There are some great health benefits to making and drinking fresh juice, from fruits and vegetables. Fresh juice can fill in the gap that our modern diets tend to leave – of raw and unprocessed food, that is rich in vitamins and dissolved minerals. Did you know that juice from many vegetables such as yellow and red capsicums, is actually richer in vitamin C than oranges? And that a small glass of juice from leafy greens such as kale or cabbage contains more calcium than a glass of milk? Basically juice is great!
You may already have a juicer machine, and be looking at upgrading, or maybe you are new to juicing and need to know what sort of juicer machines are out there. Hopefully this can help!
Basically there are fast and slow machines. The fast ones are called centrifugal juicers and they work by shredding up everything you put in, and allowing the juice to be drained out. These machines are fairly cheap and are quite fast. A well known model is the Jack Lalanne Power Juicer (see it on those late night infomercials!) and there is no doubt this is one fast juicer – it will make a glass of juice in 10 seconds.
The other option is a Masticating juicer. When I say they are slow, it simply means slower – so you will take an extra 20 seconds maybe to make a glass of juice. Masticating juicer machines work by using slowly turning gears to crush ingredients. The advantage is that you can juice tougher ingredients, such as wheat grass – this alone may be a big consideration for some people (centrifugal juicers CANNOT juice wheat grass – it is too dry). The other advantage is that these juicers are known to make higher quality juice, because they do not mix any air in or cause any heating at all. Some of the best known models are the Angel Juicer and the Greenstar line up of Greenpower machines. Masticaiting juicer machines are generally more expensive, but also are built to last longer, coming with better warranties.
