Let’s take a minute here and talk about the importance of the human body. It is quite an amazing machine, and every particle in the body complements the other in order to create a whole which allows us to function properly into every single day.
And now, let’s think about how little appreciation we give to our bodies, especially in the fast paced life we experience nowadays. Because of everything that we endure, the stress, working environment, obligations, we tend to give less thought to our bodies. This is the first mistake that a person can do.
Thankfully, today we are here to help you salvage and improve your overall body heath, both inside and out. Today we are going to talk about juicing! Yes, it is an interesting hobby that will give your body plenty of health, energy and pleasure. If you happen to be indulging in a fast paced life, it has probably already occurred to you that the juicing is a way to get more nutrients into the system. But, before we delve deeper into the matter, we probably need to make sure what are your do-s and don’t-s are when it comes to the entire subject of juicing.
People tend to seem that this is quite an easy process that does not require much thinking, so they make some common mistakes. Before we ease you into the subject of how to properly juice, read about what you definitely shouldn’t do it you want to go into the juicing world.
-make sure you incorporate green veggies in your smoothies
-drink the juice right after you made it
-timing is everything – drink juices on an empty stomach
-fructose is not your friends, so juice without many sweet components
Okey, we have probably confused your mind by now, simply because of the fact that we have started with what you shouldn’t do instead of what you should do. No need to worry, just keep on reading!
This is why – we have comprised a list of health experts in order to help you get started with the entire process of juicing! We picked the 17 best juicing experts and have asked them the question of how to properly juice. We have collected their answers and we are going to present to you today, here, in order to give you an insight on how to get the most out of every product! Because the best is yet to come, read on and find out how to properly juice your way into an improved health, both inside and out!
Sara Ding | juicing-for-health
Many people want the benefits that juice fasting provides. And many just dive into an extended juice fast without really understanding the full implications of possible setbacks in a juice cleanse/detox.
Among the feedback I received about juice fasting is that people tend to give up prematurely when they are faced with healing reactions.
Pre-juice fast preparation is important. With any detox program, always enter into it (and exit) gradually. It helps to prepare yourself physically, mentally and emotionally, especially when you intend to go on an extended juice fast (beyond 14 days).
Preparing physically: Ease into a juice fast gradually by taking a few days prior to your juice fast to eliminate “unhealthy” foods from your diet, such as processed foods, sugar and flour products, fatty foods, dairy products, soft drinks, alcohol and coffee. This preparation helps to reduce the severity of your healing reactions.
Preparing mentally: Tell yourself that you’re going into an X number of days of juice fasting. Be very focused with your health goals and understand your WHY, so that your juice cleanse will be more meaningful and successful.
Preparing emotionally: Doing an extended juice fast may bring out old emotional hurts and trauma that are stored in the deep tissues that may manifest as muscular tensions, back pains and stiff neck. Being prepared by understanding this, will help you to be able to handle the emotional healing crisis when it happens.
Dr. Axe | draxe
Too Much Sugar Can Lead to Blood Sugar Swings
Even when they’re homemade, juices contain quite a bit of natural sugar and much more than if you ate the food whole rather than juicing it. Think about it: When you eat an apple as a snack, you consume about 10 grams of sugar. But making apple juice requires a whole lot more than just one piece of the fruit.
You Miss Out on Fiber
Yes, removing insoluble fiber when juicing does make the drink easier to digest. But, long term, we do need fiber in our diets — in fact, their fiber content is one of the big reasons fruits and vegetables are so good for us.
And we do need insoluble fiber in our diet. Because it doesn’t dissolve, this type of fiber scrubs the digestive tract clean and gets rid of plaque and trapped toxins. Fiber also helps slow down the absorption of sugar in the blood, avoiding those sugar spikes juices are notorious for. When you go on a juice cleanse, you effectively eliminate high-fiber foods from your diet, which over time has more negative effects on digestion than it’s worth.
Elissa Goodman | elissagoodman
Mistake # 1: Not using organic fruits and veggies.
I believe in using only organic produce for your juicing. This is ESSENTIAL! When you make fresh juice, you are not only concentrating the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes – you are concentrating any pesticide residue left on the plants. If the unlabeled produce is genetically engineered, who knows what you may be concentrating! Some people will say not to worry about this because the juicer naturally filters out pesticides, and since they are water-soluble your body can eliminate them easily – but I disagree. You just don’t need added grief when you are trying to cleanse and purify your lifestyle.
