Today began extra early since I worked the early shift at the gym. I’m not sure I will ever adjust to waking up at 4:20 a.m. At least getting ready for a day of work at the gym is really simple.
Black spandex capris + Gym polo + Gym shoes + Ponytail = Easy peasy!
Lunch
Work today passed quickly and I followed my shift with my own workout before driving home and eating a late lunch.
I reheated a bowl of leftovers from last night’s dinner that included pork, onions, green pepper, broccoli and cauliflower in a sweet chili sauce. (The vegetables were a lot prettier last night!)
Then it was off to the dermatologist!
I was just there for an annual check up (I have a family history of melanoma) and the doctor said everything looked okay! Ryan had an appointment right after me and he checked out alright as well. Hooray for healthy moles!
On my way home from the dermatologist, I swung by Earth Origins and bought some juice made with beets, carrots, kale, ginger and apple.
Ever since my visit to Kure Juice Bar in Portland two weeks ago, I’ve been craving it like mad! I just wish fresh juice wasn’t so darn expensive. It may be time to research juicers. There are a bunch on sale through RueLaLa right now but the one that caught my eye had pretty horrible reviews on Amazon. I know a bunch of you are really into making your own juice, so if you are in love with your juicer, please let me know. I’m looking for recommendations!
Question of the Afternoon
- Have you ever made your own juice?
- Do you own a juicer? If so, what kind do you own and do you love it?
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I HATED my juicer, have you ever tried to clean one? They are the worst! Also, my carrots kept overheating the thing. We returned it.
I now have a Vitamix that I use every.single.day. I love it. Plus the Vitamix VS comes with the nut milk bag, which can also strain the pulp from juice. I never do it because I like the extra fiber and nutrients! On top of that my Vitamix makes vegan cheeze sauces, pasta sauces, vegan ‘ice’cream, nut butters, nut milk….can you say that about a juicer?
I swear I am not paid to say this. Happy Hunting!
Agreed. I bought a cheap one (can’t afford to get one now even if I wanted one, but the old one is gone)…but anyway…it’s costly to buy the produce (Tina has said that on her blog..more expensive)…and its clean up annoying…loud, took up space, time cumbersome and just wasn’t practical or realistic….I like juice sometimes …but I also want the fiber not just sugar too…so for me (personally) I decided the cons were heavier than pros.
I don’t personally juice very often, but my mom does and she loves it! Such fresh and clean flavored :).
I do have a juicer and go in phases. I love making fresh juice it can be a pain if you do not have everything washed and prepped and it does waste alot. I have tried to find uses for the waste and have not had any luck yet. I have a Breville juicer and it is great 🙂
It depends if you want to juice fruit & what type or veggies
. i have a breville juice fountain plus that i enjoy.
plus easy to clean!!
…but a separate hand citrus juicer for citrus fruits; however some juicer will come with a separate attachment.
at a juice bar i went to recently they have the omega horizontal that is pricey. the omega horizontal works well for veggies. the omega vertical is good for fruits ; i was told each juicer has its qwerk like the omega vertical will better juice veggies after a soft juicy fruit has been juiced prior.
I have been on a mad hunt the past week for a juicer, I feel like every model I research has such a comparable amount of pros and cons that I am lost! Looking forward to comments on this one.
So funny you wrote about this today. My sister let me borrow her juicer since she wasn’t using it. it’s GE and it’s only around $50. I’m not sure of the name of it. It’s a cintrifugal juicer. I like it a lot. It’s quick, easy to assemble, disassemble and clean and it’s fairly efficient. I researched them before she gave me this one so I learned a lot about them. She just asked for it back recently so I had to get a new one. Since I know I use it all the time, I took the plunge and got the Hurom (yesterday!). It’s like the vitamix of juicers. However, if I were you, I’d start with something cheaper just to be sure you’ll actually use it. My friend has a Breville Juice Fountain Plus (around $150). She loves it so far. Just make sure it has what you’re looking for. Some are faster and louder, easier to clean, dishwasher safe, have more pulp etc.
I recently bought a Nutribullet after my mom fell in love with hers. It’s more of a pulverizer than a juicer, so you still keep all the fiber (yay!). The result comes out about smoothie consistency. I can say, I’m officially obsessed! I have had it for 3 weeks and have made some new creation every day.
If you use one of those 20% off coupons and Bed Bath and Beyond, the whole kit only comes out to around $80.
