But that’s why you got a vegetable juicer, right?  It sure does save the effort of munching on raw vegetables and coping with the bland taste.  It also saves the time of having to prepare your vegetables to counteract that tough bland taste so you can [somewhat] enjoy them.  In the end, you get around the hassle by switching to the next best thing – fruit juicer recipes.  Not that big of a problem, so long as you be careful before crossing over to fruit juicing.

There are reasons you should be juicing vegetables more than fruits.  The biggest reason is the high amount of sugar in fruits.  Most fruit juicer recipes may call for a wide variety of fruits, and the amount of sugar packed into them can deceitfully add up in one glass.  Couple that with other fruits you may snack on throughout the day, in addition to any other sugary junk foods you may consume, and you are asking for trouble.  You will definitely be getting a lot of nutrients, but you will also be getting a lot of sugar, which is especially bad if you are vegetable juicing for weight loss.

Another reason is that you most likely eat fruits in their raw state anyway.  In fact, it is recommended that you eat fruits whole as to get the roughage that will help maintain healthy digestion.  How often do you eat raw vegetables though?  Some may eat carrots or celery, but what about broccoli or brussel sprouts?  Usually, you would cook those, but heat from cooking will start to kill the vital nutrients inside.

This isn’t to say that you should never use fruit in juicer recipes or never cook your food.  But be sure to mix it up a little.  Eat some fruits as snacks and drink a glass of vegetable juice for dinner.  Make a hearty salad comprised of both raw vegetables and fruits.  When juicing, make a glass of vegetable juice one day, fruit juice the next, then a hybrid the following day.  Be creative.

It can be hard to strictly drink vegetable juice all the time.  Here are some of the best vegetable juice recipes:

V8 Vegetable Juice Recipe

In my previous post, I compared vegetable juicer recipes to store-bought juice.  V8 is a popular brand and while not as good as juicing your own produce, it’s still one of the better options available at your grocery store.  This recipe is a good way to duplicate it yourself.

• 2 tomatoes
• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stalk
• 2 leaves of lettuce
• 1 handful of spinach
• 1/2 handful of parsley

Veggie Kick Juicer Recipe

• 3 carrots
• 1 beet
• 1/2 inch fresh ginger
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 clove of garlic

Super Simple V8 Juice

• 3 carrots
• 1 tomato
• handful of spinach

Body Cleansing Juicer Recipe

• 2 celery stalks
• handful of kale
• handful of spinach
• handful of parsley
• 1 oz. wheatgrass juice

Green Hydrator

• 1 celery stalk
• 1 cucumber
• 1 green pepper
• 2 handfuls of spinach

Sweet Vegetable Juice Recipe

A little on the sweeter side, but not that bad in sugar content

• 3 carrots
• 2 red peppers
• 1 beet

People may have been intrigued by the idea of juicing vegetables (as they should!)  But there are several things that come in the way.  Space can be an issue.  You must have adequate counter space to keep a vegetable juicer out all the time, or have enough storage space.  Price is another issue, as the best vegetable juicers will cost hundreds of dollars (you could settle for less expensive centrifugal juicers, but for juicing vegetables, it is recommended to stick with the high end models.)  Finally, the amount of work needed for juicing recipes can be a problem – it is much simpler to buy a container of juice than it is to prepare your produce and cleaning your juicer every time for your own juicer recipes.

V8 Vegetable Juice Recipe

The most common alternative to juicing vegetables is to drink V8 juice.  You must have heard the commercials by now – “*Doink* You could have had a V8.”  While it does contain a wide variety of juices, it undergoes several processes that significantly reduce the nutritional content in it.  Some of those nutrients are very sensitive and will be denatured simply by being exposed to the air for too long, while more will be diminished from the types of processes that are used to constitute and package the V8 vegetable juice. This is true with any packaged juice that you can buy at the grocery store though.

The ingredients are as follows:

• Tomato Juice from Concentrate (Water, Tomato Concentrate)
• Reconstituted Vegetable Juice Blend (Water and Concentrated Juices of Carrots, Celery, Beets, Parsley, Lettuce, Watercress, Spinach)
• Salt
• Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)
• Flavoring
• Citric Acid

Overall, not too bad though.  The only major problem is from the amount of salt added.  The nutritional facts show that there is a total of 630mg of sodium per serving!  Fortunately, there are reduced sodium versions out there as well.  Of course, it is still no comparison to your own vegetable juicer recipes.

