To Pulp Or Not To Pulp? That Is The Question

Greetings again fellow juicing for health fanatics! Herein is a quick point I need to make, one that I realized I should speak to after reading some old emails. The question is, as you may have guessed already, should we leave the pulp in our juices or discard it completely?

Here's the short answer. Yes and no. What - were you expecting something straightforward? This is the '00's people, nothing is simple anymore, just look at the health care crisis. Seriously though, I'll say it once: it is NOT wise to leave the pulp in your juices unless you are buying 100 % organically grown produce that you can verify has NOT ever been touched by the evil Pesticide/Chemical Beast of Doom. Furthermore, if you can't be sure of the "organic-ness", I would suggest you stick to a masticating juicer (one that employs gears) rather than a centrifugal juicer. (Look below the post or click here for some juicer options) You'll understand why in a moment or two.

As I was saying, there's a pretty straightforward reason for this. With normally purchased produce, that is - the stuff that has been chemically treated - you will obviously have these toxins living on your food, raising families, looking for work, having loud parties, and just basically doing what all the cool chemicals do. (Like causing cancer and turning your hair green) These imposing and insidious chemicals will always be prevalent on your produce, and can combine with vitamins and other nutrients as a centrifugal juicer merely chops them all up with the rest of the fruits and veggies. So, yes, they end up in your juice. Conversely, a gear juicer can get rid of most of these offending chemical "squatters" along with the pulp you throw away by combining these toxins with the fibers and pulp. This happens as the foods are crushed and masticated. Sure, some small amounts of nastiness can get left behind, but by throwing your pulp and not ingesting it, you can be assured you're doing the most to keep chemicals away from your digestion and body.

Again, separating the harmful chemicals from your juices is not really possible with a centrifugal juicer, since the mechanics of the juicing process involves merely slicing up the produce, thereby combining the entire produce item(s) into juice. This inevitably allows potentially harmful chemicals to intermingle with everything as it's chopped into tiny bits, and as a result - you may eventually turn a shade of lime green and become radioactive. (I'm kidding!!)

Using juicers that employ gears is definitely a better attempt to separate the harmful man-made toxins - again - simply by the mechanics of how it extracts juice. As opposed to chopping your foods into little bits, masticating gears will actually crush your foods. This allows the healthy nutrients to escape while that lousy chemical crud binds with the fibers and pulp that you eventually toss in the bin.

This may not seem fool proof, and in fact it isn't, but it will be the best bang for your buck if you are concerned about the pesticides and environmental toxins that exist in store bought/treated produce. If you're not concerned about these factors, good on ya. Should you grow toxic and a few extra limbs, I'm sure you can still get work as a superhero villain.

Really folks, as a general rule you should, if at all possible, stick to organically grown produce - stuff that you can verify as authentically organic. Bear in mind why I warn you to verify your produce is organic. The fact is that there are a few - though not many - shady markets that are known for throwing an "Organically Grown" sticker on anything. Believe it or not I have actually seen one on a bag of Doritos once. I'm not kidding.

At any rate, do the research and find out where your foods are coming from, and if you must use chemically treated produce, try to do your juicing with masticating juicers like the ones pictured below and linked here and here, respectively. Cheers!

Total Cleanse – What Makes Juicing so Effective for Health

The following is a guest post from Ed at Total Cleanse. Take some time to visit his site, it's a treasure of information!

Juice has long been popularized for its health benefits as well as its taste, but how much truth and real world benefit is there to juicing then... say... simply taking a multivitamin and buying store bought juice? The biggest and most important factor to this is something called “bioavailability”, which simply means how easily and proficiently the body can absorb the nutrients that’s being provided to it. Juicing has been found to be one of the most effective ways to transmit nutrients from source to body due to its' inherent freshness, and without all the food matter such as fiber that the body normally has to break down being present. This tends to promote the passing of vital nutrients instead of absorption.

This brings us to a key point here, fiber is extremely important to your diet, especially for maintaining a cleanse brought on by proper juicing. You simply don’t want to have fiber present when your juicing because you want all the vital nutrients to be fully absorbed and not blocked and passed by fiber. Hence the need to get your fiber from other sources like eating fresh fruit and veggies themselves and consume them without being juiced, and from whole grains, and other wholesome sources of fiber.

The other important factor here that contributes to overall “bioavailability” is the active and live enzymes present in the juice that contribute greatly to the absorption of juice after the fibrous material is separated. Store bought juices- even when lightly pasteurized - lose the vast majority of its enzymes due to their very delicate nature, and therefore most of the vitamins and nutrients still present in juice pass through your system with only minimal absorption, thus defeating its purpose (other than to provide a nice sugary beverage to enjoy). Also even if juice is not pasteurized or modified in any way, the active enzymes have a very short life span and die out quickly and should truly be consumed right after juicing for maximum benefit.

