Basic Juicing Tricks and Tips for a Healthy Lifestyle

OK, so I have to admit I know absolutely nothing about Tahitian Noni Juice. And this is more of a do-it-yourself Juicing site, rather than a place to discuss and review store bought juice and supplemental products. However, I just keep hearing about the stuff whenever doing research on different types of juice.

So finally, I went too look it up on Amazon, and sure enough they do sell it in various ways (albeit through 3rd party sellers usually). This particular Noni Juice is sold by “Dynamic Health” and is a raspberry flavored variety sold in a two-pack of 32 ounce bottles. They say it gives 12,500 mg of Noni Fruit per 1 ounce serving.

I was hoping a reader who knew more about this type of juice might chime in on the benefits and usage of this type of Tahitian juice. From reading the information given on the site, Noni Fruit comes from the Morinda Citrifolia plant originally from Tahiti and has been used by native people to promote a “healthy lifestyle.”

It is said to contain “minerals, enzymes, anti-oxidants, vitamins, phytonutrients and bioflavonoids, proxeroxine and scopoletin.” I’m always suspicious about these kind of juices, but people say it’s supposed to be benficial for everything from IBS to the common cold.

Continue reading “Tahitian Noni Juice” …

Starting off the new year with a simple one - just pineapples and pears:

Ingredients:

4 pineapple spears
1 pear (medium, skin ok)

Continue reading “Pear ‘n Pine” …

I saw this one in a juicing book we have… it’s a bit unusual with a combination of tomatoes and pineapple but it looked interesting. It also calls for alcohol, though you can easily skip that if you’d rather not put that in.

Ingredients:

1 tomato, medium sized
1 mango, cut into spears
1/4 to 1/3 pineapple, cut into spears
1.5 oz rum, optional

Continue reading “Tropic Shaker” …

As far as store-bought juice goes, this Northland Cranberry Blackberry blend was pretty decent. The 64oz bottle was on sale at the store for $2.50 the other day so I decided to give it a go. It has 100% juice in it with no sugar added, so because it was a cranberry blend I was thinking it might be a bit on the tart side. I’ve had 100% cranberry juice before with no sugar and it is a bit too much for me.

So I was surprised that this cranberry blended with blackberry was fairly mellow. I think it might have a lot to do with the fact that cranberry and blackberry aren’t the only juice ingredients. Note: it’s always a good idea to check the label and see what else is added. Just because they say it’s 100% juice doesn’t mean it’s 100% composed of the juices in the title!

This blend also has apple, pear and grape juices which I suspect help to contribute to it’s mellow flavor. It’s not a bad thing, just remember to check what you’re actually getting. The blackberry presence is really muted - I’m not sure that what I’m detecting as blackberry isn’t actually grape. Still, a pleasant enough juice blend for store-bought.

Juicing Basics Rating: 7 out of 10
Approximate Price: $2.50-4.00 for 64oz

Here’s another juicing recipe that is meant for your tummy, similar to the earlier Stomach Soother posted earlier. This one has cabbage as well for helping out with stomach ailments like constipation and ulcer-like conditions. As before, having too much cabbage juice can cause gas in some people, so be careful.

Ingredients:

1/2 a head of cabbage
1 celery stalk
3 medium carrots
5-7 sweet cherries, pits removed

Continue reading “Stomach Soother 2″ …

This is a citrus based juicing recipe that adds cantaloupe for a little hint of sweetness. Add more carrot if you’d like to sweeten it even more. You can also subsitute some pears for the 1/2 cantaloupe if you like.

Ingredients:

1 orange, peeled, pith ok
1 large carrot
1 grapefruit, peeled, pith ok
1 apple
1/2 cantaloupe

Continue reading “Citrus-alope” …

If you’re looking to get a shot of beta-carotene (natural vitamin A) in your juicing regimen, this recipe might be interesting. Found it online again, it’s a bit unusual with the plums, I supposed those are there to add a bit of tang to the juice. I sort of feel like maybe it needs even more tang - like with some citrus, but that’s just me.

Ingredients:

2 medium carrots
2 large plums
1 medium summer squash

Continue reading “Better Beta Juice” …

Most people who make juicing a part of their lives have three levels of preference for the ingredients they use. At the top of the heap is organically grown produce, the kind that you’d pick in your own backyard, find at roadside fruit and veggie stands, or get at a local farmer’s market. Next, are fruits and vegetables that you can get at any supermarket aisle - definitely not as good as organic ingredients, but it’ll do for most city dwellers who don’t have easy access to the real stuff. And at the bottom are either canned/bottled fruits that you try to turn into juice - or even pre-bottled juice that you buy at the supermarket.

That organically grown stuff is just better because it often (although not always) is left unsprayed and is not artificially ripened with chemicals. For produce in the supermarket, they often have to pick it when it’s still unripe so that it will survive the long trip to your store. The apples and carrots that you get at the supermarket may LOOK better and less flawed than the rustic items you see at the farmer’s market, but they look that way because they’ve been picked while the fruit or vegetable is still hard to ease transport.

Continue reading “Organic vs. Supermarket Juicing” …

When most people think of tomato juice, they’re thinking V8 or some similar tomato-vegetable cocktail type of drink. Sacramento Products does make a “kitchen sink” vegetable type of juice, but their better product may be their pure Tomato Juice.

And when they say pure, they do mean pure. Ingredients are just: water, tomato paste, salt, and vitamin C. That’s pretty much it.

The juice comes in 6 oz cans (amazon had six packs of them for around $2.50 or so) and are the pop top variety. The flavor of the juice is really decent, and that probably has to do with the quality of the tomatoes they use… I mean that’s the main ingredient so I’m guessing that it must have something to do with it. Makes an excellent drink on it’s own, or you can go the bloody mary route. I do wish they would try and cut the salt down, but then this isn’t a lo-salt or diet variety of tomato juice. And they’re certainly not as salty as some of the other commercial tomato juice varieties.

Juicing Basics Rating: 7 out of 10
Approximate Price: $2.50-3.00 for six 6-oz cans

I think I’ve had a similar recipe to this one before - the grapes make it a bit different though. If you don’t have oranges, it’s possible to use orange juice here. Make sure to peel of the skin of the pineapple - you can also use sliced pineapple if that’s what you have.

Ingredients:

4 strawberries
3 pineapple spears with outer skin removed
1 bunch of red grapes
1/2 orange, peeled, white pith ok

Continue reading “Super Sunrise” …