Juicing

[Lost in Translation]

I bought the wife a new Vitamix for Christmas. She caught the flu and was too sick for cold juices but she's better now so we finally started juicing.

 

Kale, parsley, arugula, spinach, apple, cucumber, celery, vanilla protein powder, filtered water - 30 seconds on high. Bam! Juice!

 

We felt it right away, and were high as kites (in a  good way) for hours. I think this is the start of a long friendship.

[Nothing]

On 22.1.2018 at 2:40 AM, Lost in Translation said:

I bought the wife a new Vitamix for Christmas.

 

Yes, it's a easy and fast way to get some healthy food in. But is Vitamix not a blender and no juicer?

[Lost in Translation]

13 minutes ago, Nothing said:

 

Yes, it's a easy and fast way to get some healthy food in. But is Vitamix not a blender and no juicer?

 

Vitamix is indeed a blender. It's a professional grade blender that can even make hot soups if you want it to! Obviously it does not separate the juice from the particulate so it's not technically "juice", but the blender does almost all the work and your stomach doesn't need to do any digestion. The liquid enters your bloodstream almost immediately.

[Nothing]

15 hours ago, Lost in Translation said:

 

Vitamix is indeed a blender. It's a professional grade blender that can even make hot soups if you want it to! Obviously it does not separate the juice from the particulate so it's not technically "juice", but the blender does almost all the work and your stomach doesn't need to do any digestion. The liquid enters your bloodstream almost immediately.

 

I understand. I'm considering to buy a vitamix or comparable blender too for making smoothies and nut milk. Have you experience with blending nuts like macadamia or almonds?

[Lost in Translation]

4 hours ago, Nothing said:

 

I understand. I'm considering to buy a vitamix or comparable blender too for making smoothies and nut milk. Have you experience with blending nuts like macadamia or almonds?

 

I have never tried to blend nuts. That might be very good. You'll need to get organic nuts. That's not a problem if you have a health co-op in your area that sells bulk food. Nuts will be no problem for a professional quality blender like Vitamix. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

 

[liminal_luke]

On 8/19/2018 at 3:11 AM, Nothing said:

 

I understand. I'm considering to buy a vitamix or comparable blender too for making smoothies and nut milk. Have you experience with blending nuts like macadamia or almonds?

 

If you`re looking for a "comparable blender" -- consider Blendtec.  I believe there are refurbished ones for less money than new.  Mine worked wonderfully until I had some problems with the seal of the jar.  Could have gotten it fixed, and still might someday I guess, but the fix would of been like $100 and I was over my blender infatuation by that point.

[silent thunder]

I've had a blendtec blender and have been using it daily/bi daily for seven years. 

It is worth every penny of the $450.00 US I spent on it then and if it ever does fail.  I'll replace it immediately.

 

It has a 3 horsepower motor which pulverizes even avocado pits into micronized particles so fine, they veritably evaporate into the smoothies I make.  There is no chalky residue, nor any 'bits and pieces' remaining.

 

I can't stress enough how resilient and valuable this blender is in my experience.

I highly recommend it.

[DSCB57]

Perhaps the most important thing to consider when preparing juices from fruit and vegetables is whether or not the device produces heat during the process of extracting the juice, because this can damage the vitamins contained in these foods.

 

I went from using a high speed machine which produced a considerable amount of heat to using a slow device which cold presses the food in order to get as much juice out whilst generating as little heat as possible, and the difference was night and day! You also need to observe the quantity of froth the machine produces, as this is also indicative of undesirable effects. 

In an online comparative test of several similar low speed cold pressing juicers, it could be seen that the juicers which produced greater quantities of froth gained less points overall, as the most important thing is the quantity of clear juice each device produces without the need for further filtering. 

[Lost in Translation]

9 hours ago, DSCB57 said:

Perhaps the most important thing to consider when preparing juices from fruit and vegetables is whether or not the device produces heat during the process of extracting the juice, because this can damage the vitamins contained in these foods.

 

Excellent point! It's true that Vitamix on high can produce hot soups. I add several ice cubes to offset heat generation and I make it a point to only run on high for about 10 seconds.

[DSCB57]

3 minutes ago, Lost in Translation said:

 

Excellent point! It's true that Vitamix on high can produce hot soups. I add several ice cubes to offset heat generation and I make it a point to only run on high for about 10 seconds.

 

While it is great that you recognize that this is happening, by the time you add the ice cubes it is already probably too late - the damage will have been done at the onset of the process, due to the speed of the machine - unless it is a low-speed high torque motor. My machine masticates the food at a constant low speed while its internal filters remove as much roughage as possible still without producing any heat. 

I feel that it is a similar paradigm to that of using a microwave oven. As far as Chinese medicine is concerned, the food Qi is damaged regardless of the amount of time the food is subjected to the microwave energy, which is typically far less than in a normal electric stove for example.

[Lost in Translation]

6 minutes ago, DSCB57 said:

While it is great that you recognize that this is happening, by the time you add the ice cubes it is already probably too late - the damage will have been done at the onset of the process, due to the speed of the machine - unless it is a low-speed high torque motor.

 

The speed is variable. I always start on the lowest setting and work up until the solid particles are shredded, including the ice. Then I switch to high for ten seconds and turn it off.

[cheya]

The old naturopaths drew a strong distinction between "juice" and pulverized food.  For addressing serious illnesses (detox or cleansing), they were totally on the side of just juice– no fiber included. And for juice, I do tend to agree that the low speed cold pressing juicers would be better than the old Champions.

 

But if you're just trying to add more vegetables into your diet, then no problem with blenderized food (vitamix style).... 

[DSCB57]

Do any of you add liquid cereals or nuts to your juice? I don't add water, just half a glass of almond milk mixed with a little walnut milk. Last of all, after all the fruit and vegetables I also add powdered chlorella, spirulina and kale, as well as powdered hemp seeds when available. The algae are for detoxification. I drink about a litre a day of this after my morning tea. I also grow my own wheatgrass, and either add that with fresh ginger and turmeric, or will add all three to my morning green tea.

[SirYuri]

I do blend and juice from time to time since i'm a vegan but recently i found out that most masters eat their fruits thru chewing for the purpose that when you chew certain chemical changes happens in the mouth and after i tried it out the difference was really great. But juicing or blending can be a good starting point.

[Vajra Fist]

How does juicing work from a TCM perspective? Since it was a cold food, potentially damp forming, I stopped juicing. Would love to hear anyone's thoughts on it from that perspective.

[DJ CEIBA]

LOVE juicing and shake blending!!

i shoot for a full month of liquids at least once a year.

for the last few years, I use cronometer.com to make sure my nutrition stays normal.

breakfast w/garlic/beets/citrus.

my shakes tend toward fruits/nut milk/raw nuts & spoonfuls of coconut/flax/olive oil.

my juices tend to be hard roots/tubers/leaves/herbs/a sweet water fruit.

i use a vitamix mixer & a breville juicer. I've heard lots of complaints I don't have ANY.

 

During and after, the benefits are for me are in overall differences in energy, my skin, eye clarity & it always forces me to sharpen up my lifestyle in places where it's become raggedy because I have to remove myself from so much activity (nightlife/big dinners/etc).

 

HUGE FOR DISCIPLINE.