Adding juicing to your daily regimen

Juicing is certainly one healthy habit good for nearly all of us.

Starting a new healthy habit is exciting. And juicing is certainly up there with cool, trendy, healthy habits.

Things to consider before adding juicing to your daily regimen

But just like beginning a home improvement project or a new business venture, properly starting a juicing regimen requires a reality check. (Sorry.)

A juicing reality check would have to include these five elements: time, money, space, motivation, and people. Let’s examine each one in detail.

Time

For maximum nutritional benefits, you should make your juice close to the time of consumption. Working from home or staying home with children makes this easier than if you leave for school or work.

If you must leave each morning, you will need to get up earlier or prepare your fruits and greens the night before, and run the juicer in the morning. You can make extra quantities and bring it with you to work or school or gym. But you will want to make sure you have time to clean up the juicing operation before you leave, which can take an extra five to fifteen minutes.

Money

Besides the cost of a new juicer, which can be very variable, your grocery budget will be stretched a bit. Even if you are in the habit of buying lots of fresh produce, the sheer volume of apples, kale, and cucumbers you will need may stagger you.

After a while this will even out as your new healthy lifestyle spends less money on packaged foods and other health remedies.

Space

The obvious space consideration is where will the new juicer go? Where will you store it, or will it be one more counter appliance?

Less obvious but equally cluttering is where the large amounts of produce will be stored. Some fruits can’t be refrigerated. Kale and Swiss chard and melons take up a lot of space in refrigerators.

Finally, where do you have room to wash vegetables and fruits and the knives and strainers and cutting boards that go along with juicing?

Motivation

Why are you considering juicing? Is it part of a well thought-out plan towards a healthier way of life? Has a doctor told you that you are in danger if you don’t change your ways? Are you seeking weight loss, energy, better sleep or more balanced digestion?

Any of the above reasons are terrific, but you owe it to yourself to be quite clear as to why you are starting juicing. You may need to draw upon these reasons when you feel deprived or choose to avoid social events while you are learning to juice.

People

Speaking of social events, how will your juicing affect the people around you?

Will you be able to fit juicing in around your family’s mealtimes and kitchen space? If you are the main cook for your family, will you be able to graciously prepare their meals and be satisfied with drinking your own juices? (Note: yes, it is very possible to balance this part of life, but you need to consider your own situation.)

Does your work require business meetings that involve meals? Will you be able to bring your juice bottle into business lunches?

This reality check was not meant to dissuade you from juicing! Rather, it is meant to help you plan for things you may have not considered. And it may help you decide to what extent you want to start juicing: breakfast only, replacing one meal a day, or an all-out juice fast.

Learn about the best fruit and vegetables for juicing and how to prepare them, and then you will be ready for creating your recipes. Help to cure acne - Try drinking a juice made with 4 oz carrot, 2 oz spinach and 2 oz asparagus once a day, preferably on an empty stomach, for 5-6 days.