THE BENEFITS OF JUICING AND MY GO-TO JUICERS

When it comes to optimizing your health, I would highly recommend incorporating juicing into your daily life. Juicing is a process that extracts the juices from fresh fruits and vegetables. It’s one of the best ways you can consume a high volume of nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, in the form of a juice.

For the convenience, you may prefer to buy pre-made juices you find at the grocery store. Unless the juice was freshly made within a day, a lot of the nutrients from the juice are most likely gone. Depending on the juicing method (centrifugal vs masticating), the nutrients from the juice are only good for about 1-3 days. That’s why I would highly recommend investing in a juicer or only buying fresh-made juices for the health benefits.

Centrifugal vs Masticating JUICERS

If you’re looking to invest in a juicer, the two common types of juicers are a centrifugal and a masticating juicer.

A centrifugal juicer uses a high-speed grater to shred the fruits and vegetables to extract the juice. Some positives is that it’s less expensive, requires less prep with the bigger feed/chute, easy to use and clean and juices quickly. Some negatives is that it yields more waste and introduces heat and oxygen to the nutrients due to the high-speed grater and you will need to drink the juice more quickly to receive the benefits (12-24 hours if stored properly). It’s also not good at extracting leafy greens and better for hard produce.

A masticating juicer aka cold pressed juicer uses slow rotations of an auger or twin gear to grind/chew the fruits and veggies under high pressure (no heat) to extract the juice from the produce. Some positives is that it retains a higher nutritional value, good at extracting juice from leafy greens (including wheat grass), less waste and longer fridge life when stored properly (up to 3 days depending on juicer). Some negatives is that it requires more prepping due to the smaller feed/chute, more expensive, and takes longer to clean.

Depending on what you’re looking for (convenience, cost, overall benefits, etc.) in your juicer, both are great options to get you started. When I started my juicing journey when I first saw the documentary “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”, I started with the Breville (centrifugal) and it was the perfect introduction to juicing because it was quick and easy to use and budget friendly.

As I continued to juice regularly, I invested in my first masticating juicer—the Omega juicer. Since then, I’ve tried many masticating juicers and would have to say the Nama J2 is by far my favorite overall juicer. It’s the perfect juicer for those who want something that’s easy to use, quick prep/clean time, extracts the most from your fruits/veggies even fruits like pineapple that tend to back up a lot of juicers.

Below are some of my favorite juicers I’ve used and would recommend depending on what you’re looking for. There are also other great juicers out there and ultimately finding the best one for you and getting started is most important. Hope this helps and wishing you the best on your juicing journey!

BEST OVERALL MASTICATING JUICER

The Nama J2 Juicer is by far the best hands-free juicer that’s perfect for daily use and great for batch juicing. What I love about this juicer is that it’s so easy to use and clean. You just throw everything in and watch as the J2 extracts the highest quality juice and even works great on difficult produce like pineapples that tend to back up a lot of juicers. Each hopper load yields 16-32 ounces of juice and extracts more from your produce so more juice and less pulp.

For $55 off the J2, use code JONNY10!

BEST BUDGET MASTICATING JUICER

This juicer is perfect if you’re looking for a cold pressed juicer but at a more affordable price point. In general, masticating juicers will be more expensive than centrifugal juicers but in the long run they’re worth it because they will extract more juice, retain more nutrients and you can store the juices longer (48-72 hours if stored properly). This juicer will require a little more prep (cutting up fruits/veggies) but the pros outweigh the cons.

BEST budget CENTRIFUGAL JUICER

The first juicer I ever bought right after watching “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” which started my juicing journey. If you’re looking for a budget friendly quick and easy juicer—this is the perfect starter. As noted above, centrifugal juicers do oxidize more quickly so in order to optimize the nutrients, drink your juice immediately or within 12-24 hours. This is a great juicer for hard produce but if you’re going to juice a lot of greens, I would recommend going for a masticating juicer to get the best yield from your fruits/veggies.