This is not to knock V8 fruit or vegetable juices, as they certainly have their place in today’s culture.  If you can’t make your own vegetable juice recipes and have the choice to either buy a bottle of soda or V8, then the V8 is definitely the better choice for your health.  But for those that think that V8 juice can replace juicing vegetables, I’m sorry but you are sorely mistaken.  Drinking vegetable juice in its raw state is always the healthiest option.

Besides V8, there are many other juices to choose from.  However, a lot of them are not even close to the power of fruit and vegetable juicing, with most of them considered to be on the same level as sugary soda drinks.  Not all juice is created equal, so don’t think that drinking any kind of juice is beneficial to your health.  Here is an actual ingredient list from a typical store-bought juice:

• Filtered Water
• Sweeteners
• High Fructose Corn Syrup
• Sugar
• Grape Juice from Concentrate (Less than 15%)
• Pear and Strawberry Juices from Concentrate
• Natural Flavors
• Citric Acid (Provides Tartness)

It’s amazing how people will buy this stuff.  Judging from these ingredients, I’d say that a soda is probably better for you.  These are the worst types of drinks if your plan is to stay healthy or lose weight with juicing.

In the end, there is a lot of junk out there, so take the time to evaluate whether or not it’s wise to purchase for you and your family.  But no matter what there is on sale at the supermarket, the healthiest option is always to stick with your own free vegetable juicer recipes.

First of all, assuming you don’t have one yet, you will need to purchase a vegetable juicer.  There are several types, including a centrifugal juicer and an auger juicer.  Both have their advantages and disadvantages.  Centrifugal juicers are more affordable and more mainstream, though they are noisy and are not the most efficient juicers.  An auger juicer is very powerful and great for vegetable juicing because they can get the highest yield of vegetable juice, yet you will have to spend quite a bit more.  There are many brands out there, and prices greatly vary.  One thing you must understand though is that when it comes to juicers, you get what you pay for.  The type of juicer that I use is the Omega 8005 auger juicer.  It is an amazing machine, and I have never been unhappy with this juicer.

So what produce to use to make vegetable juicing recipes for weight loss? Try focusing on vegetables with a deep color, such as spinach, peppers, and broccoli.  Their deep color is attributed to the high presence of nutrients in it.  Also, though it is not a vegetable, use grapefruit, as it creates a chemical reaction that helps with digestion and weight loss (I’m sure you’ve heard of the grapefruit diet.)  Another fruit to add is kiwi, which contains a mineral called chromium that aids in weight loss too.  Here is just one of many vegetable juicing recipes for weight loss:

Weight Loss Juicing Recipe

• 1 kiwi
• 1 grapefruit
• 1 yellow pepper
• Juice ingredients in this order

For the fastest way to lose weight, use juicing as a complement to a solid exercise routine and good eating habits!

First, you eliminate all sources that would release toxins in the body, such as alcohol, cigarettes, medication, fatty and sugary junk foods, meat products and dairy.  If possible, you should also reduce sources of stress as much as possible such as work.  It is best to plan ahead and detox on a weekend to account for work.

Fasting is the common start to detoxify the body.  It is important to stay hydrated during this process, which is why vegetable juicing is perfect for detoxification.  Vegetables contain very little fat or sugar (if any at all), but still provide you with plenty of vitamins and phytonutrients, especially during such a vulnerable time.

Some good vegetables to include in your vegetable juicer recipes for detox are spinach and beet juice.  Beet juicing recipes contain powerful antioxidants that stimulate red blood cell production and cleanse the blood, in addition to detoxifying the liver.  Spinach is rich in magnesium and other minerals that avoid the accumulation of uric acid in the body.  Juicer recipes with citrus fruits, such as oranges and grapefruits, contain a lot of vitamin C and other antioxidants to fight off free radicals in the body.  You may also want to try wheatgrass juicing recipes, which are exceptionally high in chlorophyll and do wonders for blood cleansing.