I have the Jack LaLanne juicer and LOVE it. It is a pain to clean, but I’ve found if you clean it right after you make the juice it isn’t that bad. We have a CSA so we got it to juice some of the greens we weren’t eating before they went bad. Not sure if you have a Costco card, but here is a the power juicer (I just have the regular which isn’t silver). http://www.costco.com/Jack-LaLanne's-Ultimate-Power-Juicer%E2%84%A2.product.11590808.html
I LOVE my Breville! I’ve had it about a year now. Got it at Bed Bath & Beyond. 🙂
I literally have been having the exact same issue the past 2 weeks. I made the mistake of getting hooked on Whole Foods juice bar (cucumber, kale, apple, celery, and lime). Its $5 for a 16 oz drink. But juicers are expensive, and I feel like buying all the produce won’t be cheap either. I caught myself watching an infomercial for a juicer the other night and almost caved.
I have a Megamouth Omega Juicer and LOVE it. When I was looking for a juicer I searched and searched and even looked at reviews on youtube that demonstrated how well the juicer worked. (I highly recommend you do that!) I haven’t had any troubles with it at all. I don’t like cleaning it though. Just takes time. But it’s totally worth it, right?? 🙂 Oh, and I bought mine new off ebay……got a really good price for it rather than paying the full sales price from a store. Good luck finding the one that’s right for you!
I love my breville juicer. I’ve been juicing 5-6 times a week since January and I love it. I get that same craving, too! The juicer I use has been such a great investment. It’s SUPER EASY to clean, and it makes about 24-25 oz per full use. It doesn’t take up too much space, and I can throw all the parts in the dishwasher when I’m done. I highly recommend it! (also, for $100 on amazon… the price is reasonable!)
http://www.amazon.com/Breville-BJE200XL-Fountain-700-Watt-Extractor/dp/B000MDHH06/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1373489708&sr=8-2&keywords=breville+juicer
I bought a juicer a few weeks ago after doing a TON of research! I now make a juice every night before dinner (since empty stomachs are the best time for absorption!). I wrote a review on it here: http://goldstandardwomen.com/?s=juicer
It seriously is the easiest thing to clean!
Jenny
Hi Julie!
I don’t have a juicer, but look forward to seeing what you end up with because I def. want to get one! Quick question – since your last ‘skin care routine’ post, which was awhile ago, has your typical routine changed at all? I’m still trying to battle some adult acne over here! (Input from other readers is quite welcomed too)! Thanks.
I struggled for a long time with acne as a teen & adult. I’ve found 4 things that keep it under control: a healthy green diet, TONS of water, exercise, & Clinique’s 3 step system. I’ve tried every product out there & will never use anything else. It’s so basic & though its a more expensive skin care system, I swear I spend less money because you don’t use a lot & I am not constantly wasting money on stuff that doesn’t work. I wish you the best because it is very frustrating!! Why should we have to deal with acne past 25?!? Lol:) Also, if you’re interested in juicing …I highly recommend it! It does wonders for my skin!:)
Thanks, Jessica! 🙂
LeAnne,
I had the same issue and I went to go see my dermatologist. She gave me Retin-A. Not all insurance covers it, but if your doctor can get them to cover it, I would try it. You only use a tiny amount, and it works wonders. Plus its very good for preventing wrinkles! The best of both worlds for adult acne. Be super careful though, it makes you more vulternable to sunburn. Once I got my skin under control, I have used it pretty sparingly over the summer to avoid sunburn.
Artistry has really helped me get my skin under control, as long as I’m consistent about it. Also, water, lots and lots of water, especially here in AZ.
Thank you all for your input! I appreciate it.
This is the reason I don’t want to try juices! I could never afford them!
Julie, I recently bought a juicer from Amazon and I’m obsessed.
It’s this one if you’re interested: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MDHH06/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
So far, I like it a lot. It’s kind of a pain to clean because there are like 5 pieces, but I think all of them are that way. Otherwise it has been awesome. I juice everything in it (all kinds of fruits, veggies, leafy greens, etc.) I would definitely recommend it. I wanted a juicer for a really long time and I haven’t looked back since I bought mine.
My boyfriend is a personal trainer & nutrition consultant. He juices for us everyday & I am addicted! We’ve watched several documentaries, specifically “Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead” which was so informative & motivating. We needed a new juicer because of the volume he was juicing. We bought the Breville (basic fountain I believe) with a 20% off Bed Bath & Beyond coupon…and it came with a free dvd of that documentary because he uses that juicer. It was about $110 I think & works incredibly well:) it’s super easy to clean–that’s my job–& really easy & efficient to use–his job!:) I highly recommend this one. It’s not really expensive as they can get outrageous, but makes a complicated task seem easy.