The reason vitamin pills and supplements don’t work too well is for similar reasons as the store bought juice, not only are these vitamins simply going into your system in the condensed form of a pill - thus lacking naturally occurring enzymes, they also are man-made or synthetic, and not nearly as beneficial as naturally occurring vitamins. So as you can see, juicing and then drinking fresh juice right afterward is truly the best way to get the most out of your juicing for health benefits, and it also tastes a lot better!

The Snake Oil Salesmen Are Hard At Work!

Have You Heard About Acai Berry?

If you have, well, I'm not here to knock it's many potential benefits. I'm not here to tell you that it's a load of bull, nor that juicing with Acai berries can make you feel like you could throw a motorcycle 25 feet straight up in the air. However, when it comes to the many scams on the internet, the Acai Berry diets and concoctions have quite a few losers and unscrupulous websites attached, so beware.

Like I said, I'm not writing this as anything other than an overview of the potential health benefits of the acai berry. It is one of the most nutritionally dense fruits out here in the Great Big World. Arguably, it is extremely beneficial to heart health. It's even full of awesome superfood-ness, like Omega 6 and 9 fatty acids. These 2 fatty acids are to high cholesterol as a distorted guitar is to a Kenny G concert. So yes, I've done my research, and yes, there are levels of circumstantial and clinical evidence that Acai Berry Fruit may be all that (and a bag of juicers). ;)

My little tiny consumer warning is this: There are literally hundreds of unscrupulous offers being made online regarding this product. I bring this up after a few emails that ended up in my inbox. Mostly the emails were warnings by fellow trainers, but some were by readers that have been duped into one shady deal or another - deals that will keep charging you for a substandard product no matter what you do to cancel your order. One reader has yet to receive any product at all, after ordering some incarnation of an Acai Berry Diet - and it's been over 6 months.

If you're a regular reader, you know that I preach and preach how you are always so much better off heading to a trusted, authority site (Amazon anyone?) as opposed to scooping up some of the overly hyped, super sexy scam sites claiming they are offering the best deals on Acai Berry supplements, or any other weight loss and/or nutritional product. In the first place, authority sites are all about customer protection, in the second, they normally sell frikin everything, and thirdly, I have yet to be disappointed in my one preferred site - Amazon.

Acai, Resveratrol, and a few other notable vitamins and supplements have been in the news lately as potential weapons in the battle against anything from cancer to sun damaged skin. Whether or not they offer any benefit at all to your internal organs and/or your ability to fight disease is still up for debate, however I always say it's best to try something that has some plainly obvious nutritional value. The Acai berry/fruit has within it nutrients known for their generous health benefits. Having said that, it's no mental leap to suggest we should be buying it, eating it, and juicing it right along with broccoli, Oranges and Wheatgrass.

So, one last time, I'm not writing to promote Acai, or slam it's benefits. I've included some Amazon links here for you to check it out, but more to get you going to the right place to find it. This article is actually just to warn everyone I know and all my Uber Cool subscribers that the people/companies making wild claims and trying to sell you on some forced continuity Acai Berry Diet, well they are - by and large - knuckleheads. Snake Oil Salesman my fair and gentle readers, nothing more.

And so, this has been an official shout out to anyone that reads my small and humble site on the regular, because you should be warned.

Guys and gals, I'll say it yet again. When the offer seems too good to be true, believe me it is! If you want to try Acai, or Resveratrol, or any of the latest greatest vitamin and mineral fads, get them only from reputable sites or stores (again, Amazon anyone?) stay away from the shady looking Acai sites, or do diligent research before committing to an order. Heck, email me and I'll check it out for you.

Ok, I've ranted enough. Go and make a juice why don't ya! Cheers!

The Acai Blues

• 6 oz Acai Berry Juice
  
• 1 handful Blueberries
• 1/2 handful cranberries
• 1 green apple (w/skin)
  
• 'nuf said. It's delicious!!

Juicing For Health Does An Eight Pack!

Greetings gentle readers and juicers everywhere. Just before I get into the meat of this juicing for health post, I have to say "I told you so", just because sometimes it's just necessary ;). You see, recently (in this post, and this one), I helped some readers out by advising that if one is looking to lose weight around the midsection, the Truth About Abs system was one sure fire way to go!! Well the article (located here) further shows that I know what I'm on about.