Feel free to add fruits in your juicing recipes for detox, but do not overdo it.  After all, fruits do contain a lot of sugar, which is what we are trying to avoid to reduce the amount of toxins in the body.  If you are on medication and must take them during your fasting period, then be wary of grapefruits in your detox juicing recipes.  They have been shown to increase absorption rate of medication, which can easily lead to overdoses with harmful side effects.

The severe decrease of calories you consume during this type of diet can possible lead to harmful side effects, so you must plan ahead.  Some common side effects are fatigue, dizziness, headaches and weight loss.  Acne can also be a problem due to the large release of toxins flowing through your body, which could find their way through your skin.

There are some people who should not be vegetable juicing for detoxification.  People afflicted with certain ailments or diseases.  If you take medication regularly, you must be careful about how not eating could affect your response to them.  Pregnant women also need a healthy intake of nourishment and calories to be able to support the baby, as well as the baby itself.

After you complete your detox diet, you must slowly get used to eating solid foods again.  Start with whole fruits and vegetables.  Work your way to carbohydrate foods like rice or pasta next, and then ease into eating meat products and beans.  As much as you want to, avoid stuffing your face the first chance you get.  Be sure to stay hydrated at all times with plenty of water and vegetable juicer recipes.

It is suggested that you do this once a year to recharge yourself.  However, there is no direct evidence to show that it is advantageous at all to the body.  In fact, there are doubts as to whether detoxification is beneficial at all, so be careful if you choose to go through with it.

One of the best juicers for juicing is the Omega 8005.  However, a more affordable option would be the Jack Lalanne Power Juicer.  I suggest looking in to these two options first.

Here are some juicing recipes for detox to use:

Carrots and Wheatgrass

• 3 carrots
• wheatgrass juice (1-2 oz.)

Green Monster

• 3 celery stalks
• wheatgrass juice (1-2 oz.)
• handful of spinach
• handful of Collard greens
• 1 lemon

Citrus Cleanse Juicing Recipe

• 2 oranges
• 1 grapefruit
• 1 beet

Sunny Blend Juicing Recipe

• 3 carrots
• 1 tomato
• 1 orange or yellow pepper
• 1 lemon

The reason we get pimples are due to the toxins that linger in our bodies.  Normally, it is the liver and the kidneys that flush out all of the toxins from our body.  When there are too many, or if the liver and kidneys aren’t able to get rid of them, they find their way only other way out – their skin.  Depending on how much the pores in your skin are clogged, acne you get might be a few red bumps or large inflamed and irritating bumps.

Reducing the problem is two fold – you have to protect the inside and the outside of the body.  Protect yourself from anything that can clog your pores, such as cosmetic products.  Reducing the amount of toxins in your body is a little harder, as many have terrible eating habits that are hard to break.  Fortunately, one solution for us is to use vegetable juicing recipes for acne.

Juicing produce that have a lot of antioxidants is ideal for acne.  These antioxidants are powerful fighters against free radicals that can cause damage to your body.  Good produce to juice include wheatgrass and vegetables with a deep color, such as dark green vegetables and vibrant yellow-orange vegetables.  Bell peppers (all colors), spinach, carrots, and broccoli are your friends here.  Also important to mention are berries, as they are excellent sources of antioxidants as well.

Garlic is a surprisingly effective food against acne.  The problem is that is has a very strong taste that is not the best complement in most vegetable juicing recipes.  Don’t overpower your juicing recipes by adding to much – do little bits at a time.  Another very obscure yet powerful product is Brewer’s Yeast.  It contains minerals that reduce stress levels, thereby reducing toxins in the body.

Probably the most overlooked way to prevent acne is to simply stay hydrated.  Having a lot of fluid running through your body is essential to flush out all the toxins.  This is the best reason for juicing vegetables for acne – you stay fully hydrated while getting plenty of nutrients.