Mistake #2: Not drinking green juice on an empty stomach.
Drinking juice on an empty stomach allows the vitamins and minerals in your glass to be absorbed straight into your bloodstream. If you already have a meal being digested there, your body is too busy to absorb the green juice! A great rule of thumb is to wait at least 2 hours after a meal to drink a green juice, and wait 30 minutes after a green juice to begin a solid meal.
Mistake #3: Waiting TOO LONG to drink it.
As soon as your fresh green juice is exposed to the air, the live enzymes within it begin to degrade, which lessens the nutitional content. For this reason, the live enzymes of a fresh juice will give you an immediate burst of energy, while older juices lack that intense boost. To get that ideal energy, drink as soon as you make it.
If you can’t drink it right away, make sure that you store it in an air-tight container, and refrigerate until you’re ready to enjoy it. When raw, unpasteurized juices become warm, it allows for the growth of bacteria, which is a potentially harmful thing you definitely want to avoid. Remember, fresh is best!
Mistake #4: Choosing too many sweet fruits & veggies.
Sweet fruits and vegetables (such as carrots, watermelon, pears, and beets) can be nutritious when full of fiber in their whole, raw form. But when we remove the fiber by juicing them, you are at risk of adding far too much sugar and fructose to your diet, which you don’t want.
Even too much natural sugar from plants can spike blood insulin levels dramatically, and when that happens, we suffer from cravings, stomache aches, headaches, energy crashes, and weight gain.
I recommend keeping the sweet plants to one serving – a green apple, lime, or lemon can offer that desirable sweetness, while still keeping your sugar level in check, and your energy sustained over time.
If you are just beginning to juice, and still reorienting your palette to the taste, start out with two sweet servings (an apple and a lemon, for example), and then slowly decrease those inclusions to one serving.
ONE LAST CAUTION REGARDING FRUIT JUICES: It is very tempting to use a lot of fruit juice for beginners – it’s so easy and sweet! But that might be your addiction talking, or maybe the voice of the hungry candida yeasts coursing through your bloodstream. But you can get all the sugar your body needs without any fruit at all.
Mistake #5: Treating your juice as a complete meal.
Unless you are on a juice fast, you should be drinking a juice as a snack or a supplement. Consider it the best multi-vitamin around! Using juice as a prelude to a complete meal with help you in several ways. First, it will help you better absorb the nutrients in the meal to come, and will curb sugar cravings, so that you choose a healthy, plant-rich meal, over something heavy or processed. It will also help your hunger be satisfied with a smaller portion of solid food.
If you want to MAKE IT A COMPLETE MEAL, you can add 1 Tbsp. of chia seeds, protein powder, or supergreens powder. You can also add 1/4 cup of fresh pressed coconut to make it filling. A handful of sprouted nuts & seeds, or a 1/2 of an avocado 30 minutes after your juice will also be enough sustenance to make it a meal.
Mistake #6: Leaving your juicer dirty.
When your juicer is left uncleaned, you invite bacteria growth as it sits. Not to mention how much harder the juicer is to clean if you procrastinate. To avoid this, I recommend cleaning it immediately after use. But I know how busy we all are – so if that’s not an option, try soaking in water until you can return to clean. This will make the process so much simpler, prevent bacteria growth, and also encourage you to juice more often. If you always have a clean juicer ready to get juicin,’ you are so much more likely to use it whenever the spirit moves you!
Mistake #7: Abandoning juice for smoothies.
So often I hear that people have ditched their juices for smoothies. Smoothies are a healthy and delicious addition to your diet, and I’d never suggest leaving them out of your lifestyle. However, the greatest benefit of juicing is the ability to pack so many vital micro-nutrients, minerals, and vitamins into a drinkable serving. We would never be able to chew through all of those fruits and veggies in one meal without being exhausted and overly full! Juice’s power is unparalleled in its ability to nourish us more than any other single serving. Sorry smoothies, juice can’t be beat. So enjoy a smoothie here and there, but keep your daily juicing regimen.
