Today was the first day of my three day juice fast. As you might remember, I had a flu for over four weeks and even now I still have a cough that I cannot shake. It’s driving me nuts but I am thankful to be better, at least.
We’ve been enjoying fresh veggie and fruit juice again ever since we splashed out and purchased a new juicer. Previously we owned a Breville Juice Fountain
The positive points about it are:
- Can juice whole fruits or at least large pieces of fruit
- Its fast
The negatives are:
- Painful to clean
- Messy
- Loud – very loud
- Looks clunky
- Inferior juicing method which yields a lower quality juice meaning that it is best consumed immediately.
- Cannot do wheatgrass and other leaves.
Now we have a Masticating Juicer
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What’s the difference? Basically there are three types of juicers: Centrifugal, Masticating and Triturating juicers. I’ll leave you to do your own research if you want to know the differences. Alternative, if anyone really wants me to outline those differences just leave a comment and ask.
I like my Masticating Compact. It’s special. However, there are a few downsides to these types of machines, which I’ll list here.
Negatives
- Produce needs to be in smaller pices
- It is slow. It takes me nearly 20min to extract 2 litres of juice.
But the benefits of this juicer and others like it are:
- It’s fairly compact and a little easier to clean than the Breville.
- It is quieter than the Breville.
- it is cleaner than the Breville. Less mess all over the place!
- Superior quality of the juice. It gently crushes and squeezes the produce which generates minimal friction heat. The higher the friction heat the more nutrients are destroyed. The Compact gives up to 60% more nutrients than say, the Breville.
- It yields more juice, which is more bang for my buck! I think it has something to do with the extraction process but this juicer gives me a greater quantity of juice.
- Because of the process used, the juice remains more stable. I keep the juice in a sealed tupperware container for 2 days, if it lasts that long.
- It does lots of other things too! I just haven’t bothered with all that yet.
- It juices wheatgrass, celery leaves, sprouts and spinach.
- It makes nut butters, pasta and sausages! (Think back to an episode of MasterChef where they used a Compact)
Why juice and not green smoothies? They are very different and have different benefits. After being sick for over a month I need to give my body as many nutrients as it can get while resting my digestive system. Not everyone agrees with the different theories behind juicing vs. green smoothies but from my knowledge of the digestive process it makes sense to juice for healing.
What did I drink on Day One? Yesterday afternoon I made a juice containing, Carrot, Green Apple, Cucumber, Ginger and Celery which I drank for breakfast and lunch today. I also drank filtered water and had two cups of green tea. After lunch I made another batch of juice, this time with: Carrot, Beetroot, Watermelon and Apple.
I always try to have more veggies than fruit- to a ratio of approximately 60% veggies to 40% fruit… less fruit if I can stomach it. When I use strong veggies like Spinach or Beetroot I find I need a little more fruit whereas when I use a lot of Carrot and Celery I can get away with less fruit.
How I managed today: I don’t usually feel hungry. When I do I simply have a cup of tea and I that satisfies me for a few hours. That’s part of the problem though as I don’t eat properly and so suffer many deficiencies. But today I was hungry although I think it was all in my head. What is worse is the throbbing headache that I’ve had since lunchtime. It’s caffeine related so don’t feel sorry for me. Otherwise, I’m good.
My reason for doing this is two fold:
1. For my own health
2. I’m also using this time to pray especially for two dear friends and fellow homeschool mums who are struggling with their health. Father God knows who they are so if you’d like to join with me in prayer, that would be fantastic!
There is no doubt in my mind that raw juicing can save your life. I have seen it work miracles.”
Dr. Sandra Cabot
So how about you? Do you juice? How often do you drink fresh juice? Have a favourite recipe you’d like to share?
I do juice Susan! Just a simple carrot juice each day for me though, sometimes mixed with barley green, occasionally apple. I own a Breville, and yes it is noisy!! Still it meets my needs. Wow – 3 days with just juice?!! That’s amazing…bet you feel great by the end of it 🙂
Ergh, barley green. You’re a braver woman than I am Melanie 🙂 I sure do hope I feel a little better and clean out my system. I’ll blog it and let you know. 😉
How is it going, Susan? We don’t own a juicer as yet but it is on the list of things to purchase. Washing machine is first unfortunately. I am trying to work back to a traditional diet but baby steps so I can make it a long term change. I hope you are feeling the benefits of the juice and God is bringing breakthrough into other areas also.
I’m getting rather frustrated trying to find a juicer atm. I don’t want a centrifuge, for me it would probably end up being no better, yet more expensive, than just buying juice at the shops, as I won’t drink it all instantly. Plus I really love the multiple functionality of the other juicers, being able to use it to puree would be great.
