Listen to ‘Juicing For Energy’ on the Life Uplifted podcast:
So what is juicing anyways?
I see a lot of people get confused with the difference between a juice and smoothie. They’re two totally different things. Juicing is a process in which the liquid is extracted from a fruit or vegetable removing the fiber or solid matter like pulp and seeds. Think of it as pure liquid nutrition from your fruits and veggies. This process is done in a juicer. A smoothie is made in a blender and it includes all the fiber and solid parts of the fruit or vegetable. It’s a pureed texture rather than a straight liquid like juice is. So the main difference here is fiber.
So why wouldn’t you just make a smoothie then and get all the good stuff? Well you should. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have juicing as part of your healthy lifestyle too. Here’s why you should incorporate juicing into your daily routine:
Let’s start with a quick story. My first experience with juicing was at a very low point of my life and I was beyond desperate. I had recently gotten out of the hospital after nearly dying in the ER and spending a week in the ICU. I had survived a toxic blood infection but at the massive expense of my health and physical strength. When I got out of the hospital I couldn’t even stand up in the shower let alone walk up the stairs. I remember my dad had to put a large ice chest for me to sit on in the shower because standing for more than a couple minutes wasn’t possible. Growing up as a dancer, I knew that in order to get stronger you needed to build muscle. So since I felt weak, I decided I needed to exercise. Well let’s just say walking didn’t quite work, running was out of the question, and lifting weights… ya right. So I bought a zumba DVD set – yes back then it was just DVDs haha – and I started to meringue like the people on the video and I was so frail and weak I can only imagine how funny it looked. But I did it. And I felt so accomplished and proud finishing a 10 minute zumba session you’d think I ran a marathon. Well that’s what it felt like with the state I was in at the time. But after that first workout, I got really sick. Chills, head cold, more weakness than before. All I could do was lay in bed. And I began to realize after experiencing this a couple times that exercise was a form of stress on my body and I wasn’t equipped to handle that at the time. My body was rebuilding but I had nothing to help it rebuild. Until I learned about juicing.
This was the catalyst to my entire career in nutrition. With exercise being off the table I realized food had to have something to do with the bodies ability to repair itself and build strength.
I went to Barne’s & Noble and I bought a book called the Raw Food Detox Diet and it mentioned juicing as a way to consume more nutrients and increase energy. Bam I was sold. My mom took me to Macy’s literally the next day I think and we bought a juicer.
The following morning I remember being in the kitchen and making the juice feeling SO excited. I poured myself a glass, took one sip, and literally spit it out spraying green juice all over the kitchen. My hopes were shot. I thought to myself, “How am I going to drink this stuff?” Well, I realized it was my only hope. So every day for the next six weeks, I made and drank a giant glass of green juice. It was a combo of celery, cucumber, apple, and lemon. The same combo I drink to this day. Six weeks after that first green juice I felt incredible. This also launched a full blown diet change including as many fruits and vegetables I could eat in a day once I started to see how the juice impacted me. My energy was like never before, my mental clarity was amazing, and I was able to go back to school against doctors orders to take a semester off to fully heal.
I won’t say it was an overnight recovery, because it took well over a year and even more to reverse the damage of a toxic blood infection. But juicing changed my life. Literally. If I didn’t start juicing, I can’t even imagine where I’d be today. Definitely not here that’s for sure.
So how did this happen? How can juicing fruits and vegetables make a difference? Well, when you remove the fiber in the juicing process, you’re left with straight liquid nutrients that go immediately to your cells. No digestion needed. This is super important because digestion is very energy consuming. It’s one of the three D’s of depletion as talked about back in episode 2 if you listened yet. When you remove the need to digest something, your body can absorb the nutrients right away. This is crucial for energy production. And another thing to consider and I always tell my clients this is that you aren’t just what you eat, you are what you absorb. If you aren’t properly digesting your food, you won’t get all the nutrients. And this happens far more than you might think. Many people aren’t fully absorbing nutrients from their food because of digestive issues they can be totally unaware of. That’s a whole other loaded topic. So let’s get back to energy…
This is why juicing helped me so much. My body had no energy to spare. So the only thing that truly made a difference in how I felt was the juice because my body didn’t have to work hard for those nutrients. So it’s as simple as this: if you want to increase your energy, start juicing now.
