How to choose a Juicer

Juicing is an excellent aid to increasing your nutrient consumption and provides a quick, easy, and tasty  concentrated dose of healthy nutrients without bulk that enters your bloodstream almost instantaneously and places less stress on your digestive system. Juicing raw vegetables, rather than cooking, chewing or blending them allows you to preserve the optimal nutritional value. "The nutrients acquired by the body through juicing are more readily absorbed because they have been extracted from the pulp for you and with very little effort. By removing the fiber through the process of squeezing the pulp, we instantly lighten the load on our digestion. Nutrients pass directly into the bloodstream, and within minutes our bodies receive optimum fuel to feed our cells and help restore our immune systems." -Kris Carr  Drinking fresh juice guarantees you are receiving many of the nutrients you need.  Bottled juices on the market have lost most of their nutritional value.  Make sure you drink your freshly pressed juice right away, as nutrient loss happens fairly quickly.

Drinking fresh juice increases alkalinity.  It is said that diseases cannot thrive in an alkaline state.  Fresh green juice is detoxifying and contains loads of chlorophyll.  "Chlorophyll contains a powerful blood builder that’s said to increase red blood cells, improve circulation, ease inflammation, oxygenate the body, and counteract harmful free radicals. By eating (and drinking) a diet high in chlorophyll (raw fruits and veggies, especially leafy greens), we dine on liquid oxygen, the very substance we need to stay alive and thrive." -Kris Karr "Crazy Sexy Cancer Life"

If you are considering getting into juicing, I have compiled some research on types of juicers. There is definitely a difference among juicers! Just to be clear, a juicer is not a blender, and a blender is not a juicer. I will be discussing Juicer machines only.

Basically there are two types of juicers, Centrifugal and Masticating.

Centrifugal means moving or directed away from a center or axis. A centrifugal juicer is the most common type of juicer you see in stores and in infomercials. A centrifugal juicer spins at high speeds and during the spinning motion, the vegetables that you have shoved down the chute are ground to a pulp. The spinning motion then forces the juice away from the pulp. The juice then pours into a bowl.

Masticating means to chew, to grind or knead into a pulp.

Your teeth are an excellent example of mastication in action. Your teeth chew and grind food. After you swallow, the food then goes to your digestive system which, through the process of digestion, begins to extract the juice from the food you eat.

Much in the same way, a masticating juicer grinds vegetables and literally squishes out the juice. Since a masticating juicer works at low speeds and with no spinning action, it tends to juice many vegetables more efficiently. The difference between a centrifugal juicer and a masticating juicer is like night and day.

Centrifugal juicers work at high speeds, tend to be very noisy and while it may be able to juice the rind of a pineapple more efficiently, in most situations, the low speed action of a masticating juicer allows you to juice more vegetables with greater efficiency. A masticating juicer tends to be a lot more quiet, less messy and easier to clean.A masticating juicer is especially good at juicing the very important green leafy vegetables such as wheatgrass, spinach, parsley, cilantro, kale, Swiss Chard, etc.

While a centrifugal juicer can juice green leafy vegetables, the centrifugal juicer is nowhere near as efficient as a masticating juicer in this regard. Centrifugal force is less effective in extracting juice than the pressing action of other juicers, meaning that more produce is required to make less juice. In fact, the renowned Gerson Therapy requires a masticating juicer, Dr. Gerson said regarding centrifugal juicers: “when the grinding wheel rotates against a resistance with insufficient access of air, positive electricity is produced and induces negative electricity on the surrounding wall. The exchange of positive and negative ions kills the oxidizing enzymes and renders the juice deficient.” Centrifugal juicers expose the juice to heat and oxygen, killing off the essential healing enzymes in the juice.

Twin Gear Juice Extractors such as Green Star process produce more efficiently than other types of juicers because the twin gears operate at a lower speed. Juice processed in this way is not heated and will oxidize more slowly. This means that juice processed in a juice extractor contains a higher degree of enzymes, antioxidants and other nutrients and will stay fresh longer.

In order to obtain all of the benefits from your produce it is important to process every part of the vegetable and that includes the stems, seeds, peels and the pulp. That is where much of the nutrients are and one way that juicing trumps blending.

An inefficient juicer may be cheaper in the short term, but will be more expensive in the long run, as it necessitates spending more money on produce. Without the pressing action to extract the juice, many minerals and phytochemicals remain in the pulp, so the juice rendered is less rich in healing nutrients than juice from grinder/press or masticating juicer. Research in this area, although limited, indicates that juice produced by the grinder/press can be as much 50 times higher in certain essential nutrients, and will produce 25 to 50% more than other juicers from the same amount of raw produce.

It's also worth noting that a masticating juicer is much more versatile, in many regards, compared to a centrifugal juicer. Since a masticating juicer squeeze the items you put into it, you can also use a masticating juicer to make baby food, fresh pasta, and to make nut butter.

Conclusion

The Gerson Therapy  recommended juicers (all masticating type) for non-cancer patients include the Omega, Champion (a grinder only, need a separate hydraulic press to go with it),Green Power, or Green Star juicers which new, run from $200 and up. Cancer patients healing via  The Gerson Therapy are to use only the high end, crème de la crème Norwalk (upwards of $2,400). It seems that as far as juicers go, you get what you pay for. If the Norwalk is the only juicer good enough to provide the healthiest possible nutrition for eliminating cancer and restoring the body according to the successful Gerson Institute, then it is the juicer we all deserve, and we probably should start saving for, while using our Omega,  Champion,  Green Power, or Green Star masticating juicer.

One final thought on juicing. Many raw foodists and nutritionists, including Charlotte Gerson of the Gerson Institute, say that the nutrients of your fresh juice are at their peak for only 15 minutes after being processed in the juicer. Enzymes that are released during the process begin to break down,   a pre-digestive process, and the value of the nutrients begins to wane after that. Therefore, You should only juice what you plan to consume in 15 minutes. Do not make jars and jars ahead of time, their nutritional value will be entirely lost if you do!

 Now that you have the juicer all figured out, try my Powerhouse Green Juice recipe: