Juicing For Beginners: 101 Guide for Fitness Enthusiasts

Welcome to our 101 guide to juicing for beginners.

If you’re here, you must have heard about the benefits of fruits from a variety of sources. Are you in need of a passive way to integrate it into your diet? Or are you in love with multiple fruits, and you need a way to incorporate them for something tastier and more nutritious? Juicing offers an answer to most of your fruit and vegetable needs. 

The benefits of freshly juiced fruits and vegetables are worth significant attention. Aside from its refreshing taste, it also offers a lot of health benefits. This article is for you if you are a beginner who wants to get familiar with various juicing processes. However, it does not exclude people that intend to improve their juicing skills. 

What is Juicing? 

First off, you must understand what juicing is before attempting to try it out. Juicing is not just about drinking your fruits and vegetables. It is a lot more than that! 

Juicing is the process where you extract the natural liquids from raw fruits and vegetables. This natural liquid contains every nutritional constituent that you need in your fruits and vegetables. This liquid extract includes anti-inflammatory compounds, minerals, antioxidants, vitamins, and other essential phytonutrients. 

Don’t get confused with the term “liquid extracts.” This term doesn’t mean you are discarding a substantial part of your fruits and vegetables. Every edible part of raw fruits is beneficial to your health. All you do in juicing is crushing the edible parts of fruits and vegetables to form a liquid extract. Consequently, it releases the nutrient for the body’s use.    

During juicing, the cells of the fruits break up. Consequently, the inbound nutrients of your fruits and vegetables are available in a more absorbable liquid form. All beneficial constituents like minerals, vitamins, chlorophyll, amino acids, enzymes, and other phytonutrients are available in the resulting liquid. 

In summary, juicing helps you to get more nutrients from raw fruits and vegetables while leaving your body with lesser absorption work to do. 

Benefits of Juicing 

Are you wondering why juicing is considered a smart option for taking fruits? The reason is simple. Juicing comes with a lot of health and refreshing benefits. Although the regular eating of fruits is healthy, you might not get as many nutritional and health benefits as juicing. Below are some of the benefits of juicing. 

• Juicing allows you to take many fruit and vegetable options at the same time.
• It provides access to more nutrients than other forms of fruit consumption. 
• Juicing leaves the body with lesser work because the nutrients are available in a more absorbable form.
• It offers a more passive option of integrating fruits and vegetables into your regular diet. 
• Juicing helps with weight loss, glowing skin and gives a refreshing feeling.
• It provides a faster and more convenient way of preparing raw fruits and vegetables.
• It serves as a natural alternative to packaged juice that might have artificial additives. 
• Juicing helps those with stomach irregularities to have access to as many fruits as they need to meet their dietary needs.

What Can You Juice? 

Juicing is not limited to fruits alone. Besides the fact that you can blend different types of fruits, you can also juice fruits with other compounds. You can combine various fruits like orange, mangoes, apples, pears, cherries, watermelon, and other regular fruits. 

You can also juice various veggies (vegetables) like cucumber, spinach, wheatgrass, carrots, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and other vegetables. It is also possible to juice various herbs, such as ginger, mint, lemon, parsley, basil, and other spices. 

You can juice each category singly or together in pairs. Before embarking on your juicing journey, it is essential to know that your blend combination will determine the resulting taste. Likewise, the combination of the blend will influence the potential benefits you will get. This consideration is one of the primary reasons why many people prefer to add herbs to their juicing ingredients. 

Juicing Tips for Beginners 

Like every other life skill, it takes a lot of practice to become a juicing pro. However, blind trials might only see you going around in a circle without precisely hitting what you want. 

Knowing the right things to put in place significantly as a newbie will help you become a pro sooner than you expect. Similarly, it will help you make the right combination to get your desired results. 

Below are some vital tips that can help beginners have a tasty, refreshing, and healthy juicing experience. 

1. Use Fresh and Healthy Fruits and Vegetables 

Never forget that your ingredients will determine your results. Aside from the fact that fresh fruits will give you a new taste, taking an unhealthy fruit is far worse than not taking fruits in the first place. Hence, it is essential to ensure the quality of the ingredients you intend to use. 

So, how do you know a healthy fruit or vegetable? Telling healthy fresh fruits apart from bad ones is not rocket science. Check the body of the fruit and ensure that there is no cut. Ensure that there is no sign of an infestation of parasites or insects. Color is another powerful indicator of fresh and healthy fruits or vegetables. 

2. Use a Good and Reliable Juicer

Next to sourcing for fresh and healthy fruits is getting a good juicer. A bad juicer will undoubtedly leave you frustrated with the juicing process. Besides, it might not give you your expected result or taste. A good juicer should be easy to use and efficient. The most expensive juicer is not sure to be the best and vice versa. The essential move is to ensure that you get a high value for money. 

Cost, durability, noise level, juicing speed, and ease of cleaning and maintenance are some of the factors to consider while choosing a reliable juicer.  

3. Get Creative with Fruits and Veggies 

Now to the part most people have been waiting to read. But sorry to disappoint you, getting creative with fruits does not mean you should blindly mix fruits. It takes a deep understanding of each fruit or vegetable’s nutrition and flavor contribution in the mix. 

