Green and Frugal Living: At Home Juicing

Another great post from our friends at The Greenest Dollar...

My New Love Affair: At Home Juicing
So, a few weeks ago I splurged in an appliance that I have been lusting after for almost a year. And yes, I’m using the word “lust” in the same sentence as “kitchen appliance”…I’m fully aware of how sad that is so let’s keep moving…

Anyway, the said kitchen appliance is a the Breville Ikon 900-Watt Variable-Speed Juice Extractor. Yeah, that gleaming tower of stainless steel on the left…that’s what it looks like.

Now you might be wondering why, as both a greenie and a frugalista, I’d drop so much money on a frivolous appliance like a juicer. Well, there are several reasons…

Why I Splurged on a Juicer
First, the term “frivolous” is subjective. For instance, I’d consider a panini press to be frivolous. But to someone else who’s a fanatic about hot sandwiches, their panini press is something they can’t live without.

So, to each his own. To me, the juicer isn’t frivolous for plenty of reasons. So why I’d get one?

Reason #1: To Save Money on Nutritious Juice
Have you ever tasted fresh carrot juice? I’m not talking about the pasteurized, two-week old bottled Odwalla you can buy at the grocery store for $7…I’m talking about carrot juice that’s still warm from the carrots that were just sitting out on your countertop, and so fresh that the juice is nothing but frothy sweet goodness. You know, that kind of fresh.\

Well, this is the first reason why I just spent so much money on a juicer. I lovelovelove fresh vegetable juice, but I’m not paying for it at the grocery store. Why not?

The fruit and vegetable juice you pay out the nose for at the grocery store is ballparks away from how delicious and nutritious really fresh juice is. They’re really like two different universes.

Grocery store juice has to be pasteurized and pumped with preservatives before it’s bottled…which means most of the vitamins and nutrients you get from drinking the juice are destroyed. This doesn’t happen with fresh juice; you get all the vitamins and minerals you would eating that vegetable. Only it’s much easier for your body to digest.

Reason #2: To Ingest More Vegetables
I’m vegetarian, but I still feel that often I don’t eat enough fresh vegetables. Having an at-home juicer means I can quickly whip up a glass of carrot and tomato juice and, within minutes, add a significant punch of vegetables to my daily intake.
 
Reason #3: To Add More Variety
I won’t eat beets. Ever.

But, I love to drink them. Added to carrot and celery juice, beets are delicious.

Thanks to the juicer, I’m adding a wider variety of vegetables to my diet.

Reason #4: Health Benefits
Because juice is liquid and super easy to digest, your body is able to absorb more of the essential vitamins, minerals and enzymes from the vegetables because the digestion process is bypassed. This does a world of good for your body.

Like what?

Some of the benefits of juicing are:

• More energy
• Decreased signs of aging
• Alleviated signs of depression
• Higher metabolism
• Higher intake of cancer-fighting phytochemicals and phytonutrients
• Higher intake of antioxidants, which strengthen the immune system

Drinking fresh juice regularly also detoxes your body, especially the liver. See, the liver works as a filter for our blood, cleansing it of toxins and waste (from all the nasty stuff we eat and are exposed to every day). If our liver isn’t working in peak condition…then our blood isn’t as healthy and strong as it should be. So, we feel tired, run down, we can’t sleep, we get sick, we can’t focus, we feel sad, we can’t handle stress…there are tons of reasons why we feel bad when our liver isn’t doing its job right.

Drinking fresh vegetable juice helps cleanse and detox the liver. When you start to drink it regularly, you start to feel better. I had my doubts, but now I’m drinking fresh juice every day I’m telling you it’s true.

Do I Like the Juicer I Bought?
After a ton of research, I settled on the Breville because it was a good price (It’s now $160 at Amazon) and it got incredible reviews.

So far, I love it. It’s powerful, it’s not that loud (about as loud as my blender) and it’s very easy to take apart and clean. It’s also fast…I can have a glass of juice in less than 30 seconds with this thing.

And I know you’re wondering…yes, cleaning the machine does take a while. Perhaps 15 minutes for a very thorough job. But it’s like that with any juicer…it’s the nature of the beast. Personally, I don’t mind the clean up at all because the results are so worth it. The juice tastes incredible, and I know I’m doing something really great for my body. So, washing up all the parts is no big deal.

Last Word
Do you juice? If so, I’d love to see your favorite recipe if it’s online (or if you don’t mind writing it out!). I’m still new at this and haven’t ventured far beyond my “carrot, celery, beet” concoction. I’d love to start working in some greens, like spinach and kale, as well as ginger and parsley.