But, as you know, being in Australia means paying top dollar for everything not commonly manufactured here. If I don’t buy a compact juicer, any other juicer will cost upwards of $500 even on a great sale, and have to be purchased online so postage and possible lack of warranty needs to be considered also. I just can’t afford that, I simply won’t be able to get one. However, the compact seems to have a really bad reputation, I know the health food stores stock it but the online sellers refuse to have anything to do with it, and I find myself reading reviews like this – http://www.juicersaustralia.com.au/matstone_juicer.shtml (scroll to bottom of page)
For me, it’s the compact or nothing, one of these $500-$700 juicers is out of the question, even the $300 compact is pushing it. With that in mind, is it worth buying? Is all the negativity just from the extreme vegans with a high income looking for the best possible thing and nothing less, or is the compact really going to turn out to be the ‘cheap junk’ some people are claiming it is?
Sometimes I hate living in Australia… Having the same problem with getting an ice cream maker. We wanted one of the ones with an inbiult freezer, as I can see the frozen bowl method just not working here in queensland. The one I want is $250 on amazon in america, but RRP $799 here with them averaging $750 in stores. Of course I can’t get it shipped here, and even if I could I would have to find out about converting the power supply. So looks like we are settling for a good quality chilled bowl, and hopefully we will find one insulated enough to work through QLD climate.
Sorry for the rant, it’s been a frustrating day of fruitless research and frustrating salespeople who refuse to believe anything but the most popular items exist. Thank you for any advice you can give me regarding the compact juicer 🙂
Hi Emily,
Oh sister, I hear you! It’s quite hard to know what to do, what to buy. Part of me wanted to hold out till we could get the King of all Juicers – you know, a super duper, top of the range one. But, I’ve learned a few lessons over the last few years… lessons that have continued to serve me well.
Sometimes, second best is actually The Best. At first I learned this with regard to homeschool resources but I have applied it to other areas of my life, including the juicers. In fact, I have written a blog post about it but it’s been sitting in my draft folder for several months. Might be time to just publish it!
I don’t bother to much with reviews from Health Food stores. I have a friend who owns and operates a store. I know how many of them work and it isn’t always that they source out the best product. It often boils down to the clientele, the profit margin and which company gets to them first to offer the product!
I tend to listen more to the independent reviews… and do my own resources and them compare the actual products. Dr. Sandra Cabot recommends the Compact? why would she do this over such beauties as the Hippocrates and the Champion? I think it is because she knows what I know – that sometimes 2nd best is really the best.
There are 3 ranges of juicers, in my opinion. The centrifugals which are really only good for citrus juice that is to be used immediately. (However, they do a really good job of getting a lot of juice)
Then there are two types of non-centrifugal juicers. A masticating (chewing) or cold-press style. The compact is a cold-press style.
You’re a newly wed (anything under 6 years is a newly wed to me! LOL) and I don’t know your circumstances but I know us and our circumstances. We simply are not, and never have been, in a position to spend heaps of money on appliances or things like that. If we had the money it might be different and we might have bought an expensive one… but we don’t so we didn’t. 😉 To buy one that is clearly out of our price range is just silly. It’s unwise and not being a wise steward of that which God has given us.
Secondly, the Compact is the best juicer in the middle range. It isn’t a Champion or a Hippocrates but it is still very good. so much so, that I couldn’t justify spending the extra to get the only slight better range. make sense? The math just didn’t add up to me. Having said that, if I were battling cancer or something similar (and I have friends that are) then I might seriously reconsider the top of the range juicers. But for us the Compact is a perfect fit.
See here: http://www.my-greenpower-juicer.com/juicer-test-choice-magazine/ and here is a pdf download which is a Choice magazine comparison in which the Compact fares quite well.
Hope this helps a little… God bless
Hehee, I sure did survive… and thrive! I found Day 2 the hardest, it was when I got hungry and just wanted to chew. however, I did feel really good after the fast and have been juicing ever since. I will probably do another 3 day fast after the holiday break and once my hubby goes back to work.
I thoroughly recommend it, after getting the go-ahead from one’s GP of course 🙂
Thanks Susan, very helpful blog and inspiring. I will take action today!!
Hi Susan,
We advertised for our juicer in the paper and picked up a brand new Sampson for $250. We did a lot of wheat grass juice in it but found it too slow for our family of 7. We also purchased another juicer, a Champion, 2nd hand from friends who tried the “raw food diet” and quit shortly after. From memory, we picked it up half price too. That is the one we use all the time as it is so quick to throw your veggies through and produces lots of juice. I have tried a couple of other friends masticating varieties but they were as tiresome as the Sampson. We have had our Champion about 8 years now and haven’t regretted it.
We used a centrifugal juicer for about 6 years before we got the Champion so we knew it wasn’t a fad for us and the investment was worth it.
Don’t forget to rinse your mouth with water after you drink your juice or your teeth will suffer over the long term, especially if you add in citrus which softens the enamel.
All the best,
Tracy
Hi Tracy,
Thanks for sharing! I know what you mean about the possibly of juicing being a fad – I do things like that but I am learning (slowly) to balance myself and even just knowing that I have a tendency to be faddish means that I can be careful with any purchases. I think it’s good that you used a juicer for several years before committing to a more expensive purchase.
I wonder if you have heard of the Hurom juicer? Any thoughts?
http://www.hurom.com.au/