Does anyone here have any experiences with juicing you could share? I'm wanting to try it, not a complete juice fast but I'm thinking maybe replacing at least 1 meal a day. I've heard a lot of good stuff about it and the benefits. I know I'm really not very healthy as far as getting all those micronutrients I need on a day to day basis. I eat WAY less vegetables and fruit than I should but I really, really struggle to get them in.

Also, I'm looking to buy a juicer, any recommendations? Any suggested recipes and suggested reading?

What might be a better idea than that would be smoothies. I bought a juicer and it was such a pain to cut up all the fruit and veggies every day and then throw them in the juicer and then have to clean out all of the pulp and stuff and then clean all of it. I love smoothies, though. They're much easier and you can add virtually whatever you want to them. Have you ever thought of just having a smoothie every day for breakfast? They're faster and less messy than juicing and I tend to find them to be more filling.

I have tried making smoothies but the problem is, they lend themselves very well to fruits, but not so much to veggies. I have tried adding veggies like kale, spinach, celery, zucchini, cabbage, cauliflower, etc. to smoothies and they just don't blend up all that well (especially the dark greens). Maybe my blender just sucks?

It has to do with your blender, but also how long you blend. I add spinach to my smoothies and I take the spinach and add water and blend it up until it's a liquid, then I add the fruit, non fat no sugar added greek yogurt, and some crystal light powder for flavor, then blend it up again until I am satisfied that it's all blended up. It works pretty well for me. I use frozen fruits with the fresh spinach and it works well. Also, if you're using fresh fruit, don't use things with peels such as grapes, peaches or pears, because the skins don't blend well. If you are going to use something with a peel, try to take the peel off if you can. That helps a lot.

I had a Juiceman Juicer and I liked it except it really was a pain to clean , doable but a pain, soaking does not help. It also was very large and when I moved I gave it away as my kitchen is so small. Of course now I wish I had it back and am looking to get a new one. Here is a clue when you are buying a juicer. Some , like the Nutri Bullet require you to add water. I want only juice, not diluted with water. With my Juiceman I could put in carrots, apples, beets , I did not peel them and unless they were very large I did not cut them up and it was not necessary to add water. Yep, I am going to get a new one. Amazon has reviews on juicers.

I started my weight loss by juicing. I lost 30 lbs in 30 days but I think I could have lost an extra 10 lbs but I didn't have the right juicer. I bought a GE juicer from Walmart that was $49.99. The reason I bought a cheap juicer was because I didn't know if I was going to stick with the 30 day Juice Cleanse and I didn't think that it was going to work, so I didn't want to lose money on something that I wasn't going to use. I thought all of the commotion about juicing/juice cleanse was just like all of the other diet fads out there, so I didn't think it was going to work. Well, lo and behold, I love the juicing and I stuck with it and I lost the weight. Then I was mad at myself because I hadn't spent more money on a better juicer. LOL The juicer that I bought did juice all fruits and most veggies but if I would have purchased a "masticating" juicer like a Vitamix, I would have gotten more juice out of the veggies. I was frustrated because I didn't get a lot of juice from the veggies using my cheap-o deap-o Wal Mart juicer and I needed those extra nutrients from that extra juice. I wasn't able to try a lot of the juice recipes because it called for kale, spinach, etc and my juicer just didn't have the capabilities to juice those type veggies. And I needed those extra veggies in my juice to keep me full and help me lose the weight. I regret today not buying a masticating juicer, so now I am searching to buy a more expensive juicer. This is an investment and I know I like juicing, so I am willing to spend the money to get what I need.

Juicing is great!!! I still juice and I substitute a meal for some healthy juice. As far as recommendations. I recommend any masticating juice. Some are pricey. But if you want to get your veggies in there, then you need to get one of those. Check out amazon and ebay and read the reviews.

Keep us posted on your juice journey.

I have tons of recipes that I can share with you.

We just got a juicer after starting out with low sodium V8 and an apple for lunchtime. It was surprisingly satisfying.
We have a garden and I used the ninja (blender, not juicer) to make some fresh tomato soup, it was great, I threw in half an onion, some carrots and garlic and just pureed it, I had already done that separately to the tomatoes, and run the tomatoes through a food mill (or strainer) to remove seeds.
Then just let them simmer on the stove, it came out great.

I made a quick carrot/apple/celery juice last night after getting the juicer, it was delicious. I'm exciting to add more fruits and veggies, any way I can.

Most of the stuff I read says to clean the juicer right after juicing, i guess before the bits dry up in there..

best of luck and thanks for the info!

I can't stand to drink my calories- it seems mildly crazy to me. However, if you're talking mostly about veggie juices and for nutritional purposes, I can see that being okay and relatively low calorie. I used to drink green smoothies from time to time, but they always left me feeling deprived.

Plus, you have to keep in mind that all that stuff that you throw away from the juicer is really good for you- lots of fiber to help you feel fuller and work better. I know some people swear by juicing, but it seems like such a waste to get rid of so much good fiber.

I LOVE my Breville and juicing always seemed like a lazy way to make a meal to me. I just washed off everything and shoved it down the chute. Clean up was super easy too. My lifestyle tends to find me eating on the go and that is a no-no when trying to diet and find a healthy relationship with food. It's not a problem when a have a container of green juice near me.
Drinking veggies is sooo quick and easy. I know I always feel better when Im juicing. You never know how your body will respond until you try it but I'm guessing you would have positive results. I do a standard green drink most of the time: spinach, kale, broccoli, cucumber and apple with just a touch of ginger to cut any grassy taste.

This week we did a 3 day juice fast and then went back to our normal "diet" eating lighter, more veggies, more fish and each lost 2.8.
It definitely gets you to look at your body diferently.

Also, I would say it's something like when people quit smoking and reach for a cig out of habit. I felt a few times like I'll just grab an apple or something, but we didn't, made it through 3 days, we drank more fruit based for bfast, greener for lunch and fruit/green for later in the day depending on what we felt like having, threw in a couple of low sodium V8s when needed, lol...

I read alot of articles and recipes, one word of caution, if you think you're diabetic or pre-diabetic you definitely want to talk to your doctor about health concerns. We basically went day by day ( I know it was only 3 and as long as we felt we could keep going we did.

Will do it again.

best of luck to all

kelijpa, what brand juicer do you have ?

We got the juicebullet, didn't want to spend alot if we didn't like it, it was 79 at Bed Bath and Beyond then I used the 20% off coupon we got in the mail. so it was a good deal, it's pretty easy to clean.

I have a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer and I love it. It's really great for after bad eating weekends and even the hangover There are tons of great recipes out on the internet. My favorites always included celery, ginger, strawberries and mint. I don't recommend putting spinach in the juicer as you really won't get anything - instead, take the juice you got and put it in a blender with the spinach - that works well since spinach breaks up completely. Direct hit of vitamins, helps "clean you out", great energy! Just be careful to not add too much fruit ...

Can it juice kale and spinach?

I wondered about the Jack Lalane Juicer. I have a co-worker who has a masticating juicer and it juices kale, spinach and other leafy vegetables.