Movie Fat, Sick and nearly Dead

[IBrakeforPastry]

And there's no easier way to get a whole lot of calories from raw vegetables than juicing. Otherwise, there's really too much fiber to even eat that much, let alone absorb it all.

Can you explain this? I've only juiced oranges and I'm unfamiliar with vegetable juicing. I guess there's more to it than just throwing it all in a blender or food processor? I think I might want to try this!

[OakLeaf]

The only juicer I have any experience with is a Champion. Sold it years ago, wish now I'd kept it. Nowadays there are several quality brands with similar mechanisms. Basically, they slowly masticate the vegetables so as not to heat them, then press them through a screen, so the juice comes out the bottom and the fiber comes out the end.

Nothing wrong with throwing it all in the blender, but then all the fiber stays in and it can be hard to digest if you drink a lot of it.

[IBrakeforPastry]

Thanks, OakLeaf. The fiber has it's own benefits, but it sounds like you don't want too much of it so you can drink more juice. Is that right?

[Sylvia]

Can you explain this? I've only juiced oranges and I'm unfamiliar with vegetable juicing. I guess there's more to it than just throwing it all in a blender or food processor? I think I might want to try this!

From what I have seen there are three main types of juicers: centrifugal juicers, masticating juicers and juice presses. Most of the good quality juicers that I've seen within a reasonable price range ( $400 or less) are centrifugal or masticating. Centrifugal, as the name implies, uses centrifugal force to force the juice out. They are much louder. The guy in the movie Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, promotes the Breville juicers which seem to be mostly (if not all) centrifugal juicers. The masticating juicers grind or chew up the fruit/veggie and forces the juice out. They are generally quieter. The juicer I have, the Omega 8006, is one of these.

I believe the reason behind juicing is to concentrate the nutrients by removing the pulp. Part of the reason I started juicing after watching this movie was I wanted to add more dark green leafy veggies to my smoothies. Something besides just spinach. I did try Kale or Chard in my smoothie and found it had way to much pulp which caused me problems. Now I mostly juice and love it.

One more thing, for many people getting a good quality juicer can be expensive. And if this is the case, I recommend starting out with smoothies. Many people who juice also do smoothies. I started with making smoothies made with banana, some fruit of my choice, spinach, some protein powder and maybe soymilk or water. I would even throw in some ground ginger or cinnamon. You don't even need an expensive blender. I use just an Oster blender. The real point for me was to try to eat healthier.

[Sylvia]

For those who might be interested in juicing greens, but aren't quite ready to be die-hard, here is an infographic guide to juicing greens.
It lists different greens to try in steps, so you can work up to the tougher ones. I didn't have this guide when I started
and went pretty quickly to juicing kale, collards and chard (which seems to be missing on the chart).