The piece is from a good friend, and absolute trainer "guru", Chris Wiesman. Chris has trained some of the hottest celebrities out there. His article is called "Get Six Pack Abs Fast", but it's not just about getting ripped. His take on the scammy diet industry, and the validity of Truth About Abs further bolsters what I've been saying all along.

At any rate, I'm certainly not back on the "juicing recipes for diets" trip, don't worry.

The last post I wrote was a pretty in depth review of the Breville Juice Fountain Elite, (if you haven't read it click here). Being in review mode, this time I'll take a few moments to recommend and review a set of books that would best compliment the Breville juicer (hopefully you have one by now :)).

In past articles I've preached to high heaven the value of The Juicing Bible, and a guest poster has even thrown 0.02 cents into that praise, so this time I'll focus on another set of juicing manuals, books that go a little deeper into recipes, and the benefits behind them. I'm talking about the Juicing For Life 8 pack.

These books are encyclopedic in their reference text and in the explanations of why juicing is so bloody healthy. They also go into great detail to explain how certain juice concoctions help some serious medical conditions - such as diabetes, high blood pressure, e.t.c... They even have specific juicing recipes statistically shown to help various kinds of cancer. All in all, if you're getting serious about juicing, this 8 pack of books is the penultimate guide to have, sitting right along side your shiny, uber sexy juicer.

Here are some other testimonials I've gathered from around the www, to show what others think of this awesome set of books...

• "really packed full of recipes and information on juicing - as it affects and helps calm certain medical conditions. There are some who think that heredity is the #1 reason for cancer, but this book clearly explains that diet is the #1 reason because how can DNA be strong without good nutrition? How can new cells be built without the life giving force of vitamins and trace minerals? What made cells weak and toxic in the first place?, we hand down our diet from generation to generation!! What is heredity with cellular integrity? I cannot see how this book doesn't become a million dollar seller! I recommend this book highly.....Juice Power!!"
• "I found this book set to be quite interesting and informative. The different recipes that I chose to try from this book were very tasty and my family enjoyed them also.Even if the recipes don't cure the ailments that they are supposed to they get a person to try a healthy diet. I enjoyed this book immensely."
• "If a person WANTS to get well - at all costs except another Doctor's visit, these books are invaluable. I was looking forward to the next 40 years in misery fighting chronic pain. This book was a great help in discovering what I needed to do to stop the cycle. I'm still sticking with green juice until I know for sure everything I can or cannot tolerate, but there is definitely a light at the end of my tunnel! I've been seriously jucing since January 6th and I have been able to get off all meds. Green juice actually nips my migraines in the bud and have not had one develop since January 6th."
  

So there you go. Just a few hip slapping testimonials along with my own mini-review. The combination of a Breville Juice Fountain Elite (or any other quality juicer) plus this set of books will have you feeling like a juicing for health Samurai in no time.

Oh, and if you want an absolutely brilliant healthy juicing recipe, Try this!

The Green Goblin

• cucumber
  
• 1 green or red apple
• 1-2 carrots
• 3 stalks of celery
• 1/2 head of romaine lettuce 1
• 2 large kale leaves
• 1/2 ripe Hawaiian papaya
• 1 handful of cilantro
• 1 handful of fennel w/stalk
  

Cheers!!

Juicing Recipes Get's Back To The Basics

I'm heading on back to the good old days. That's right, this is a juicing for health site, and I'm stomping back to the old school. I'm saying that because of late, my posts have been more concentrated on weight loss than juicing. For those not needing to lose weight, sorry but I really had to take the opportunity to address the issue, since I was (and still am!) receiving tons of emails about juicing specifically for that purpose. So now, finally, I'm writing this to jump back full speed into the business of juicing, because after all, I live by the juice - and you should too. :)

I'll start today by offering an honest and comprehensive review of the Breville Juice Fountain Elite, my pick for the overall best juicer on the market today. I've mentioned it a few times on the site, but this time I'll really give you the "low down". Yep. Any fresh start at a topic deserves the main core ingredient be attended to first. Every house needs a foundation. Every.... ok, ok, I'll shut up already.

So here's a juicer worth checking out, and the subsequent "skinny" on said juicer.

Firstly, you need to know that the Juice Fountain Elite is my #1 pick over ANY other juicer currently on the market. Of course I must quantify that statement by mentioning there are better juicers, but they cost loads more. So when I say it's hands down the best, I mean that it's the best - in a value for your money sort of way.