Carly Fraser | livelovefruit
I think the most common mistakes made during juice detoxing are not drinking enough juice, juicing too much fruit juice, and not transitioning back to a clean diet after the fact. I would suggest drinking around 3-4 litres of juice while juice fasting, emphasizing the leafy greens and herbs. If you need a fruit juice, make sure you add in some greens in there like cucumber or celery to allow proper blood sugar regulation. I aim for 70% greens, and 30% fruit like apples in my juices. One other mistake most people make is going back to their regular diets after juice fasting. Going back to your regular diet, if it wasn’t good to begin with, will put you right back where you started. Try to incorporate more fresh, raw, fruit and vegetables into your diet, and try sticking to mostly plant-based if you can.
Hannah | justjuice
Going all in without a pre-cleanse. Especially if you’re not used to clean eating, it can be a shock to your system to start a juice detox right away so I recommend cutting out processed foods and even meat from the diet a week or two before starting a juice detox. Not only does this help set the stage for your body, but it also preps your mind for what’s coming.
Cherie Calbom | juiceladycherie
Biggest mistakes for juice detox:
1. Juicing too much fruit. It’s too high in sugar and that causes blood sugar to spike and dip leaving people feeling hungry, tired or even a bit dizzy. Juice mainly veggies and only low-sugar fruit in small amounts.
2. Not planning ahead and having everything ready. If you don’t have what you need on day 1, you often will not start at all.
3. Not have good recipes or a good detox plan. My 30-day detox has helped thousands of people get on track and stay on track for detox.
4. Get the right mindset to omit foods that are not helpful for detox. These are usually our favorite foods.
Tess Masters | healthyblenderrecipes
I find that the biggest mistakes people make when juice detoxing is not adequately preparing their body for detoxing and juice cleansing and/or fasting. To get the most benefits from this practice I recommend people slowly wean themselves off processed foods, caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, animal products, refined sugars, grains, and gluten for a week prior to cleansing, and then consume raw foods only prior to beginning a juice cleanse or fast in order to minimize potential detox symptoms, and improve digestion and absorption.
When juice cleansing (without fasting) I think you have the most comfortable and effective experience if you consume raw plant-based foods only.
I also see people consuming juices that contain a lot of fruit/natural sugar. I suggest making low-sugar juices that contain sub-acid fruits like cucumbers, lemons, limes, grapefruit to lower the overall sugar content of the juices.
Mitch Asser | fastwaytohealth
When going through a juice detox we dedicate so much time planning the days it will happen, carefully creating the juice recipes that we enjoy and will help heal our body and shopping around for what we need. Sometimes we even get our closest friends or family members who are curious and motivated enough to join us. But the biggest mistake we see when it comes to doing a juice detox is that we forget to take time to connect to ourselves.
Fasting has been around virtually since the beginning of time as a way to create mental clarity, and to connect deeper to ourselves. When doing a juice fast I believe it deserves enough respect for us to stop working, minimize exercise, stop cooking for others and to spend a lot of time on ourselves. This can be through meditation, journalling, walking in the sunshine, swimming in the ocean or taking a hot bath. So next juice cleanse you do, take time to yourself. Because you deserve it!
Garrick Dee | juicingwithg
Biggest mistake I think would be jumping the gun quickly. What I mean is not prepping the body for fasting. Not many people know that you have to slowly ease your body into fasting and out of it. That means a few days before the actual fast you’d have to remove any meats from your diet to send a message to your body that I’m eating less the next few days. The same goes for breaking a fast. You can’t just eat solid food after a fast or you’ll get a stomach ache because your body is used to consuming just liquids. Breaking a fast should be gradual and instead of eating solid food like meat, you’ll have to start with soups or porridge – something soft. And you can’t eat a lot even if you’re hungry, like easing into a fast, you’ll have to slowly ease out of it.
I hope this message makes it to the article. I feel this is the biggest mistake that a lot of people make and why they fail in their fasts.
