July 4th Juice

Well wrapping up residency has been keeping me busy...only 1 more week and I am free for a whole month!!! Lately, I have been into juicing. Not sure exactly why I decided to pick this up, but I have to say that I am glad I did! After some research on the internet, I decided to go for this Breville juicer. I chose it because it was lower in price than other models and still had good reviews. This juicer is a centrifugal style. I have found out that there are two main types of juicers: centrifugal and macerating. Apparently the macerating type is better if you want to juice leafy greens such as kale. My main concern was that I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a juicer only to use it once or twice and never again. In general, good quality centrifugal models run from $100 to $250, while the macerating types run $300 to $400 an above.

That being said, some thoughts on the model that I have - the waste catching receptacle is inside the model not outside, which originally I thought I would like. I find that it's somewhat of a pain, particularly if you are making a lot of juice. I did a juice fast in which I had to make a breakfast and lunch juice before work and had to clean it out between batches - something you would not have to do if your waste container was separate. Another thing is that I get a lot of foaming of my juice. This is apparently enough of a problem that the provided container has a "foam separator" portion to the lid. I think this is due to the extraction process and the very high speed of the motor. The foam does melt and go back to juice after a while but that doesn't really help if you are making something to drink right then (which I have to say is most of the time). So those are my thoughts. These "problems" are not so bad that I won't continue to use the juicer, just thought I would put my review out there.

If you would like some more information about juicing, I suggest you watch this video called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. It's a documentary about an Australian guy who comes to the US to go on a 60 day juice fast. It's amazing how much weight he loses and how many people he helps. He's also a business man and now has his own website with juice fasting plans that you can download. I did a 5 day "reboot" and I have to say that I feel great because of it. Now of course, here's the disclaimer: this is my opinion and I have not been paid to say any of this...

Now that I am off the fast and eating real food again, I still have some fruit around. Also since it is the 4th of July, I thought I would make a patriotic juice...

A red and blue juice with strawberries, watermelon, blueberries and mint. With the juicer that I have, it has a really big feed chute so these are the size pieces of watermelon that I put in the juicer, yes rind and all.

Since it's the 4th, I thought I would make a spritzer with some sparkling water. See what I mean about the foam? In the glass, that's somewhat due to the fizzy water but in the carafe, that's from the juicer. Tasty none the less. Happy 4th everyone!!