Homemade Organic Juices
Consuming more fruit and vegetables whether conventional or organic is beneficial to our health. The vitamins and minerals that they contain are essential if we want to provide our bodies with the best quality nutrition. However the Environmental Protection Agency tells us:
Pesticides are widely used in producing food. These pesticides may remain in small amounts (called residues) in or on fruits, vegetables, grains, and other foods. To ensure the safety of the food supply, EPA regulates the amount of each pesticide that may remain in and on foods.
So it is clear that it is acceptable for our foods to have a certain level of pesticide residue that is considered safe. This is of course one reason for the rise in popularity of organic produce. It is certainly unlikely that government agencies would advocate the consumption of unsafe foods. But if we have the choice of eating an organically grown apple vs. a conventionally grown apple with a safe level of pesticide residue, all things being equal, I am pretty sure that most of us would choose to eat the organic apple. This opinion is backed up by a report from the Environmental Working Group:
The growing consensus among scientists is that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can cause lasting damage to human health, especially during fetal development and early childhood.Scientists now know enough about the long-term consequences of ingesting these powerful chemicals to advise that we minimize our consumption of pesticides.
They provide some pretty useful information about the fruits and vegetables that are best bought organically as well as a list of those where the conventional varieties are low in pesticide residue. They are not saying to buy all our produce organically. But rather to buy smart. The separated certain fruits and vegetables into a dirty dozen and clean fifteen.
The dirty dozen, which we should endeavour to purchase organically when possible include:
- Celery
- Peaches
- Strawberries
- Apples
- Domestic blueberries
- Nectarines
- Sweet bell peppers
- Spinach, kale and collard greens
- Cherries
- Potatoes
- Imported grapes
- Lettuce
The Clean Fifteen are:
- Onions
- Avocados
- Sweet corn
- Pineapples
- Mango
- Sweet peas
- Asparagus
- Kiwi fruit
- Cabbage
- Eggplant
- Cantaloupe
- Watermelon
- Grapefruit
- Sweet potatoes
- Sweet onions
The beauty of these lists is that it helps us to know which produce it is worth spending a bit more on to get the organic varieties as well as which conventional fruits and vegetables we can purchase safely.
Great Tasting Organic Juices
Eating lots of fruit and veg gives us nutrients and fiber. Another thing that we can do is to make juices. When we do this, the liquid is extracted from the fibrous pulp. In effect, we can get the vitamins and minerals from a greater quantity of fruit and vegetables but without the fiber. It is obviously important to have fiber in our diet so only drinking juice might not be the best idea. However, the huge benefit from drinking juices is that the sheer quantity of nutrients that we get is increased.
There are tons of different organic recipes that are worth trying to make at home. Some of them are really simple with just one or two ingredients while others contain a greater variety. The best thing that you can do is to experiment to find out which juices you like the best. Sometimes it is the simplest ones that can taste the best. Just think about the mouth watering flavor of a few freshly squeezed oranges.
Of course, if you want the most potent mineral content, then you might want to think about making a green juice. This sort of drink not only contains greens but can have all sorts of other ingredients in there too. Greens, with their chlorophyll content tend to take over the color of the drink and make it look green. Spinach and kale are two of the most nutritious vegetables to add to your drink.
Juicer Reviews
Now a days there are a number of different makes and models of juicers that you can purchase. Spending time reading juicer reviews will help you to make the best purchasing decision for your juicing requirements. The thing is, for some people, the speed and convenience of centrifugal juicers makes a machine like the Breville BJE510XL the right choice.
Omega VRT350HD Juicer
Then again, if you only want to make freshly squeezed orange juice then a specialist citrus press or citrus juicer is not only designed specifically for the job, this type of unit is also fairly low in price too. For those of you who want to get more into green juices then the best type of device would be a masticating juicer. The Omega VRT350HD makes a great all round choice that can juice a whole range of produce but also does it quickly.
When choosing a juicer, it is important to think about what sorts of produce you want to juice as well as how much you can afford to spend. The important point to take away is that the more fruit and vegetables we can have each day, the better. When we have the chance to eat (or drink) the organic alternative, so much the better.