Here are two vegetable juicing recipes for acne:

Detoxifier

• 4 carrots
• 1 shot of wheatgrass juice
• 1 clove of garlic

Citrus Flush

• 1 grapefruit
• 1 orange
• 2 carrots
• 1 orange pepper

Weighing in at 13 pounds, you can feel how powerful the Omega 8005 juicer is as soon you take it out of the box.  It’s like carrying a car engine.  It comes with an attractive chrome (or white) finish, along with a hidden handle on it so you don’t have to awkwardly pick it up.  The other parts that need to be attached separately are made of high quality plastics and very sturdy metal parts.  It comes with a rod to force produce in the feed, and a brush that makes cleaning it very easy.  Finally, if you aren’t interested only in vegetable juicing recipes, there are accessories to make nut butters and other homogenized foods.

So, why is this the best juicer for your vegetable juicing recipes? Because the sheer power of it will squeeze almost every drop of juice out of your vegetables.  The firm and fibrous foods like carrots and celery stalks easily are easily crushed.  Even the leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, and cabbage are no match.  After you are done vegetable juicing, you will find in a separate container all the pulp as if were left to dry out in the sun.

There are other vegetable juicing juicers, such as centrifugal juicers.  While they may be more affordable, you won’t get as much bang for your buck with them.  Centrifugal juicers rely on a less efficient method to vegetable juicing.  They cut up your produce finely, and then spin a strainer basket at thousands of times per minute, so the “centrifugal force” will extract the juice.  Well this works ok, but you will find the pulp to be wetter with juice.  Sometimes, you’ll even have to run the pulp again.  And it’s important to mention that this fast moving machinery will create a LOT of noise.

We also cannot forget that centrifugal juicers will decrease the nutritional value of your vegetable juicing recipes.  That is because the fast speed of the juicer will create more friction and heat, which will cause some of the nutrients to be diminished.  Also, the more violent juicing method will promote oxidation, which is the real problem when it comes to preserving the most nutrients in your vegetable juicing recipes.

If you are really serious about a vegetable juicing diet, then you will need an auger juicer like the Omega 8005 juicer to make the best vegetable juicing recipes possible.  Get the best value for your dollar with the Omega 8005 juicer.

Here is a great place to check out if you are interested in buying a juicer:

Juicers and Dehydrators – Specialty kitchen appliances for nutritious and healthy food preparation including juicers, dehydrators, grain mills, smoothie blenders, yogurt makers and more.

First of all, why the craze over wheatgrass?  What about other types of grass?  Is it possible to save money by just going to the park and eating the grass like a cow, instead of juicing wheatgrass?  As silly as it sounds, it is a legitimate question…and the answer is no.  Humans are not capable of digesting grass directly.  Our stomachs don’t have the ability to digest the cellulose.  Cows have 4 stomachs that can fully digest grass for all its nutrients.

But why wheatgrass? Wheatgrass refers to a young grass, which livestock owners feed to their animals because it improves the animals’ health moreso than adult grass.  All grasses begin as a grain, and as you could guess, wheatgrass gets its name from the fact it grows from wheat grain.  It was Dr. Ann Wigmore that made wheatgrass juicing famous a few decades ago, as wheatgrass juicing showed to improve her patients with incurable ailments.

Wheatgrass juice has a very high chlorophyll content that is great for cleansing the blood.  It also rids the liver and intestines of toxins that build up in those areas, though be careful of drinking too much juice, which could release too many toxins.  Wheatgrass contains many other nutrients and is great for boosting your energy.

You can get wheatgrass juice by either buying wheatgrass and juicing it, growing your own wheatgrass, or getting it at any juice bar.  Besides wheatgrass juicing, you can also buy it in powdered form at health food stores to store it easier.  Whichever form you choose, it is important to slowly work wheatgrass into your juicing diet.  It is very potent and can cause a lot of discomfort for those not used to it.  Use 2 ounces of wheatgrass juice AT MOST until you are sure you can handle it.  How much grass is 2 ounces?  Its a little hard to explain – you’ll just have to keep adding grass to the juicer until you get the required amount.  It will take some practice.

To get the most out of wheatgrass, you should use an auger juicer or a dedicated wheatgrass juicer.  A centrifugal juicer will not be able to extract as much juice out.

