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There are many reasons why juicing is so popular in the twenty first century. Top of the list is that fresh juices and smoothies are seriously delicious and refreshing especially since you can tweak each recipe to suit you. Plus, freshly prepared juices are bursting with health boosting vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, trace elements and plant nutrients to make you feel great and look fabulous. 

 

Juicing has gotten such a bad reputation but believe me it is the best thing you can do for your body, your skin and your health. I’ve been juicing for the last six years. Others call me a health freak while others have never seen healthy become healthier (a statement from a friend when I took a picture of a Dragon fruit while in Bangkok and I was obviously salivating and dreaming of juicing it.)

 

 I love sharing my juicing recipes on both Instagram and Facebook. As a result, I’m asked a lot of questions on juicing. It’s for this reason that I decided to put together a Q & A on my juicing addiction.

 

Q1: Should I should use a juicer, a blender or a nutri-bullet?

A1: I use both a juicer and nutria-bullet depending on the fruits I’m juicing.  As a very general rule, if the fruit and vegetable is soft, such as a banana, mango, papaya, use a NutriBullet. If it is dense, or tough, such as a carrot, cucumber use a juicer. I prefer using a juicer, since juicing extracts all the nutrients and it’s easily absorbed by the body into the bloodstream.

 

Q2: What fruit or vegetable should I Juice?

A2: You can juice any fruit and vegetable under the sun. Just make sure you wash the fruits and vegetables very well. If you are new to juicing both fruits and vegetables, try my Carrot, Apple & Ginger mix.  5 Large Carrots - I apple - 1 Ginger finger. This will get you addicted! This is the base of most of my juicing recipes.

 

Q3: When should I drink my freshly made Juice?

Immediately. Storing juice kills the nutritional benefits due to light and oxygen exposure.    

 

Q4: When juicing carrots, apples, pears, plums, cucumbers should I peel off the skin? What about the seeds?

As a general rule, the answer is no, however I usually peel the skin off the carrots (especially since they are not organic) and they taste much better without the skin. As for the rest of the fruits, I wash them very well using both water and vegetable liquid soap to remove the pesticides from the skin. For apples and pears, I remove the seeds but for the watermelon I juice the seeds. 

 

Q5: Juicing has too much sugar, will I gain weight.? What should I do?

To reduce the sugar content in my juices I always add cucumbers, celery, ice cubes or cold water. Always juice more of the vegetables then the fruits or add in cold water or a cucumber. If you are on a high protein diet, I suggest you juice the fruits and vegetables with a low glycemic index or only juice vegetables.

 

Q6: Do you only drink juice in the morning. Don’t you get hungry? I drink juice first thing in the morning as my Pre-Breafast. It is the perfect pick me up.  There after 30mins to 1 hour I have my breakfast. I don’t believe in juice diets. Or diets for that matter. You must have a proper breakfast after juicing.

 

Q7: I hear juicing is not good because juicing removes all the fiber? Juicing removes all the soluble fiber however the benefits are enormous.  Juicing does most of the digestion for you since the nutrients are turbo charged straight into the system.  It’s highly concentrated with minerals and nutrients that are easily absorbed by your body. With that said, juicing is not a substitute for eating the whole fruit and you can always eat the fiber later. I always alternate from juicing to blending in order to maintain optimal fiber intake.

 

Q8: Where do you get the time to juice every morning? And washing the juicer isn’t it too much work? It can be hectic I must admit, but I’m so addicted that my body craves for it every morning. And you will always make time for what you prioritize in your life. To make it faster and easier, I try to prepare the fruits the night before and store them in the fridge in an air tight container. And for the juicer, I insert a paper bag around the pulp collector after the extraction process. This kills cleaning time by 35%

 

Q9: How much juice do you drink in a day? Easily 700ml to 1 litre a day! I can’t eat 5 carrots a day but I can juice 7 carrots a day. Imagine the nutritional benefits I’m giving my body.

 

Q10: Where can I get your juicing recipes? On my Facebook Page “A Beautiful Life “and on my Instagram Account " bidanyabarassa". Every one tells me that I should write a book so that is probably my next mission:-) 

 

Q11: What Juicer should I buy? Any Juicer will do but I love the Easy fruit Moulinex Juicer 700W. It's fast, quick and easy to dismantle and clean.