Buying a juicer page

[afsjesse]

Just curious to see what the thoughts are behind buying a juicer? I bought one last week and I have been making carrot/tomato juice as well as a couple of other blends with mostly vegetables. Are there any downsides from using a juicer to increase one's vegetable intake other than losing out in the fiber from the solid waste that is left over?

[vwaggs]

I like to have the fiber so I bought a Vitamix blender that works awesome. I use it every day and put in all kinds of veggies and a few low glycemic fruits. I hate veggies so this has really been a blessing. The downside is the cost (around $400) but it is so worth it to me because it will last a long time (8yr warrenty) and blends everything so smoothly. I researched both juicers and blenders and found this to be the most nutritious keeping the whole food in the smoothie.

[dado]

I do not see point in this. Veggies and fruits, I eat. I cannot eat too many fruits, so I must not drink them. Veggies, they are delicious.

[Linny]

I don't see a problem with juicing in addition to eating veggies too. I juiced before starting Primal and I'm hoping to start adding a juice or 2 per day in the near future. My skin really perks up when I drink fresh juice full of greens - and I'm at the age where it needs all the perking it can get.

[IvyBlue]

losing out in the fiber from the solid waste that is left over?

As Robert Lustig puts it (I paraphrase) "the fructose in fruits and vegetables is OK because the antidote comes with the poison." The antidote being the stuff you're throwing away. So aside from being wasteful and expensive it concentrates the sugar. Why not just eat the whole vegetables or fruits?

[FortKnox37]

I also have the Vita-Mix and I have to say it has literally saved my life!!!! You cannot even compare a juicer to the VM....I would never consume the amounts of exotic greens and vegetables without the VM....Just my .02....

[Paleobird]

Another Vita mix fan here. I also have an expensive juicer sitting on a shelf gathering dust. You can get all the nutrition, including the fiber in a very drinkable form this way. Most blenders just make it "baby food" consistency, not really drinkable.

It is much more convenient to drink a green smoothie than to cook and chew all that greenery. I know it gets me to ingest more greens than I normally would especially things like kale that I know are good for me but I don't particularly like. In a smoothie, I wouldn't know it was there.

[thaijinx]

I just bought a juicer for the sole purpose of increasing my leafy green vegetable intake. I'm not going to use it for fruit at all because I agree that the sugar content is just way too high. So, instead I use 2 carrots/1 cucumber/1 lime and a chunk of ginger as my base, and then throw in at least 8 different types of green leafy vegetables. (Bok choi, morning glory, spinach, parsley, cabbage).

personally I would never EAT all these vegetable, as I hate the taste... so, therefore, while I agree that you do loose a lot of fiber, when compared to eating, it IS an easy way of increasing green vitamins and minerals.

One thing I'm looking into doing is using the leftovers to make a vegetable soup or a curry. That way I get to eat the fiber too.