Thread: Juicers

The old lady's on this new health kick and wants to make juice out of everything.

Anyone have any experience or knowledge of juicers (ie. Jack Lalanne Power Juicer, etc...)???

I have experience with juicers. The big negative with these juicers is that it takes lots of fruit to fill a glass with juice. don't get me wrong, the juice is great but it makes that one glass of juice a bit pricey.$$$$ you get more out of veggies though.

we have one. got used for about a month.. then SWMBO figured that it's just such a PITA to use. And most are a PITA to clean too. blades chop the stuff into pieces then it basically puts it into a centrifuge with screen on the outer edges.. that screen is a PITA to clean.
and like rey_1178 said, it takes TONS of stuff fed thru to get a glass of juice. and you are missing all of the other stuff (like fiber which is supposed to get put into the little bucket at the back, but some of which blasts out onto the countertop)
If you get one that's plastic, things like carrots will stain it orange.. permanently

My parents used to use one years ago - and I only mention it with regard to cleaning. Back then they used to use a paper filter strip to line the interior of the screen - which made cleanup a breaze, at least with respect to cleaning the main basket/screen.

I bought a LaLanne juicer for my wife (Christmas gift requested) a couple of years ago when they were cheap. (Think I got mine for like $79 or such plus shipping.) All the above observations are accurate (product use, cleaning, orange stain) and add to that you have all the "residue" to deal with. Like mentioned, that's where a lot of the good stuff still is, like much of the fiber and a lot of vitamins. We used to save some of it and use it in salads, but it has no taste at that point. We had rabbits at the time that loved that junk, but I don't have them anymore. Composting the resdue seems like such a waste to me! The juicer sits on the shelf now - maybe I should just sell it.

Bottom line: Juice tastes great, not worth the expense and effort.

Another consideration, something I've only learned recently: It's not just what you eat but how you eat it that's important. If you're overweight like I am and thus at higher risk for Type II diabetes, vegetable and fruit juices are a no-no. It's not the calories, but the glycemic index at play here. A carrot eaten as a carrot has the same calories as the juice it produces, but is much lower in GI than one that's juiced. The sugars/carbs in the highly processed juice, which the body can then assimilate much quicker, result in an insulin spike, leading to greater hunger, more calorie consumption, greater weight, etc. It's part of the viscious cycle. Much better for folks like me to just eat the carrot and let my body do the processing...

Originally Posted by bhelms

Bottom line: Juice tastes great, not worth the expense and effort.

I agree