find the washing, cutting and cleaning up too tedious or tiring, so they rather choose not to persevere for a good purpose, or - they did not have a 'proper' blueprint to reap the full benefits of juicing (just like me before).
And for those people who persevere to invest time in learning everything from scratch about juicing and the every process it entails, they are very clear of their end goal, which is for a better future health. You will never complaints from this latter group.
So is juicing easy? It's all in our mindset and attitude towards our health. I had asked myself before these 2 questions:
1. Would I invest my time and effort now (even if it takes up more of my time) for a better future health? or
2. Would I rather do nothing to improve my health and lay bed-ridden on a hospital bed or be wheelchair-bound when I grow old?
Because of my broken health in the past, I'd chose option 1 as my end goal for better health. The one reason I have decided to take juicing seriously and striving to adopt it as a lifestyle habit.
The combination of learning to juice 'right' to supplement my daily healthy plate has helped me achieve better weight management and overall better wellness. Apart from experiencing improved skin condition with some radiance, my green juices have been giving me far healthier and sustainable daily energy levels compared to before.
Having said, some people believe there are 'better' or 'time saving' options out there. It's all a personal choice.
EXTRA JUICING TIPS
Something that may interest juicing beginners, I found this an honest constructive write-up combined with some generous tips: Top 30 Juicing Mistakes
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