He just started a blog & has posted some really good recipes I’ve thoroughly enjoyed!:)
http://ryanmeyer23.wordpress.com/
I love that documentary! When I saw it, it totally made me want to juice more!
Yes! That’s what hooked me too!:)
Hi there! I would read 100days of real foods review on juicing vs smoothies. You don’t get very much nutrition out of your fruits and veggies when they are juiced. I can’t imagine juicing $10 worth of fruits and veggies and only getting a small percentage of the nutrition! Seems like a waste! I’ve owned a juicer and they are bulky, hard to clean and expensive. Not to mention the cost of juicing like I stated. I would stick to just splurging on a juice at Earth Orgins every so often. 😉 I own a vitamix and you can literally throw ALL of your ingredients in there and it gets blended to a pulp! And you get all the nutrition! Way more bang for your buck! And, sooooo easy to clean!
I also read the 100 days of food review and I don’t recall it saying you get less nutrition just less fiber which makes it less filling. The fiber comes out pretty dry with my Omega juicer so I’m pretty sure the nutrition is there. Also, a person only needs a finite amount of fiber per day any extra is essentially wasting space in your stomach that could be used with more nutritious items. Juicing is probably one of the best ways to get easy and quickly absorbable nutrients into your system. Because of the high fiber content of fruits and vegetables, if your goal is to maximize the amount of nutrients you consume, juicing the vegetables and fruits would be much more efficient because you extract the nutrients out of the plant matter and leave the fiber out of the equation. Fiber slows the process because your body has to extract the juice from the fiber then push the fiber out. And once again, it is important to get your daily requirements of fiber, but too much fiber is like bringing 6 weeks worth of socks on a week trip….. important to have socks but could have fit a lot more stuff in the suitcase if you packed more efficiently.
I have a Breville juicer as well and adore it. Juicing does take a little prep work and some clean up. Typically, I’ll juice multiple fruits and veggies and freeze them in jars. Each morning I’ll pull one out of the freezer and drink it that afternoon. Fresh is best but if you want to prep and clean up once… freezing it makes it less of an ongoing task. My best piece of advice when researching which juicer to look for is to consider the size of the produce that will fit. I can juice an entire apple or a handful of carrots without having to chop them into tiny pieces. Good luck!
The exact same thing has happened to me. I had a fabulous beet, carrot and apple juice last week I’d love to create. I’m just worried about needing to buy tonnes of veggies as well as the juicer. But juice is so addictive!
Best line ever: “Hooray for healthy moles”
I have wanted a juicer for so long and I started saving to buy a nice one (Breville) and then my transmission went out on my car. Yeah, no juicer for me!!
You can juice with a blender if you have a fine mesh strainer and I’ve dried it several times and it works well. A lot less to clean too!
I met a friend for lunch at Whole Foods earlier this week and I ordered fresh juice with cucumber, carrot, beet, kale, ginger, apple, and lemon. Your ravings about vegetable/beet juices inspired me and I am SO glad I tried it because it was FANTASTIC. It had the perfect slight tang from the lemon and hint of spice from the ginger. I can totally see how you’re addicted because I’ve been thinking about it ever since I had mine!
i have a nutripro juicer and love it. itz easy to use & clean & juices everything you can imagine with no problem! 🙂 here’s my review: http://itzlinz.com/2013/02/19/bella-nutripro-juicer/
I’ve been looking for a juicer as well! From my research, the slow juicers get more nutrients out of the fruits and veggies than the centrifuge one. I’m looking into the Hurom juicer:
http://www.frontgate.com/hurom-two-stage-slow-juicer/406901
Expensive, but quiet! Definitely an investment though!
I have this Breville from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Breville-BJE200XL-Fountain-700-Watt-Extractor/dp/B000MDHH06/ref=lp_3688981_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373491577&sr=1-1
I LOVE it…it’s amazing! Worth every penny and I use it almost every day.
The only thing I don’t like about juicers is that they are a pain to clean. I’ve heard great things about the Vitamix blenders instead of using juicers.
Way to be proactive about your skin! That is great! I always go to the dermatologist once a year for a check-up. It is definitely better to be safe than sorry!
I love juice but I agree, it’s so pricey! There are a few places near my house (because Im in LA and they are everywhere) but I only get it as a special treat
I just use my vitamix for smoothies. I like to get all the nutients.
I have the omega VRT 350 and it’s great!
How many times are you going to whine about getting up? You used to go to the gym at 5 is it really that much earlier?
Did we really need 2 photos of that slop you ate for lunch?
