THE BENEFITS OF JUICING AND MY GO-TO JUICERS

When it comes to optimizing your health, I would highly recommend incorporating juicing into your daily life. Juicing is a process that extracts the juices from fresh fruits and vegetables. It’s one of the best ways you can consume a high volume of nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, in the form of a juice.

For the convenience, you may prefer to buy pre-made juices you find at the grocery store. Unless the juice was freshly made within a day, a lot of the nutrients from the juice are most likely gone. Depending on the juicing method (centrifugal vs masticating), the nutrients from the juice are only good for about 1-3 days. That’s why I would highly recommend investing in a juicer or only buying fresh-made juices for the health benefits.

Centrifugal vs Masticating JUICERS

If you’re looking to invest in a juicer, the two common types of juicers are a centrifugal and a masticating juicer.

A centrifugal juicer uses a high-speed grater to shred the fruits and vegetables to extract the juice. Some positives is that it’s less expensive, requires less prep with the bigger feed/chute, easy to use and clean and juices quickly. Some negatives is that it yields more waste and introduces heat and oxygen to the nutrients due to the high-speed grater and you will need to drink the juice more quickly to receive the benefits (12-24 hours if stored properly). It’s also not good at extracting leafy greens and better for hard produce.

A masticating juicer aka cold pressed juicer uses slow rotations of an auger or twin gear to grind/chew the fruits and veggies under high pressure (no heat) to extract the juice from the produce. Some positives is that it retains a higher nutritional value, good at extracting juice from leafy greens (including wheat grass), less waste and longer fridge life when stored properly (up to 3 days depending on juicer). Some negatives is that it requires more prepping due to the smaller feed/chute, more expensive, and takes longer to clean.

Depending on what you’re looking for (convenience, cost, overall benefits, etc.) in your juicer, both are great options to get you started. When I started my juicing journey when I first saw the documentary “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”, I started with the Breville (centrifugal) and it was the perfect introduction to juicing because it was quick and easy to use and budget friendly.

As I continued to juice regularly, I invested in a masticating juicer—first the Omega and then the Greenstar Elite. Both are great cold-pressed juicers, but what sold me on the Greenstar Elite is that it uses twin stainless steel interlocking gears (augers) to grind/chew produce between them, which provides an even higher yield of juice extraction with the maximum vitamins, enzymes and minerals possible vs a single auger masticating juicer. I also juice a lot of greens so a masticating juicer was worth the investment and saves me money in the long run with yielding more from my produce.

Below are some of my favorite juicers I’ve used and would recommend depending on what you’re looking for. There are also other great juicers out there and ultimately finding the best one for you and getting started is most important. Hope this helps and wishing you the best on your juicing journey!

BEST OVERALL MASTICATING JUICER

I bought this juicer back in 2015 when I was diving even deeper into juicing and raw foods. I noticed the Green Star Elite was the juicer my biggest health gurus were using and I finally invested in one. When it comes to getting the most nutrients, the highest yield, longest fridge life (up to 72 hours if stored properly) and the best for greens including wheat grass, the Green Star is the best. Unlike other masticating juicers which usually use 1 auger to masticate produce, the Green Star uses powerful twin jumbo gears to grind/chew through fruits/veggies to extract the nutrients. Green Star also has a “Pro” and “5” version which are the newer models and a little pricer due to the fully stainless steel twin gears, but the Green Star Elite is just as amazing at a more affordable price.

BEST BUDGET MASTICATING JUICER

This juicer is perfect if you’re looking for a cold pressed juicer but at a more affordable price point. In general, masticating juicers will be more expensive than centrifugal juicers but in the long run they’re worth it because they will extract more juice, retain more nutrients and you can store the juices longer (48-72 hours if stored properly). This juicer will require a little more prep (cutting up fruits/veggies) but the pros outweigh the cons.

BEST budget CENTRIFUGAL JUICER

The first juicer I ever bought right after watching “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” which started my juicing journey. If you’re looking for a budget friendly quick and easy juicer—this is the perfect starter. As noted above, centrifugal juicers do oxidize more quickly so in order to optimize the nutrients, drink your juice immediately or within 12-24 hours. This is a great juicer for hard produce but if you’re going to juice a lot of greens, I would recommend going for a masticating juicer to get the best yield from your fruits/veggies.

Below are some other juicers I’ve used and would recommend depending on your budget and what you’re looking for.

Greenstar 5 Juicer- Features all stainless steel jumbo twin gears for maximum juicing torque on even the toughest of vegetables. This is a bit pricey compared to the others, but definitely worth it in the long run and my favorite juicer on the market. The stainless steel jumbo twin gears create a focused magnetic field that rearranges clusters of water so that it can latch on to more of the valuable vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients and extract it into your juice. It utilizes the kinetic energy of the turning gears to emit far-infrared, which delays oxidation and allows your extracted juice to remain fresh, up to 72 hours in the refrigerator.

Omega J8006HDC Juicer- The first masticating juicer I bought after using the Breville Juice Fountain juicer and it did not disappoint. Uses a triple-stage masticating technology to extract nutrients, vitamins, flavor and juice from fruits, vegetables, leafy greens and wheatgrass.

Multi-Batch Compact Juicer- This is my go-to juicer if I’m traveling because it’s light weight and compact and can fit into your carry on bag or you can easily take it with you on the road. You can also pre-load your favorite fruits and veggies into the hopper, hit start, and revel in the superior juice quality and yield thanks to its robust motor's enhanced torque for such a small/compact juicer.

XL Manual Juice Press- Designed to extract juice from pomegranates and a variety of citrus fruits, such as oranges, mandarins, grapefruits and lemons as well as some vegetables like tomatoes. This is by far my favorite citrus juicer of all time—it’s the absolute best! 200 lbs of squeezing pressure, stainless steel contact parts, FDA approved raw materials.