First, we need to assess how much vegetable juicing we want to do.  For now, I’ll assume you are the average person wanting to make one glass of juice most days of the week – let’s say 5 days.  Next, we need to choose which vegetable juicing recipes we want to make.  It is important that you MIX IT UP! You do not want to stick with the same juicing recipes and get accustomed to a specific diet.  Besides, it’s good to be open-minded, so try new juicing recipes.  At the very least, you can use two, but we’re planning for 5 days, so aim for 5 different juicing recipes.

Now let’s sort out and list what vegetables we need.  I find it easiest to start with one juicing recipe, list the ingredients, and tally them.  Go to the second vegetable juicing recipes.  Add any new ingredients to the list, while adding tally marks to shared produce.  Do this with all the recipes.  When done, add any fresh vegetables you normally buy for dinner, salads, etc, though you should be able to reduce the amount you normally buy since you will get most of it through vegetable juicing.

With our list in hand, grocery shopping is as easy as finding the produce in the store.  Some of the produce you can buy comes in bundles, so you must account for that.  Also, you can choose between fresh produce on display or pre-packaged.  The quality is usually the same, but there may be differences in price and whether it’s organic or not.  Nothing you can’t handle.  Check this list of foods to buy organic to get a good idea of what produce is likely to contain pesticides if not organic.

Do NOT treat vegetable juicing as an exact science. The produce from store to store will vary in size and quality.  A green pepper from my supermarket will not be the same as a green pepper from yours, and this will affect your vegetable juicing recipes.  You can only learn by doing, so it is essential that you experiment…

The best thing you can do with the pulp after making your juicing recipes is to eat it.  This way, you don’t miss out on the fiber and nutrients left in the pulp, and any juice that couldn’t be extracted.  You might be thinking that if you are going to eat the pulp, you may as well not bother with juicing and eat the fruit whole.  But by juicing, you can also extract juice out of the rinds you normally wouldn’t eat, like the prickly pineapple rind.  With vegetables, it makes it easier to eat that if you had left it in its original raw state, such as broccoli.

Alternatively, if you have an auger juicer, you can homogenize your produce.  This separates the juice from the pulp, but leaves it all in one mixture, leaving a thick pulpy concoction.  For example, you can homogenize an apple to make apple sauce.  This is an easy way to eat raw foods that are too difficult to chew, or for someone unable to chew solid foods.  A great example is to make baby food for your tots at home.

If all you want is the juice for your vegetable juicing recipes, you can add it to your soil!  The pulp provides for a lot of organic material that is great for soil.  This is a wonderful option for people who keep their own little gardens.  This is especially great for raw food purists that love to grow their own produce!

It is also possible to use the pulp after vegetable juicing for cooking.  You can use it in soups, pasta sauces, and for baking recipes, such as carrot cake muffins.  You can also find other ways for pulp usage that use leftover pulp after vegetable juicing.

Cucumbers are made of mostly water.  Because of this, cucumbers are a great thirst quencher and one of the best natural diuretics.  They are very useful for cell hydration, regulating body temperature, and waste removal, just like plain water.  Cucumber juicing recipes are great on hot days or after workouts.

The skin of cucumbers is rich in silica, which is a vital mineral in maintaining healthy connective tissue.  This list includes the tendons, muscles, cartilage and ligaments.  Cucumbers have earned the biggest reputation to aiding the skin and its complexion.  They can help treat skin conditions such as eczema and acne, which is why cucumbers are used a lot in skin beautify products.

BUY ORGANIC! You will definitely want to juice the skins of the cucumbers for the silica.  But you will find that most cucumbers will have some waxy stuff on it to make it look shiny.  It is hard to wash off and you probably won’t get it all, and you do not want that stuff in your vegetable juicing recipes.  Look for firm cucumbers with a dark green color – it’s ok if they have bumps.

Some vegetable juicing recipes to help you keep “as cool as a cucumber”:

Green Juice

• 2 celery stalks
• 2 cucumbers
• 1 small green pepper
• handful of spinach

Cucumber Melon Juice

• 2 cucumbers
• 1/2 honeydew

Carrot Cooler

• 3 carrots
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 cucumber

Simple Cucumber Juice

• 3 cucumbers
• small handful of grapes
• water (dilute to taste)