I’m really glad I don’t know you “Jenn”. What a sad life you lead…you are probably just uber jealous that Julie works out and eats healthy. Unfollow her blog if you dislike it so much.
You can easily juice with your Vitamix! Here is a post that I found helpful for it…http://www.choosingraw.com/how-to-make-green-juice-using-a-vitamix-or-blender/.
I recently bought the Breville compact juicer and I love it! I don’t juice every day so it’s a great smaller size for me but still has a lot of power. It’s also pretty easy to clean and doesn’t take up much space on the counter.
you have a vitamix, right? use that! i either add a TON of water to mine so it’s more juice, less smoothie consistency, or use cheesecloth to strain out pulp stuff. save yourself money, storage, and time wasted cleaning stupid juicers. at least worth a try, right?
You seem to need to buy a really really good quality expensive one for it to last and make really good juice. I’ve used some bad ones before and they just don’t even close do the job.
I’ve never juiced before. I more of a smoothie fan!
I have a Breville Juice Fountain (the Multi Speed model) and it is amazing. It’s around $200 on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Breville-BJE510XL-Fountain-Multi-Speed-900-Watt/dp/B000QBFFU8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1373493441&sr=8-4&keywords=breville+juice+fountain), unless you can find a better deal elsewhere (we got ours through Direct Buy for less and I’ve heard they have them at Costco, BJs, etc if you stores like that around). It’s totally worth every penny. It blends juices so smoothly and quickly (seriously, we cannot believe the power of the blades – it pulverizes fruit/veggies in seconds) and it’s not difficult to clean at all. You just empty out the bin that catches the skin/unused parts and then snap a few larger pieces apart to scrub down. Highly recommend!
Someone gave us a juicer for our wedding and we have NEVER used it yet. :/ And we’ve been married for 2 1/2 years haha!
We have a omega juicer.. We really like it.. It juices everything very well.. Easy to assemble, take apart and clean and reasonably priced .. Good luck on your search 🙂
My mom just bought a nutri bullet and I have tried it out, it’s awesome esp if you’re on the go a lot and you can just blend and take it to go. I am probably going to get one too! They supposedly sell them at Bed Bath and Beyond.
I was totally convinced on juicing after watching Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead so I went out and bought the Hamilton Beach HealthSmart juice extractor. It was super cheap ($30) and it works great!
I love this recipe:
2 green apples
1 cucumber
8 kale leaves
4 celeri stalks
1-inch piece of ginger
1/2 lemon
Tastes great! I bought the first one I saw so my only complaint is I wish I had got the Big Mouth model ($70) because the mouth on mine is small so everything must be cut up into small pieces.
I always put a plastic bag in the pulp bin so that makes one less piece to clean!
After reading so many tempting posts, I finally went to Kure yesterday for the 1st time! It was AWESOME! I have a juicer at home, but I definitely wouldn’t recommend mine because its awful to clean out, so I’m in the market for a vitamix!
I have yet to buy a juicer because I’m not sure I’ll use it enough to justify the cost. Plus, I don’t think I have the time to juice at home. I’d love to know if an inexpensive one works well, though!
I’ve heard juicing is not the greatest for you because it removes so much of the nutrients. I’m not really sure what the advantages are of juices. Maybe you could blog about it?
I have this guyL Breville BJE200XL Compact Juice Fountain 700-Watt Juice Extractor and it works great. It’s $100 so right in the middle range. Clean up is also really fast. I have no complaints!
My couple of my girlfriends have the Champion brand juicer and swear it is the best. I think there’s a Chevy engine in the thing and weighs about as much ;). But seriously, its supposed to be the best brand. I think they both got theirs off Amazon.
I have a Breville Compact Juicer which works pretty well. Juicing is a process, so I don’t use it as often as I should, but whenever I do break it out I am happy with the product. I bought mine at Bed, Bath, and Beyond because I had gift card and a 20% off coupon, but you can also find it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Breville-BJE200XL-Fountain-700-Watt-Extractor/dp/B000MDHH06/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373496141&sr=8-1&keywords=breville+compact+juicer
You can find other ways to juice if you don’t want to invest in a juicer! I use a blender, whatever produce I want, water and a fine strainer and it works just fine! I got the idea from these two delicious recipes:
http://minimalistbaker.com/juice-without-a-juicer-apple-carrot-beet-ginger-juice/
http://www.marinmamacooks.com/2012/09/how-to-make-a-mean-green-juice-without-a-juicer/
Can’t wait till I’m graduated in a year with a real job and can eventually purchase things like Juicer’s 🙂 haha!