Karen Kipp | thejuicegoddess
In my experience, the most common mistake during a juice detox is not transitioning slowly both before and after a juice fast. To achieve optimal results and avoid many common detox symptoms, such as headaches and digestive discomfort, the key is to go slow! It is important to transition very gradually in eliminating caffeine, sugar, grains, dairy, and all animal products prior to starting the cleanse, while increasing hydration and high-water content foods-preparing your body for 100% liquids. After the fast, a very gradual and prescribed transition back to solid foods is also very important and frequently done incorrectly. Starting with high-water content fruits and vegetables only and gradually returning to more fibrous greens and other solid foods is essential. By slowing down the transitions to accommodate your individual needs and listening to your body closely, you can enjoy the many benefits of a juice cleanse and restore your optimal wellness.
Kristina Carrilo- Bucaram | fullyraw
Common mistakes for juice cleansing:
– drinking fruit juice late at night
– not drinking enough green juice
– not getting enough sleep
– if you get tired drink more juice, get enough calories
Gina Casazza
Gina Casazza | GinaHealthCoach
I am a certified health and wellness coach in Los Angeles. I can tell you some common mistake people make when juice cleansing. First mistake people don’t realize how much sugar can be in one juice. Fruit is loaded with sugar and we sometimes forget that. Next time you go to the store pick up a juice and read the serving size and amout of sugar in the drink you’ll be surprised at how high it could be. You really want to have juices with 6-8 grams of sugar. You know it’s loaded with nutrients! If you are going to a place that makes the juices for you look at the ingredients in the drink you pick. If it has an apple in it ask for half of the apple. If there is a banana ask for half of the banana. If it has mangos or pineapples ask for 1/4 cup. A lot of times they over do the fruit because it taste better. It’s a natural sweetener.
If you are only having juice and not eating food make sure there is protein in ever drink. It’s going to help your body digest better, feel full, get the proper nutrients. Lot of people forget about the protein and thats a big mistake!
Make sure you always have greens in your drink! This is where most of you nutrients are going to come. Our body needs nutrients. It needs health fats, vitamins, minerals, calories.
When your juicing only make sure to take vitamins and supplements. Sometimes we are so afraid of food or we went on a binge from a wedding or vacation and we need to get our body back on track so we do a juice cleanse. Thats fine for a day, but you need to remember your body still needs fuel.
So key to juicing: Watch the sugar intake, make sure you have protein, always add greens (you can never have enough greens), take your vitamins and supplements which juicing.
Olivia Esquivel | southernpressedjuicery
1) Binge eating before a detox. Sometimes people psych themselves out before starting a juice cleanse. They have a fear that they will be starving during their cleanse and so deprived of all of their normal indulgences so they eat a ton of unhealthy of food and drinks before they start the cleanse. If you are cleansing the right way, you won’t be starving or likely even hungry during your cleanse. Stuffing yourself with processed foods like cookies, cereal, sodas, alcohol and deli meats is only going to make your system work harder during your detox. You may experience headaches and dizziness as your body works hard to get rid of heavy metals, sugars and over processed foods. Try to go into your cleanse with a clean slate, start eliminating those types of foods 1-2 weeks before your cleanse if possible. Start adding in more fruits and veggies to your plate as you take away meats, pastas and rices.
2) Beginners who want to do an extended juice cleanse. Often times people will come into our juice bar as a last result. They are fed up with how they feel and want dramatic results as quickly as possible. “How can I loose 10 pounds? I’ll do anything, can I juice for 10 days?” Whoa whoa whoa…not that we don’t love a client who wants to drink 6 of our juices a day for 10 days, but we would much rather help a client set realistic juicing goals and achieve them. Beginners should start with a 1-3 day cleanse. They should pick a cleanse program that works with their lifestyle. Ease into it…there’s plenty of juice for everyone. You will feel much better hitting metrics then failing miserably at an unrealistic goal.
3) Taking in all of the chemicals, pesticides, herbicides and synthetic fertiizers. Keep it organic, otherwise you are taking in the same pesticides and chemicals that you are trying to get rid of during your cleanse. Extracting nutrients from plants by grinding and pressing is very efficient. With proper technique 80-90% of the plant’s nutrients are made into juice. Since the digestion process is already done for you, it allows your system to start receiving the nutrients right away, instead of having to break it down first. If your produce isn’t organic you are taking in all of those chemicals at a heighten state. Yikes. At very least, make sure that you or your local juice bar is sourcing the “Dirty Dozen” organically.
