Juicy News, Juicy News (part 2)

So I promised a follow-up post today, complete with a list (not exhaustive, but pretty long!) of veggies, fruits, and herbs to juice. But first, let's walk through my dinner plans for tonight.

This is my beautiful Breville Ikon Multi-Speed Juice Fountain. 900 watts of power, baby! (Excuse the crude-ish photos, I wanted to get this out today as promised...

So shiny! Ooh!!! Ahh!!! (Paper towels not included.)

Here is what a typical basket of veggies & fruit look like before they meet the teeth of Mr. Breville.

Yep, a whole head of romaine... NOT that whole piece of ginger, but I cut a piece off from that. And then I decided to throw in half of a lime as well. Apple, cranberry, celery, carrot, romaine, spinach, ginger, lime.

Next up, "Gentlemen, start your engines!" I juice all of this at the appropriate speeds, and then it looks like this:

Kind of pretty, like a mural of wildflowers painted across an Italian field... or something.

And then... Get out the ole cowbell or triangle to call the troops in from the fields... Dinner is served!

A nice tall glass of Shut the H... Oh. Wait. This isn't Happy Gilmore... If you haven't seen that movie, sorry.
A nice glass of green goodness! Tonight's juice is a little sweet, more tart, from the lime and cranberries, and delicious! 

So, below I have compiled a list of the many veggies, fruits, and herbs that I could think of to juice. I'm sure there are more, but this is a great start for those of you who want to give it a go. There are also some tips at the end, to help along the way. I tried a recipe once. It was so stinkin' easy that I pretty quickly gave up looking up recipes and decided to just try out my own combos. You learn how much makes the right amount of juice pretty quickly. But there are a few recipes that are always great to have in stock, because of their properties. I look here for those. Darren and Veronica Haynes are the site authors of "Juicer Recipes Now" and they have some great juicing recipes, like the Alkaline Juice (#3 on the home page), and they have a page dedicate to Veggie Juices as well as Fruit Juices.

This is a snapshot of what my typical go-to juice looks like:

Base: 

1 small apple (Stems always removed, but everything else is ok.)

1/2 Cucumber

1/2-1 head romaine

2 or 3 big handfulls spinach

Then I add some or one of the following:

1" ginger root

1 or 2 carrots

1/2-1 stick celery

1/4-1/2 bulb fennel (stalks and all)

6-8 strawberries

1 C blueberries

1/2 C cranberries

1-2 leaves bok choy (Strong earthy taste... Not too fond of this one.)

1/4-1/2 lemon (Rind and all. Just cut and throw in.)

1/2 lime (Rind and all, like lemons.)

1/4-1 orange (MUST peel oranges--VERY bitter if not peeled. I cut it off with a chef's knife, peel including the pith [the white part].)

I have to say that I do keep myself limited to two servings of fruit per day, as the sugars in fruits are not as healthy as the rest of the ingredients, and Lymies and sugar don't mix. I also only use apples, citrus and berries. Definitely no grapes! WAY too much sugar. And no bananas... More on that later.

I have yet to try:

Beets (A friend says surely these are STRONG. But I still want to try them!)

Beet Greens

Zucchini (?)

Summer Squash (?)

Broccoli

Cauliflower (Don't think I would juice this.)

Tomatoes (More on this in a minute.)

Cabbages

Raspberries

Pomegranates (More on this in a minute.)

Grapefruit

Kiwi

Watermelon

Watermelon with rind

Pears

Pineapple

Cantaloupe

Honeydew

Mango

Parsley (Probably pretty strong, so go slow with this one.)

Mint (This would be refreshing with lime!)

Mushrooms (YUCK. Never will try this. Don't think they are juicy anyway, but I hate them, so there you go.)
SO MUCH MORE I'M SURE!!!

Interesting tidbits:

Tomatoes and spinach have properties that are very beneficial when cooked. For instance, Lycopene comes out when tomatoes are cooked. When consumed raw, they do not have the Lycopene. I don't know why this is, it just is. And probably more than the Lycopene, like the spinach... Read on.

When spinach is consumed raw, it apparently (can't swear by this, ok? I'm no scientist or nutritionist) can block the absorption of calcium and iodine in our bodies. But when it is cooked, it allows for access to: Fiber, Vitamin K, Vitamin C, Calcium, Magnesium & Manganese, B vitamins--particularly Folate--Vitamin A and on and on it goes.

Who knows... there may be more than this out there, too, as far as veggies and fruits being cooked or raw. But I still juice spinach. It's got a lot of chlorophyll, and this is a great binding agent for detoxing. Which is very important to Lymies, or anyone needing to move toxins out of their bodies. Raw foods also have important enzymes that die when they are cooked.

One to watch out for is celery. I go with about 1/4-1/2 the amount a recipe would call for. Serious celery overpowering! I mean, I like celery, but when juicing, the flavor becomes seriously concentrated! So watch out for that.

Don'ts:
Pomegranates are a low-juicing fruit. I've read that it's best to use a food processor on these and add to your juice if you're really bent on having pom in your glass. But I know recipes call for them, so you be the judge.

Kale is not good for juicing, IMHO. I mean, I got juice out of it, but it clogged my machine pretty quickly and I had to de-pulp it before I continued. I never had to do that before. Again, recipes call for it, and many people juice it. But I didn't think it was successful enough for a second round. Also, I've been told that if you juice too much of it, the juice gets quite bitter.

Bananas are a NO-NO. (Yes, not a no-no, but a NO-NO.) They do NOT juice. My friend (no, it wasn't me...) tried juicing one and let's just say she was quite unhappy with the experience. No juice, a clogged machine, and lots of intricate cleaning later, the lesson was learned.


So that's what I've got for you along the lines of juicing. I will keep you all posted on my progress, and will be happy to field any questions you may have about this or anything else I have written about. Happy juicing everyone, and here's to our health!