The amount of nutrients you can consume in a 16oz glass of juice is truly unmatched. Think about it: in a 16oz glass of juice it’s typically one bunch of celery, 1 cucumber, 1 apple, and 1 lemon. Imagine cutting all that up and eating it in one sitting. That’s what you would have to do to get those nutrients. Juicing allows you to get MORE nutrients by extracting them in large volumes. It’s really a beautiful thing.
Now, let me quickly include that juicing isn’t something you do to replace a meal. Think of it as a supplement. It’s also very hydrating which is crucial for the body to be able to function properly and perform well. Dehydration is another D of depletion from episode 2. Are you realizing a trend yet?
Juicing is also very helpful for reducing inflammation which is at the root of all disease so that’s a pretty big deal as well.
Now that you know why juicing is important… how are you supposed to incorporate this daily?
It’s really quite simple: you just do it. You make the decision every day, form a habit around it, and then it’s done. I don’t wake up motivated to make juice everyday, but I make the choice based on how I want to feel. If I wake up more tired than usual that’s more of a reason to put in the extra effort to make juice to improve my energy that day. You can quickly become a juicing fanatic and make yourself juice in 10 minutes. I make it with my 17 month old attached to my hip most days. You do what’s important to you. And if feeling good and full of energy is important, you’ll just do it. It’ll become a habit. And here’s the thing: once you start doing it regularly and feel the difference, you won’t want to be without it anyways.
Best practices for juicing and how to safely incorporate it into your routine:
As I mentioned, it’s not a meal replacement. You still need to consume food to get things like fiber and such.
So ideally, you’d have juice in the morning before breakfast. I typically do lemon water first, green juice next, and then a smoothie after. It’s like a nutrient and hydration explosion. The energy is unreal. I don’t drink caffeine because I don’t need it!
Juicing is also helpful in the afternoon for that energy slump you might experience. It’s a great way to flood your body with nutrients that you might be depleted from earlier in the day.
If you only consume juice as a meal, you’ll feel good but it’s not enough to sustain you. So let’s quickly talk about juice cleanses then. Are they good to do? Are they safe?
Short answer yes they’re great, but they aren’t for everyone. Here’s the thing about nutrition. You’ll get a million opinions all over the place, but what matters most is how it impacts YOUR specific body. So getting a professional to address your health concerns in key so they can properly guide you to make the best decision for your health. I’ve done many juice cleanses in my adult life all for a specific purpose. And never more than 3 days in length. I do them if I feel that my autoimmune issues are flaring up and I want to reduce inflammation. I will do it if I need to fast for the day to give my digestion a break. I will do it for half a day to have laser focused energy for a project I’m working on. As you can see, every cleanse has a different purpose. If you’re feeling like a cleanse is something you want to explore, you can reach out and I’d be happy to talk about the process and if it would be a good fit for you.
Where you can begin with juicing in your life:
First, you need a juicer. There are two types of juicers you can purchase for yourself: centrifugal or masticating.
Centrifugal juicers are more affordable and they use speed and heat to extract juice. This ends up with more nutrient loss and less liquid extracted from your fruits and vegetables. I started out with a centrifugal juicer and it worked for awhile but I eventually upgraded to a masticating juicer once I learned more about them.
Masticating juicers are a bit more expensive and use lower speed and pressure to extract liquid. This allows more nutrients to be preserved and more liquid from your produce.
Masticating juicers are what I always recommend now. It’s worth the extra investment for sure. And I think the masticating juicers are way easier to clean too. Like way easier. Plus, if you’re making juice for the nutrients, don’t you want as many nutrients as possible in your juice? It just makes sense. Omega is my favorite brand if you want to check them out. The J8006 Model is amazing and I’ve had mine for 8 years!
Okay back to juicing. We’ve chatted about what juicing is, why it’s important, and how to start incorporating it. Now let’s talk about recipes.
