Juicing has exploded over the last few years into a healthy, trend setting drink. Some people are obsessed with juicing and cleansing with foods such as aloe vera juice and green juices. I know that I get up every morning and have my smoothie cocktail, and if I miss it, I feel off all day. I don’t juice because I want to get all the nutrients possible from what ever veggies I’m including in my smoothie. But to each their own, I just prefer smoothies over juicing. If your going to be a juicer, then their are some things you should know and be aware of when you go shopping.
Cold-pressed or pasteurized?
Cold-pressed is when you extract the juice first by crushing the fruits or veggies, then pressing them to get all the juice from them without heating it up. This makes a drink that is four to five times higher in nutrients and is a lot thicker. The bad thing is that it will only keep for 4-5 days when refrigerated, if not, then it will develop harmful bacteria, so it’s vital to buy them fresh and drink them right away.
Pasteurized is when juice is heated at a high temperature, which is what protects it from harmful bacteria and extends the shelf life. But heating the juice will kill all live enzymes, nutrients, and minerals. I like cold-pressed myself, it tastes so much better, and it keeps all the health benefits of the fruit or greens you eat.
If you don’t have time to make your own green juice and you have to buy it, then I would only drink juices that are mostly made up of leafy greens, which is a lot lower in sugar than the fruit based ones. Look at the nutrition stats. Some bottles are for more than one serving, and the calories may be high.
Benefits of Juicing 
Juicing is a way that you can get all your veggies in for the day, especially if you have a hard time getting them into your diet. It’s a lot easier to fit broccoli, kale, or spinach into your daily diet in the form of juice, then to actually eat all of it in one sitting. Juicing strips away any fiber benefits which helps you to regulate your blood sugar levels, aids in digestion, and makes you feel full longer.
Juicing also helps you to incorporate different kinds of veggies into your diet that your taste buds may not let you eat if you were just cooking it up. Also, juicing may help with weight loss because you are decreasing the carb intake and the juice has more vitamin C and potassium. Boost your immune system by charging up your body with phytochemicals. Raw juice also has biophotonic light energy that helps to revitalize your body.
It helps increase your energy levels when your body has the nutrients that it need and your pH is balanced you feel great. Your body uses the nutrients instantly, so you feel the energy surge right away.
Juice Cleanses
Juice cleanses are another new trend that has hit the healthy community. Now there are pre-made juice cleanses at every health food store out there. So it makes it very easy to juice fast, which usually last for one to three days. Juicing fast are normally done to aid in certain health conditions, and people who look to fast for more then a few days should talk to their doctor first before starting any fasting regimens.
Time Magazine recently reported that even children are jumping on the juice cleanse bandwagon, and at least one company markets a cleanse specifically for children for about $100.2 Those geared toward adults can be even costlier – upwards of $600 for a five-day cleanse.
I am not opposed to juice cleanses under the right circumstances, but children are generally not the best candidates, as their bodies require healthy fats and proteins that are missing from fresh juices. Further, you needn’t spend hundreds of dollars on a fancy juice cleanse – it’s easy to make your own juice at home for a fraction of that cost, and it’s going to be fresher, too.
My philosophy regarding juicing is to view it as a regular part of your diet, not just a fad that you engage in once or twice a year. Drinking green juice every day is going to give you far more benefits than a sporadic three-day cleanse will. Kids, too, can enjoy vegetable juice on a daily basis, either as a beverage with a meal or as a snack (ideally along with a source of healthful fat to ensure all those fat-soluble nutrients get absorbed). Credit
If your going to juice, then remember to try and stay away from fruit because it contains a lot sugar and is higher in calorie. You can include an apple, a kiwi, or a handful of berries to give your juice flavor, but the majority of it should come from organic, green veggies– spinach, celery, kale, Swiss chard, etc. The sad thing is, green juice has a preconception for tasting horrible and many people avoid it just because of its color.
Just remember that you can make your green juice with whatever you want, so it will be to your taste. If you’re brand-new to juicing, you can begin with more mild-tasting veggies, like celery and cucumbers. From there you can work your way up to red leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, spinach, and escarole, in addition to parsley and cilantro. Greens like kale, collard, dandelion, and mustard greens are rather bitter, so you’ll want to start gradually and include just a few leaves each time.
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