Here's a list of reasons why this Breville unit is Super Cool, Unreal Freaky, and Awesome:

• Reason 1: It has a 3-inch chute which means that many fruits and large veggies can be juiced whole. This helps a great deal for those that don't necessarily have time - or an inclining - to cut their portions correctly for juicing. Also, juicing whole fruits allows that more of the overall nutritional value of said food item can be juiced, and therefore consumed.
• Reason 2: There are several parts to clean, but fear not, because most of these parts are dishwasher safe. This certainly adds to the appeal since most of us dread having to hand wash small parts.
• Reason 3: If you get up early in the morning for a juice, your kids won't wake up startled and wonder why you've seemingly fired up a chainsaw in the kitchen. In other words, as juicers go, the Breville is a fairly quiet unit.
• Reason 4: Editors at a popular product review company had tested 29 juicers, using various methods. They had basically processed 600 oranges, 10 pineapples, 150 beets, (and a whole slew of other fruits and veggies) and compared results. Out of these various brands, 2 Breville juicer models were hands down winners in almost every category. In fact they only lost points because of their weight and girth.
  
• To that criticism I say ... come on(!), juicers are not meant to be strapped around our necks like an Ipod, they are meant to live on your counter-top for crying out loud. They're supposed to be big and beautiful, so that when you reach the kitchen every morning you are immediately sucked into its' gravity field. Sheesh, I thought we all knew that.
• Reason 5: Forget bulky, the Breville JFE is nothing but Uber Sexy. Yep. It's stainless steel, which - to interior decor - is the new black. Get the Juice Fountain Elite and you will suddenly find yourself running to the appliance store to trade in every other appliance you own, for something in "stainless steel". Trust me, I did this last year and now even my can opener is of the "stainless" variety.
  

Expanding further on the test mentioned in reason 4, said testers were quite horrified to discover that certain very popular brands simply broke down during the process. How that matters to us is simple: if these heavily marketed juicers couldn't withstand one simple go around to gather data, they wouldn't last 3 months in your home. Now I'll play nice for now and not name these brands, but I can assure you they ARE some of the more popular (and more useless) juicer brands that we see every day.

All in all, the really expensive juicer models (like the Breville JE 900) have a significant and obvious advantage over pretty much anything, including certain in-laws. That's because they cost more, and are meant for a more robust usage and for a more serious market. (and they don't nag at you come Xmas) More bang always costs more bucks, people. I can speak highly at only a few top end products, those being the Breville JE 900, and the Greenstar Juice Extractor high end products. There are more, but that will take another post. (BTW, click the links to check them out)

So please, if you are in the market, don't go too cheap because cheap breaks, cheap frustrates, and cheap can stop your progress when it's rendered useless by an overly ambitious pineapple. Stick with the brand with which you are most confident. Breville (and Greenstar) are both companies worth their weight in gold.

Just for fun, and just because I'm hoping you are really a fanatic about juicing like I am, check out the Breville Mega Super Unreal Millennium Falcon Juicer. (That's not its' name, but it should be) It has a certain drool factor if you're a juice freak like I am :). As I've said somewhere, that thing could juice a Cadillac and still have enough "hudspa" to liquify your old hockey sticks. It is something I can't recommend without pointing to its' rather steep price tag, and then gasping in abject horror. However, it's a very advanced juicer and most people owning these models are already very serious about juicing, or they need to produce large volumes in short periods. Having said all that nonsense, the 900 is the model I have and I just love it. Firstly, it will not ever quit. Secondly, if my BMW ever blows a gasket, I'm sure I have the replacement engine in my kitchen, right beside the microwave.

To conclude, for a reasonably small cost, there simply is no better juicer on the market than the Breville Juice Fountain Elite, in my opinion. You can look it over yourself (click the links), or as always, click on the fancy-shmancy pictures I always feel inclined to provide. You can buy it directly from my links at Amazon, (they've got the sweetest deals in existence) or by finding a brick and mortar store that carries Breville products. Either way it is a responsible and smart purchase if you are getting into juicing and want something that's both Uber Sexy and Uber Functional.

Here's an excellent juicing vid featuring my baby. Cheers!

Juicing For Health And Quality Home Exercise

If you visited before, perhaps via subscription, you may notice I've decided to edit the post you're viewing now. To summarize what I've left out, I am using this virtual real estate to answer another readers desperate plea to help him lose his gut. I thought it best to remove the email for the sake of time. So Paul (shout out given) this entry is for you, and for all the many people continuously sending me mail about their increasing stomach and decreasing health. I've covered this topic once before (you can find it here) but repetition is sometimes the key to getting people to see the light.

