The Porsche of Juice makers

[Perfectlap]

A little off topic but timely for all those new year's resolutions types...

A few weeks ago I picked up one of these Omega 'masticating' type juicers. It was fantastic but then I heard rave reviews about the model higher up in pecking order that was double the price at $350 (Amazon). Sounded pricey but apparently it juices like a boss mostly due to the fact that rather than cutting the vegetables and fruit like a typical noisy juicer it uses a plastic screw/auger to quietly press the juice out of the food. The juicer has these neat little wiper blades to squeeze away the foam so you get every last drop of vitamins and enzymes and all that other healthy stuff. There is virtually no wasted juice and the juice is a very high quality. And the pivotal part that condemns must juicers to the closet, it cleans up in under 3 minutes with mostly quick rinsing. Why juice over blending? Below is a picture of all the fiber that would have taken me the whole day to digest. Fiber is great but tough to eat that way every single day.

The ease and covenience of this all means, and I kid you not, I have been using it every day since the purchase. This may be the first time in my adult life that every day I have been consuming a large plate of kale, carrots, cucumber, spinach, asparagus, lemon, lime, granny smith apple, those tiny oranges, ginger, cranberries, pomegranates, melon..... which turns into 24 ounces of tangy goodness.

I may well be the laziest person on the planet about eating vegetables so this is a minor miracle in progress. Something worth looking into if Santa left you some money under the tree. Oh and I'm down 6 lbs. in the first 10 days. Although I don't recommend doing this as a meal replacement. Most diets have high levels of sodium and the adjustment to such a drastically low sodium intake can be disastrous if done too quickly. So far for me this is only replacing breakfast.


video of some guy using it
EndTheTrendNow - Omega Vert 350 - YouTube

[peterbrown77]

Not to rain on the parade, but juicing has definite disadvantages versus eating the whole fruit/vegetable. Let's use an orange as an example: take two peeled oranges, drop one through the juicer and drink it (100% of it) and eat the other normally. Your body has two completely different reactions. Now, an orange is mostly sugar water. When you eat the whole (un-juiced) orange, the sugar water enters your system over time (unless of course you chew each bite 32 times to keep you from danger so you can stay up and watch The Lone Ranger). This suppresses the insulin response as you have a more stable blood sugar level. If you drink the orange however, all the sugar hits your bloodstream at once, resulting in a spike of blood sugar, increased insulin production, and increased fat production. Your body also expends energy breaking down the un-juiced orange, resulting in fewer "net" calories than you receive from the juiced orange. So, basically, even though you haven't "cooked" the food in a juicer you have actually added a level of processing to it, in that you've had a machine do something for you that your body would normally do for itself. And every time you process a food, calories go up and nutrition goes down.

[Perfectlap]

very true. That's why I avoid juicing fruits high on the glycemic index, which are largely tropical fruits. And if I do add some of those to the juicer I limit the portion (small ping pong sized orange as opposed to a large Navel Orange, small apple vs large apple, etc.).
In general I prefer to eat those types of fruits whole as you say to allow the fiber to regulate the sugar. But there are a ton of healthy foods of vibrant colors and flavors that do not have these issues of high sugar like tropical fruits. Also why I think its important to have a good, preferably small, blender in addition to a good juicer. One is not a substitute for the other. Most vegetables can go into the juicer without issue along with some fruits. While when I choose to use the blender is largely for high anti-oxidant fruits, like dark berries, that simply will not work well in a juicer.

As far as simply eating the fruits and vegetables whole to gain the maximum nutritional value, that's where everyone is different. I have a rule when it comes to taking on a new well-being practise that involves an investment/expense of some sort: Basically there is honestly admitting:
1-the things I will do and stick to it.
2- the things I may do.
3- the things I know I will not keep up.

Very very few people in this country are anywhere near chewing and digesting even the minimum amount of fruits and vegetables required for good health.
And they never will change until sickness is upon them, if even then.
Even if you are leaving some nutrition on the table with juicing it's still significantly more than the average person will take in during their lives of eating mostly processed food.

p.s.
This was was all partially inspired by the documentary Sick, Fat and Nearly Dead which is on NetFlix now. An interesting examination of how our American diet has changed in a very short period of time. The principal character manages to bring his weight down to a healthy level from obesity and no longer has to take medication from simply adopting a juicing plan during a cross country road trip. The transformation of this guy was incredible. I'm no advocate of fasting or crash diets or cleansing, etc. but I certainly see the value of supplementing your diet this way.

Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv3vEXy_EwU

[Johnny Danger]

Personally, I'm a Ron Popeil kinda guy !


K-tel "Veg-o-matic 2" commercial - YouTube

[Perfectlap]

^ little know fact. Popeil's grandma went to prison for attempting to murder his father. Upon her release he picked her up at the jail and took her home.