Why I juice.

I have worked in the food industry for 10 years and am surrounded by good food all day every day. My weight has always seesawed, erring towards the heavier side. That is, until I discovered raw fruit and vegetable juicing. I have been juicing for about 4 years now and it has revolutionised my weight control.

I am not hungry first thing in the morning and would often skip breakfast or eat high GI foods. By 10h00 my cravings would start and I just couldn’t stop eating for the rest of the day.

Since I have been starting my day with fresh vegetable (with a dash of fruit) juice, my cravings have gone. I can pretty much eat whatever I feel like after that. The great thing is, because my body has gotten all the nutrients and vitamins it needs first thing, it rarely craves anything which isn’t good for it.

This routine has also kick started my metabolism and my body seems to be able to metabolise far greater quantities of food without storing fat than it did in before.  

What I juice.

I juice as many things as possible so that the juice is always varied and my body gets a wide range of veggies daily. I like to mix up the colours too. I add a little fruit for sweetness, but not much as I don’t want to overload the sugar.

Many people tend to want to add lots of fruit and ‘sweet’ tasting vegetables when they first start juicing. That is fine if you are making yourself a yummy juice purely for enjoyment. But if you are juicing for health or weigh loss reasons, this is defeating the object completely. Adding too many fruits or sweet vegetables (ie – like carrots) may cause a sugar spike in your body followed by a sugar low triggering cravings and also making you feel tiered.

I have listed the ingredients guidelines for three great tasting starter juices below. Once you are in a routine, start adding more challenging veggies and reducing the amount of fruit.

* Green juice – apple, mint, cucumber, lemon and spinach

* Orange juice – oranges, carrots, tomato, butternut and ginger

* Red juice – apple, carrot and beetroot

Which juicer do I use.

I have used and loved both the Oscar and Kempo juicers, but they are both pretty expensive - If however this is something you plan to make a part of your life, choosing the best juicer is key.

The Oscar juicer was the first juicer I used and won me over completely as it was so easy to use and clean.

The Kempo juicer is the one I use now, and it’s a bit of a pain to clean but it I love the fact that is adds so much more plant fibre to my juice and I feel like I am getting every last bit of food out of the veggies I am juicing. It also keeps the juice fresher for longer so I can juice the day before, or get my housekeeper to juice for me and leave it in the fridge for the next morning. 

Don’t let the price of these juicers put you off though- You can always start with cheaper juicer (they start from about R400).

For some interesting reading on juicing take a look at these links:

http://www.bestofjuicing.com/

http://www.juicing-for-health.com/green-power-juicer.html

http://www.healingdaily.com/juicing-for-health.htm

About the author: Thekla Schwager runs a cookery training service and writes for her blog,  www.domesticgoddesses.co.za