Juicing

My Breville juicer sits on my kitchen bench, so does my Optimum blender which I bought at the beginning of the year. I use my blender every day, I make a smoothie every morning for breakfast, they are really delicious. Yesterday I made cacao chocolate squares using it. My juicer is not used as often but I believe it's better to juice (there are still about 95% of nutrients in fresh juice) than blend because you are able to get more nutrients as you are not drinking the pulp.

I owned my juicer for two years and hardly used it, but because of health problems I started using it three years ago and mostly make vegetable juices for myself and anyone else who wants one. I make my grandchildren orange and apple juices adding a carrot, small piece of ginger and either kale or spinach.

There are a lot of nutrients in one glass of juice. When I read about people on the 5:2 diet I wonder why they don't have fresh juices for two days. It's a great way to lose weight and take in loads of healthy nutrients.

We bought a juicer when we had the allotment with the intention of juicing apples and any other fruit left over. I think we used it for one season and it had been gathering dust ever since.

Our juicer, like most other people's I suspect, is in the back of a cupboard. It was a nightmare to clean and I was always worried that there would be some bacteria laden goo stuck somewhere that I couldnt get off. That was a bit of a fad to be honest, and we know all realise about the amounts of sugar, albeit not refined, in fruit. As Jess said, you can't eat ten apples, so in a way that is self limiting on the amount of sugar consumed. Also, when you eat the whole fruit, you are getting the fibre and bulk to aid digestion, chewing it to start the digestive process, rather than just knocking it back just as liquid. I now have a small blender which is great and I put whatever I want in it, eat/drink it pulp and all, and it is easy to wash.

I'm sure you said on another thread recently that there was very little sugar in wine, Jess...

You could juice 10 apples and swig down the drink easily. Be good going to eat 10 apples.

Thanks everyone and for the advice on the contra indications of juice drinking Jess but my question was not on the benefits or otherwise of juice drinking but simply one on which machine would be the best to buy! As it happens, I do eat a great deal of vegetables and fruit both cooked and uncooked as I eschew meat-eating whenever possible. However, presumably eating the vegetables/fruit in its natural state doesn't reduce the amount of sugar ingested, although I appreciate that more vegetables and fruit are used in juicing. Each to his own - eh?

I chuck the whole fruit in (bar pips) when making smoothies rather than juicing the fruit (and veg) That way you get the benefit of the fibre too.

Astonshing amounts of sugar in juice. Recommended intake - one very small wine glass a day. (150ml)

Yes JessM, I was just thinking exactly the same. Though I would love to drink the juices, I get more "eating satisfaction" out of eating an orange, or an apple etc. especially as I am trying to lose weight.

Just eat the whole fruit or vegetable. No reason to think that consuming loads of juice is good for you. Fibre is definitely good for you but juicing removes it all.

I bought a Kitchen Ninja from QVC last summer. It's great, it does everything, blends, juices, even chops up ice. It came with a dough blade so you can also prepare pastry etc. I sound like a sales person don't I, but I love it. I use it almost every day. Lately I've been making myself juices and smoothies in the small cup that came with it. DH isn't really keen on those. It is a U.S. brand, I haven't seen them for sale anywhere else though.

It might be worth your going to a Lakeland store and having a look at their range of gadgets. Sometimes they have demonstrations of products though you might turn up when they're doing something completely different. Alternatively, John Lewis also has a range of juicers.

I spent quite a lot of money on a juicer recently. But I was dismayed at the amount of fruit pulp that collects in the bin to be thrown away!! What a shocking waste of money and good fruit! And worse still, the cleaning up was a nightmare, taking it all apart and washing it all, wiping down the side and the machine, putting it all together again. A real chore. So now I use a little Kenwood Chef blender. (Not expensive and takes up no more room than a big mug) This does need a bit more prep but it's still a lot less work, and I'm not throwing most of it in the bin! Mostly I throw it all in (apples, pears, avacados, cucumber, beetroot,oranges, bananas....anything really!) and just pour it through a sieve to catch the seeds and pips; there is very little wasted because it blends it up very well. You need a bit of water added. All soft fruits etc blend up with no sieving. So perhaps consider whether an expensive juicer is what you need!

No, unfortunately - the good ones are the cutting masticators and they cost a fortune. My SiL is a juicing fan and the one he has is good, but still needs effort to get it clean. It's a Champion 2000 which he bought cheaply off a disenchanted friend who'd paid about £300 for it.