Juice recipes:
What you juice matters. For the volume and quality of your juice. You always want to have a base ingredient that is very water-rich. For example, celery and cucumbers are both very water rich vegetables. They yield much more juice compared to something like spinach right? Not much water in that.
My go-to is always celery, cucumber, apple, and lemon. Recently I’ve been adding ginger daily too.
Let’s talk about why I choose and recommend these ingredients for your go-to juice:
Celery: Celery is technically an herb, not a vegetable which is funny because everyone calls it a vegetable including myself. But it’s an herb and it contains trace mineral salts that are very helpful for cleansing the body and also nourishing the adrenal glands which are responsible for our stress hormones. Like we all need some celery in our lives right? Celery also has enzymes that stimulate the body to produce hydrochloric acid for digestion. Celery is ALWAYS in my daily juice for these reasons.
Cucumber: Cucumbers are full of electrolytes helpful for nourishing the kidneys and also have traces of amino acids helpful for neurological health and anxiety. Cucumbers for the win right!
Apple: Apples are fantastic for reducing inflammation in the body and also contain trace minerals and electrolytes as well. They also have phytochemicals that feed the neurons in your brain.
Lemon: Lemons are hydrating, full of electrolytes, and trace minerals. They also have vitamin C and antioxidants. Lemons are a cleansing powerhouse and help the body purge toxins as well. Amazing for digestion and alkalizing the body. Lemons are in my juice and I also use lemons in my water for these same reasons.
Ginger: Ginger has antispasmodic properties to it and what that means is that it’s very relaxing. It’s why many people use it for an upset stomach or nausea. It calms your stomach and relaxes muscles. Ginger is also anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-parasitic. It’s a powerhouse and a great addition to your juice.
A couple other combos I like are:
Green Pineapple:
- Celery
- Spinach
- Pineapple
- Lime
- Ginger
Carrot Fennel Explosion:
- Carrot
- Orange
- Fennel
- Apple
- Lemon
On days I’m just trying to do something quick I’ll do celery, cucumber, and apple to make it super easy.
You can pretty much juice just about anything, but I always recommend including some type of green vegetable. Also, citrus really helps with bitterness so lemon, lime, orange.. All great. When you’re getting started, just start experimenting with different things. It’s the best way to learn! The more you do it the more fun it gets too. You’ll find what combos you like and get in your own groove. If you have kids, get them involved. It’s a healthy habit you can instill in them too.
The biggest thing to remember here is that juicing is something positive you can do for yourself. It has loads of benefits and can really improve not only your energy levels but your overall health on a cellular level. I’m a perfect example of this and I’ve seen it many times with my clients, family, and friends as well.
Last thing:
I got a few questions from my community about juicing that I didn’t include so far, but want to address:
How do you feel about freezing juice so we don’t have to juice daily?
You can definitely freeze just about anything and it will preserve, but for juice, if you freeze it I recommend using it within a week so the quality doesn’t diminish. I personally recommend juicing fresh daily or the night prior if time is an issue in the mornings.
So many mixed opinions in the fitness industry on juicing. What’s the best practice and why?
There will be mixed opinions about everything these days. Everyone has an opinion. But what’s important is to look at facts and testimonies. As I stated through this episode, juice is best used as a supplement to an overall healthy diet. If you’re looking for guidance on a juice cleanse and if it would work for you, reach out to me or another qualified professional.
Can you speak about whether or not juicing can cause blood sugar spikes?
Blood sugar regulation is unique to each individual based on the state of their overall health. So I can’t speak for everyone about whether or not it causes blood sugar to spike. It also depends upon what is in your juice. If you’re only juicing greens it won’t affect your blood sugar much. If you’re only juicing fruits, it will, but that doesn’t mean it’s negative. As I said, it really depends upon the individual. Everything impacts people’s bodies differently.
Can you make juice without a juicer?
Yes! If you have a blender and a cheesecloth you can make juice. Simply add all your juice ingredients to a blender and then strain that mixture through a cheesecloth to separate the liquid from the fiber. It’s definitely more work, but it’s possible!
If you have any additional questions about juicing or want guidance on how to get started, contact me or leave a comment below.
With joy and health,