4) Business as usual. Certainly exercise and clean eating go hand in hand, however, you need to consider what level of juice cleanse you are about to embark on, how it may effect your system and whether or not you should be altering your work out schedule. Not every juice cleanse is created equal. We like to talk to clients about their goals and daily activity levels and match it up with the best cleanse program for them. For instance, our “Kick Starter Cleanse” is a great cleanse with a variety of juices in it that would be fine to maintain your normal level of physical activity. It has more enough protein and caloric intake to sustain a hefty work out, if you are used to working out. Our “Advanced Healing Cleanse” is an advanced detox, with far less protein and caloric intake. It features two bottles of our “Lord Have Mercy” juice, which is our take on the Master Cleanse including lemon, lime, water, ginger, cayenne and maple syrup. It’s great for alkalinizing and speeding up your metabolism, but it doesn’t pair well with an intense work out. That type of a cleanse is ideal for experienced cleanser looking for maximum results in the shortest possible time. It’s ideal when paired with a slower-paced lifestyle such as a time of reflection or meditation.
Dimitar Conev
Do you have any idea how many tricks you have to pick up on your way to a healty juicing? Well, there are a lot of them, and considering the fact that you cannot lean them at all just in one day, you will need to take it a bit slow and learn them one by one. It is okay to make mistakes at the beginning, but you need to focus on distinguishing the right from the wrong in order to properly do the juicing process.
Some of the most common mistakes that I have stumbled across while juicing is incorporating too many fruits, and not enough veggies. This is a key mistake because the fruits contain plenty of fructose, which the body does not need, and the veggies contain a variety of nutrients that the body requires on a daily basis. The second most common mistake is not to drink the juice right after you’ve prepared it. When you are juicing, drinking the juice fresh is as of importance as the products you choose to juice up. You don’t need to drink up the juice in three seconds right after you prepare it, but make sure you consume it in the following 15 minutes after the preparation is done.
Finally, don’t use the same ingredients every day. Your body needs a variety of nutrients, and the only way to provide them to it is to change the ingredients in your juices on a daily basis. It is okay to juice up apples for two days (along with some other ingredients), but the third day switch to pears, or to strawberries, or pineapple. The same goes for the veggies. You don’t need just several types of vegetables, you need all of them.
Monica May | fitgirlsdiary
Mistake: Overloading Your Juice With Fruits Juicing is probably the best way to detox and get micro nutrients into your body, since this way they are absorbed straight into your bloodstream. However, it can get really tricky when it comes to picking out the right ingredients. It’s true, juice detox gives your body a direct shot of vitamins, minerals and enzymes, but if loaded with too much fruit, it also exposes your body to a large amount of sugar. And although natural, fructose is still just another form of sugar, and it’s processed by the body the exact same way as any other sugary substance.
It can mess up with your insulin levels and provide unnecessary energy, while giving your liver a hard time working. You might end up with so much sugar and calories and that’s not the point of detoxing. So, what I suggest is to use one piece of fruit in your juice, let’s say green apple or a handful of berries, and fill out the rest with veggies and greens. Use the fruits to spice up your juices with an extra flavor and cover the bitter taste, but never let them dominate your drink. Stick with the 80/20 blend, 80% veggies 20% fruits, to make sure you get the most out of your detox.
When you drinking juice at least 20 minutes before meals, the body system will absorb the nutrients faster and more efficiently, than when you combine it with heavy meals. Furthermore, the only exception is when you drink juice with salad and raw vegetable dishes since they are digested and absorbed at the same rate.
Drinking Juice in haste
Scientific studies show that digestion starts in the mouth. So, by taking little sips of the juice, you are allowing the digestive enzymes in your mouth to act on the food for faster absorption. Therefore, gulping juice in seconds denies you of the benefits of juicing.
Using the same juicing combination all the time
Anjali | pickyeaterblog
One of the most common mistakes people make during juice detoxing is drinking too much fruit juice. A cleanse with too much fruit juice won’t give you the results you’re looking for because of the high sugar content of fruit juice. The ideal juice cleanse is actually primarily made up of green juice (from veggies) – with just 20% of the juice coming from fruits. Limiting fruit juice can help keep insulin levels steady and ward off hunger as well.