Does anyone have experience with juicing? I've been feeling unhealthy skin-wise these past several months and wonder if there's a store I could go to and just drink juices to clear out and cleanse my body. Any suggestions? Thanks.
i don't know about anything in houston, but i can tell you that i always feel better after drinking fresh squeezed beet root juice
If you are serious about juicing then you really should do the juicing yourself. The stuff from wal mart is more of a supplement than just straight out juicing. You need to read about the positives and negatives. I was skeptical but my then girlfriend had been juicing for her job (she could not even gain 2 lbs) and I decided to try it with her. I did nothing but juice for 10 days and lost roughly 15 pounds and did have more energy.... But we also mixed up protein in it. So I would say read a lot about it before you do it. I was happy with the results and now my wife (then gf) and I do it every once in awhile for a week or so.
I'll just say that the general perception is that detox cleanses act like watery soap that rushes into your body and literally rinses out your insides, but the body's structure is more complex than that of a washing machine. It really does it's own cleansing, in it's own way, via different organs and systems. A collection of different fruits/veggies may provide your body with good nutrients, but mainly it's just a ton of carbs/fiber. People get high on the carbs. The fiber gets them going to the restroom more often that day, or for however long they're doing this, so they think I'm clean and good for X number of months. It makes more sense to keep up good habits consistently, so that you allow your body to do it's own thing, like it's build to do. Things like staying hydrated, exercising (can help move lymph out among other things), getting enough sleep, and eating a good diet a lot more often than not. You could also take pro/prebiotics to aid with digestion. Those are just some examples, but they should have a longer, and more efficient, effect on your body than a week of juicing or even juicing once a month.
I tried SqueezedOnline, which is based here in Houston. My detox was a 3-day cleanse, which ran about $130. I'm not so sure about the cleanse part, but I lost about 4 pounds in three days (and then immediately gained in all back over the next two weeks). I felt pretty energized even though I wasn't eating solid foods, and by day three, I wasn't even really craving food anymore. Weird. Some of the juices tasted sweet and refreshing...others tasted like puke.
I agree with RV6 about the detox aspect. I'll add: most juicing involves removing the fiber (pulp) from the juice so juicing is generally not as healthy as eating fruits and vegetables. However, it's better for you than not eating fruits/vegetables if you are using lower sugar produce. I have a juicer and don't use it all that often but I will occasionally juice greens, carrots, beets and ginger. Mostly like it for fresh juice cocktails.
I don't think it works that way and never have... I agree with you that it doesn't work like soap. What it does for me is that it helps my cravings. If I find myself craving or eating lots of bad food and constantly am hungry, the most effective way I have found to reset myself is through juicing. After a week of juicing I no longer crave pizza or hamburgers or crap food. Do the cravings comeback? Sometimes months later I start to lapse back into really bad food habits... But at that point I usually juice again. I do it probably every 6 months or so for a week at a time. Also if I have been working and traveling a lot and notice I have gained weight, it is effective in cutting some weight off. I always follow up with my exercise a week after juicing and keep that routine as long as I can. It isn't a magic bullet, but it is a tool and I do feel better and have more energy 2-3 days into juicing. I don't think anyone should try it without really knowing what they are doing, you still need protein and the like. Anyway, I was very skeptical but it has been a useful tool for me.
I don't see any harm, as long as people know what's really happening, and what isn't. The weight loss is due to usually less calories being taken in, mainly because liquid fills you up pretty quickly, gets absorbed more quickly, so that mental signal of hunger stops earlier. You're also hardly eating any fat, which has 9 cal per gram, compared to 4 for carbs. You're satisfied with less calories, in other words. Some people get tricked into thinking certain combinations of juicing recipes trigger fat release, therefore creating weight loss. The energized feeling is due to eating mostly carbs..body prefers carbs as an energy source and in liquid form, it can use them even more quickly than normal.
Well center frugal juicer is what most people buy. I've been juicing for 4 years and have great tips on how to go about it. I usually brush all produce carefully under a needle stream of water (saves water and much more effective). You want to remove apple cores and stems. With loose greens such as kale you want to buffer it with a juicy veggie like celery stock, carefully stacked apples, or carrots or whatever combination that doesn't congest and not before long crack the shoot tunnel. I have apples and other types of fruits peel grind (have peel grind against the blade depending on direction of the blade) so you get the benefits of the peel nutrition as well as the fruit. If it gets jammed up ease up and use a carrot instead of the regular pusher tool so you get a nice concentrated area for the loosey green to grind against. This happens all the time with kale. Remember kale is towards the center of the grinding blade while carrots, celery stocks, or stacked apple quarters as the buffer. You need their juiciness to help just the kale anyways. You want some or alot of pulp kick back into the juice for the fiber benefit. Juice a peeled lemon to help preserve a large quantity of juice. Never use lime because even peeled lime will bitter it up due to deviating properties from a lemon. Have fun juicing. PS: for extra juice you can pour out the pulp into a basket and with sanitized hands shaped the pulp into a ball and rejuice it.