OK, here it goes. In the first place, anyone with expanding stomach issues needs to click here, or click the fancy "in post" graphic that is flashing "Truth About Abs". Oddly enough it is called the Truth About Abs program. (Go figure) Anyway, here's the thing. It is a 100%, totally useful and effective program - available on the cheap. I mean it. Click the link now and grab it if you're worried about stomach fat - or for any good workout and health maintenance program. Your gut will thank you, your fridge door hinges will thank you, and your tailor will thank you (for all the extra work taking in your trousers).

Now I'm not just spewing on about this program with my own self interest at heart. I just happen to know the thing works like gangbusters. Truth About Abs is not just an "abs" program, it's an overall fitness regimen and it's worth it's weight in gold. It is the perfect jumping off point for anyone serious about getting healthy - and since most people start to notice fat around the mid-section first (like Paul), it is perfectly topical. I really believe in this program or I would never steer you there. There is nothing I can do to help shed your stomach that this program cannot do, and since I charge up to 200.00 per week to train one person - using almost the identical principles found in that program - well there's not much else to say. It's a no brainer.

Secondly, there are a good deal of people emailing me that say they just hate gyms and refuse to join one. It's either an actual phobia or just a craving for privacy. So the inevitable question becomes this; "what can one get for home that will be the MOST effective fat burner?" The answer is to head to this link and get yourself a cheapish rowing machine. The one I've featured is the Sprint Outrigger - I own one, and it is just awesome. German engineered, quiet as a peep, and easily the best bang for your home gym/ workout buck. In fact I am staring at mine right now and thinking about rowing around in the ocean of my mind, while I listen to a new audio book. :)

• Factoid: I've just caught on to audio books. They really are bloody ingenious ways to kill time while working out. I suggest you try one out the next time you go jogging (or rowing).
  

At this point you may be wondering, "why a rowing machine and not a treadmill?" Well, in the first place rowing is an excellent overall exercise with more fat burning potential than a treadmill, but more to my point, it's the only home gym equipment I've noticed time and time again that beginners really put to effective use. Treadmills are nice if you are partial to running (no where), and stationery bikes can work too (in theory) but it takes you longer to burn calories on both the treadmill and stationery bike than you will burn using a rower. Not to mention that normally people buying these units end up selling them in a yard sale within a year. Anyone that buys a treadmill is, in my opinion, in need of a quick glance out the front window. One pair of runners and access to the outdoors will save you a heckuva lot of money - and space inside your house.

It has continually been my experience in the fitness and training industry that rowing machines get used more than any other home gym item, with the exception of an actual home gym. Now, if you feel like buying a home gym, then all I can say is... RESPECT! I have a Bowflex at home, and they are actually quite brilliant if you are just starting to get back in shape. Most serious home gym equipment can get ridiculously expensive, and if you have that kind of money I would suggest you just get over the nasty gym phobias with therapy, as councelling will cost you less than a good home gym. Just do like I do, get a Bowflex for light home workouts, and get to the gym when you really need to shred.

Anyway, back to the rowing machine. Here's my personal take on why they get used more than, say, the common tread mill:

1. They tuck under the bed/couch/kitchen table easy enough, and thus can come out whenever you feel like working up a sweat.
2. Rowing is also excellent stress relief.
   
3. It's almost too easy to just grab the trusty Ipod, snag a playlist of your best tunes (or an audio book), and row your butt off for 45 minutes or so each day.
   
4. They give you a quality aerobic workout while building strong core muscles.
   
5. Also the rhythmic nature of rowing has a certain meditative quality that I personally enjoy.

So for anyone out there that feels too threatened by gyms, or perhaps can't get easy access to one, it doesn't have to be that hard. And if you are feeling like it's too confusing to start, too much effort to begin, well I can relate to the amount of "information overload" out there - when it comes to fitness and weight loss programs. But the reality is that much of what you see is nothing more than a whole lot of marketing speak. It's truly no harder than getting up and moving in the direction of whatever home equipment you own. The principles of inertia will do the rest, if you are serious. Therein is the real kicker, because you have to GET SERIOUS about the change to make it happen.

Make the commitment to yourself and to your loved ones. Get a juicer, get some home gym equipment (or join a gym), get a good workout program, get moving, get it together, and GET HEALTHY!

Now for some Juicing Recipes Quick Wheatgrass Combos!

• Wheatgrass and celery with a splash of tabasco
• Wheatgrass and parsley
• Wheatgrass and orange juice (an intersting colour when it's made!)
• Wheatgrass and mint
• Wheatgrass and cucumber

Cheers!

Words Fail Me

There just is nothing to say that could meaningfully express the loss we have been dealt today. RIP Michael.