In the latter part of this article, we will provide an insight into the role of various common ingredients in juicing. Aside from creating your recipe, it can also help you to imagine and create any taste you want. You can also make any nutritional mix of your desire. 

4. You Don’t Have To Go Crazy About Fruits

Going unnecessarily crazy about fruits is another common mistake beginners make with juicing. As much as juicing allows you to mix multiple fruits, it is practically impossible to integrate all fruits and vegetables. In fact, overloading your juice with complementing fruits might cause more harm than good. 

What does this mean? Try as much as possible to be moderate with your ingredients. If you intend to add a massive load of fruits and veggies, you can go for less sugary options like berries. Light fruit load can still take up more versatile options of fruits. 

5. Identify the Needed Parts of the Fruits

Not all parts of raw fruits and vegetables are suitable for consumption. Some parts are not edible, and some pieces of the fruit might not be good enough for your juicing mix. Remove seeds that are not edible or those that don’t have any significant contribution to your taste or nutrients. Consider removing other parts like the stalk, unwanted leaf, peels, and so on. 

Similarly, you can select the specific part of the fruit you want. Even though all the fruits’ features might be edible, you can still choose to discard some parts. You might discard these parts for personal reasons or dietary demands. For instance, both the skin and flesh of apple fruits are edible. Some people choose to peel and discard the skin, while some prefer it together. Others only go for the skin, discarding the flesh. 

How to Store Your Juice Properly 

Storage is another crucial part of juicing that you shouldn’t overlook. Long-standing juices are not as healthy as fresh ones. When you make your juice without proper storage, a process known as oxidation will set in. This process will start making the juice lose its nutrients in the presence of light and air. 

It is best to immediately drink the juice, but you can still store it for later, using suitable storage methods. It is best to get a sealed jar like a glass beverage set to prevent light and air from making it lose its nutrients. It is most appropriate to keep it refrigerated during this period. 

Nevertheless, it is not advisable to keep fruit and vegetable juice for long regardless of your storage method. 

How to Make the Perfect Juice: Creating Your Recipe 

As mentioned earlier, understanding each ingredient’s contribution will help you create a perfect mix. It will help you become flexible with the juicing process. Likewise, you will become deliberate about what you are creating, rather than making trial and error. 

Below are easy steps to help you create a perfect mix.

1. With the Base 

The base of your juice is fruits and vegetables with high water content. It must also be easy to digest or aid digestion. They form the larger percentage of the liquid part of your mix. Some ideal base options include;

• Cucumber 
• Watermelon 
• Bok choy
• Celery 
• Romaine lettuce 

2. Integrate the Greens 

The Green recipes in your juice are usually the most nutritious. The greens aim to increase the nutrient concentration of your blend. Some of the best green options include; 

• Kale 
• Spinach 
• Swiss chard 
• Collard greens
• Various herb option (e.g., mint and parsley)

3. Add Natural Sweeteners 

The natural sweeteners add a refreshing taste and flavor. They serve as a significant sugar source for your mixture. Some of these fruits can even add more nutrients. Some of the best natural sweeteners to include in your juice are;

• Green apples
• Pineapples 
• Oranges 
• Mangoes 
• Banana 
• Watermelon
• Ripe pawpaw 

4. Add Veggies 

The best vegetables for your juice are those that are naturally sweet. Some of the best options include;

• Sweet potatoes 
• Carrots 
• Beets 
• Bell peppers
• Butternut squash 

5. Add Herbs to Make it More Healthy

Herbs will make your juice better with a detoxifying effect. You can even include specific herbs to meet individual health and dietary needs. Some ideal herbs include; 

• Aloe Vera
• Turmeric 
• Garlic
• Sprouts 
• Ginger 

Here you go! Mixing each of these parts in a precise ratio will help you create a limitless number of juice recipes. It is essential to note that the fruit options are not limited to those listed under each category. There are more available options. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Juicing

Do you still need some clarifications about juicing? You are not alone. Below are some of the frequently asked questions about juicing. 

Can you lose weight with juicing? 

Yes, juicing is one of the effective ways of using fruits for weight loss. It significantly reduces your calorie intake by filling a significant space in your diet. The lower your calorie intake, the more comfortable it is to lose weight. 

What happens when you start juicing? 

You start feeding your body with various nutrient options once you start juicing, and it helps to detoxify your entire body system, particularly your organs. You begin to grow healthier tissues, acquire increased energy levels, relieve pain and ache, improved your immune system, and more mental clarity. 

Is it advisable to drink juice on an empty stomach? 

Drinking juice on an empty stomach is not a bad idea. It is one of the best ways to take your juice for effective results. However, it is best to take juice 20 minutes before a meal or two hours after a meal. 

A Final Word on Juicing for Beginners

Juicing provides you access to a world of limitless possibilities with fruits and vegetables. It has a lot of health benefits compared to the single consumption of fruits. Identifying the beauty of juicing is one step; doing it the right way is equally essential. This guide will help beginners on their juicing journey; we hope it helps you too!