Which juicer should I buy? I have been hearing this question, over and over and over again. Especially recently. The documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead has probably caused part of the rise of this question, and the new interest in juicing. Being a personal trainer, a decent amount of my clients want to know what I think about the benefits of juicing, if they should do it, and how. Now, think about this for a second. We all know that fruits, yes fruits, and vegetables are essential for our very best health. Most people do not eat enough of them. Now, if we can get all the benefits of TONS of fruits and vegetables, from a few glasses of juice, SIGN ME UP! I’m not talking about store bought juice. More than likely, those juices are filled with sugars, or are from concentrate, and aren’t fresh, which is vital to getting the most nutrients out of your juice. I’m talking about you, with an at home juicer, making your own fruit and vegetable juices from scratch. This means, you have to get up off your butt, and go get yourself some REAL, ACTUAL, LIVE fruits and veggies.
With this being said, we’ve decided to start juicing. Now, what juicer do I get? Well there are hundreds of different juicers, and this is not going to be a review of all of them. All i’m doing here is trying to give you a small breakdown of the differences in a couple of the more popular ones. You can go to Target or Wal-Mart, and get a very inexpensive juicer, but it comes at a nutrient cost. These juicers, are called centrifugal juicers. From the juicingbook.com, “A centrifugal juicer is the most common type of juicer you see in stores and on TV. A centrifugal juicer spins at high speeds and during the spinning motion, the vegetables that you have shoved down the chute are ground to a pulp. The spinning motion then forces the juice away from the pulp. The juice then pours into a bowl.” a benefit to this type of juicer is that it is very quick, and pretty simple. Depending on which juicer you get, the cleanup can be either time consuming and annoying, or fairly easy. These juicers operate at a very high RPM, usually 6500 or above.
The other common type of juicer is a masticating juicer. Again, from the juicingbook.com, ” Much in the same way, a masticating juicer grinds vegetables and literally squishes out the juice. Since a masticating juicer works at low speeds and with no spinning action, it tends to juice many vegetables more efficiently.” A benefit of this juicer is that it more easily extracts juice out of leafy greens like kale, spinach and lettuce, and more than likely, the cleaning process is very simple. These types of juicers are not quite as fast, and they operate at a low RPM, sometimes as low as 80.
I am biased towards a masticating juicer. I know they are slower, but they also retain MUCH more minerals and nutrients than a centrifugal juicer. A lot of people buy the Breville juicers, because they are very popular, and look pretty. The problem I see with them is that they run at a high RPM, and destroy some healthy enzymes that a masticating juicer would not. I’ve talked to a few people who have them, and they love them, except when it comes to leafy greens. They get little to no juice extraction. They do though, offer the ability to save a lot of prep time, since there is a large chute you push the fruits and vegetables in. That’s great and all, but if you are losing some of those awesome nutrients, who cares how simple it is?
On to the masticating juicer of choice. There are tons available, and I myself own the Omega 8005. Although it does take some prep time, with cutting some fruits and vegetables (you can’t fit a whole apple down the chute. You have to cut it into 8 pieces.), I do rather enjoy the experience. The slower moving parts keep all nutrients available, and there is pretty much NO frothing. The high RPM juicers kind of produce a foam when you juice, which is oxidization, and denaturing of the nutrients. Anyway, the time it takes for me to make one of my favorite juices, is about 12 minutes in total. I think it’s a worthwhile sacrifice, because I know I’m getting the best juice I possibly can. Some masticating juicers will even juice will even juice wheatgrass, which I have done with mine. The clean up for the Omega is about a minute and a half, because the screen filter you see on most centrifugal juicers is non-existent on masticating juicers. If you plan to juice more fruit than vegetables though, a masticating juicer may not be the best option for you, as it’s better at getting the harder, less watery vegetables.
Both options, in the end, are MUCH better than having no options at all. And they will both pay for themselves in the first month that you have them, provided you use them. I have gone to a few places that make juice for you, like Whole Foods, and Go Raw Cafe. They are both very convenient, but paying $7 every time you get a juice, adds up in a hurry. If you go on a 10 day juice fast, for example, you might as well buy a juicer just for those 10 days. 7 bucks, times 3-5 times a day, for 10 days, is between $210 and $350 bucks. You could buy my juicer for $259 on Amazon, and it’s got a 10 year warranty. Brevilles, and centrifugal juicers are a good buy if you want no prep time, and still have some quality juice. If you have the patience for even higher quality, go with a masticating juicer like the Omega 8005, or spend a thousand bucks and get a Super Angel. Hopefully I’ve helped you answer the question of “Which juicer should I buy?“.