Frequently Asked Questions
What greens are easiest to juice?
For beginners it’s best to start with spinach, swiss chard and lettuce. You can find a variety of lettuces in the supermarket and or farmers market. Some varieties are romaine, red leaf, green leaf, cos, boston etc. Avoid iceberg lettuce, they lack nutrients.
What can I add to sweeten my juices?
Many options are available, apples, pears, citrus, pineapples, carrots, plums, berries kiwi, lemon, limes, stevia and more. When you are first starting out, feel free to add as much apples and pears to make it suitable to your taste. Over time your taste buds will adjust and you’ll find that you wont need to add a lot fruits. Diabetics should stick to low glycemic fruits like apples and pears to sweeten their juices.
How fast or slow can I consume my juice?
A general-rule when you make your juice is to drink it right away; when exposed to light and oxygen nutrients begin to oxidize. If you are not drinking it right away store in an airtight mason jar for later consumption.
Can I refrigerate, how long?
You can refrigerate your juices, just place them in an airtight mason jar. Juices made with a masticating juicer can last up 2-3 days. If made with centrifugal juicers drink within 24 hours.
Why is juicing better than store bought juice?
Store bought juices like Naked and Odwalla are owned by Coca Cola and Pepsi, they don’t know anything about health. But really these juices are pasteurized, heated to the point where all the minerals, vitamins and nutrients are gone. They are loaded questionable ingredients and they are very high in sugar. Drinking those juices will cause your blood sugar to spike and then followed with a crash. Fresh juices provide natural energy, vitamins, minerals, living enzymes, nutrients and more. You can read more on the benefits of juicing here.
What are the best juice combos?
Keep it simple. Start with a base of celery and or cucumber or coconut water. Select one type of leafy greens and sweeten with fruit. An example, cucumbers, apples and parsley. Very easy and refreshing.
Is juicing enough or should I eat something with it?
Depends on your body. If you find that you are hungry after drinking your juice, feel free to add a light meal after. You can combine your fresh juice with fruits or a large vegetable salad. Drink your juice first and follow with food 15-20 minutes after.
What juice do you suggest for those with diabetes?
Green juices are perfect for diabetics. You can drink pure vegetable juices or you can sweeten with low glycemic fruits like green apples, green pears, limes & lemons. Stevia is also a great addition for diabetics. Make sure to consult your doctor beforehand.
What can I do with leftover pulp?
There are many ways you can use leftover pulp. You can create delicious flax crackers, muffins, cakes especially with carrot pulp. Additionally you can compost your pulp.
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I use a nutria bullet and so far it works for me my question is my juices are making me gassy what could be causing this?
oh, I will see if the goat will eat that tomorrow. 🙂
Same here, when I still had chickens. The goats loooooved the carrot apple pulp too.
I feed the leftover pulp to my chickens 🙂 They love it.
Love your website – really informative. We have started juicing every day and loving it – but am worried about the sugar levels. Diabetes runs in my family and I would hate to think that I am doing something which I think is healthy (and I really do feel the benefits – but where in the long run it could be more detrimental? Please advise? Should I steer clear from using a lot of apples in recipes? (Jason Vale's recipes uses a lot of apples & pineapples along with the veggies? Thanks x
Mariam, I have purchased your book but it has not arrived yet and I have a question regarding your recipe for arterial cleanse. I would like to add dandelion greens and red grapes and would solicit your advice if this would be helpful to the cleanse and what quantities you would advise. Thank you in advance for your consideration of these questions and keep up your good work on green juicing. JLCripps
Hi James. Thank you for picking up my book. Greatly appreciated. Juice grapes alone or 1 cup per juice works. As far as dandelion greens go, a little goes a long way. They are very bitter, so I would recommend starting with 4 leaves per 16oz juice. Let me know if there are any questions you may have.
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/guide/detox-diets-purging-myths
Jessica…there is NO such thing as "toxin removal" when it comes to juicing or anything like that. Your liver and kidneys do ALL the detoxing necessary. You VERY LIKELY caught a viral or bacterial infection from someone and it coincided with your juicing.
I started juicing everyday about two weeks ago. Last week, I started to have cold symptoms – cough with phelm, but it wasn't too bad. Yesterday, though, my detox symptoms jumped out of control. Chills, sweats, sore throat, horrible coughing fits, mucous coming up in the throat…I am assuming these a all detox symptoms but I feel so horrible, I can't even function. I was drinking one green drink a day, about 2-3 cups worth…mostly the same ingredients, though I have started to make them more simplistic, but these are the ingredients I used: spinach, cucumber, celery, kale, carrots, lemon, ginger, parsley and an apple. Today was my first day not to juice, and I stayed home from work to recuperate. My question is, what am I doing wrong? Am I drinking too much to start off? How should I start drinking a juice a day where my body can handle the toxin removal? I want to make this change a permanent one, but I'm not sure how to go forward now! Please advise! Thank you!
I started juicing everyday about two weeks ago. Last week, I started to have cold symptoms – cough with phelm, but it wasn't too bad. Yesterday, though, my detox symptoms jumped out of control. Chills, sweats, sore throat, horrible coughing fits, mucous coming up in the throat…I am assuming these a all detox symptoms but I feel so horrible, I can't even function. I was drinking one green drink a day, about 2-3 cups worth…mostly the same ingredients, though I have started to make them more simplistic, but these are the ingredients I used: spinach, cucumber, celery, kale, carrots, lemon, ginger, parsley and an apple. Today was my first day not to juice, and I stayed home from work to recuperate. My question is, what am I doing wrong? Am I drinking too much to start off? How should I start drinking a juice a day where my body can handle the toxin removal? I want to make this change a permanent one, but I'm not sure how to go forward now! Please advise! Thank you!
You don't have enough Pork in your system…you can't cut bacon cold turkey…are you crazy woman? It's that or not enough SEX!
Geez, I thought this was on her page, not mine! Haha, Jai Rodriguez!
Hi Jessica. Great questions. You don't have to drink 2-3 cups in one sitting. You can space them out. I'm not sure of the proportions of leafy greens you are using in your juices. Aim for no more than 3-4 kale leaves per juice. Leafy greens and juicing overall can be very detoxifying. The beneficial nutrients enter the body, and the body reacts by dumping toxins. Often times people are unaware that the toxins have to come out. If they continue to stay in your body, many of the symptoms you mentioned above will occur. It is critical whether you're eating, juicing or juice fasting to make sure you are also eliminating aka pooping daily. Consider adding in psyllium husk, chia seeds and or flax seeds to your diet. They help get things moving in the colon. In addition to juicing, its very important to also eat your fruits and vegetables. Hope this helps.
Can I use my blender for now and make them as smoothies. What is the difference. Don't you get more vitamins by blending the whole fruit or veg?
You can. You get more vitamins and nutrients from the juice. Juicing requires more produce than a smoothie. The juicer extracts all the nutrients out, for your body to easily utilize within 15 mins. Smoothies are the whole fruit and vegetables blended. The body has to breakdown and extract the nutrients. This take 2-3 hours. —> http://www.greenjuiceaday.com/juicing-benefits/