If you are juicing then you are going in the right direction, however, if you are a novice juicer it is easy to make common mistakes and without guidance you may not know how easy it is to get it wrong.

Eating and drinking

One common mistake is to eat and drink juice together, as this does not help the enzyme process.  Many people with irritable bowel problems do not realise this, as the enzyme process begins in the mouth, whilst the acid break down of protein starts in the stomach.  Drinking juice helps the enzyme process, but drinking juice and eating will confuse the enzyme process.  As there are so many enzymes working to aid digestion it is better to keep these separate, drink juice, and eat well but not together.

Too many fruits

Fruits add flavour, but you really want to concentrate on the goodness of vegetables and not the sweetness of fructose.  Fructose is still ultimately a sugar and not what you are aiming for if you want the health benefits of juicing. Using too much fruit is not going to help if you are at risk of diabetes or already suffering from candida (thrush).

You can add lemon or lime to your veggie juices; they both add taste and are also very good as additional nutrients.

Chlorophyll is green

Yes, that’s right; chlorophyll is what makes your greens green. So green vegetables help oxygenate, cleanse, and detox plus improve blood circulation. Green vegetables will not raise blood sugar/insulin and there is no wastage, you can juice the whole thing, leaves, stems, florets!  Keeping to green vegetables as much as you can, making use of fruits and sweeter vegetables like beets and carrots to the minimum.

Timing

First thing in the morning is the best time to drink your juice, on an empty stomach.  That will help you to absorb the nutrients and give you a great start to the day, far better than a mix of carbohydrate in the form of bread or cereal and dairy in the form of milk and butter.  When you feel the boost in energy levels you will wonder how you got by before your juicer.

Cold pressed!

If you are using a centrifugal juicer that is certainly better than nothing, but bear in mind that heat and oxygen destroys some of the nutrition and enzymatic process of your juices.  When you are ready to upgrade look for a cold pressed juicer also known as a masticating or slow juicer. A cold press juicer compresses and squeezes the juice out, bringing more juice in better condition, which I knew this before.  If you want to see the difference in colour just check out some of the amazing YouTube videos on the subject.  Only you will know when you are ready to upgrade to start making better quality juice.

Drink it!

Taking the time in the morning to make your juice is well worth getting up 15 minutes earlier, so if you can, and then do drink it right away.  Air and light destroys some of the antioxidants. If you make a big batch of juice, store it in a dark container in the fridge and try to consume it within 24 hours, better than not drinking juice at all.

What, not clean?

Go for the organic produce as much as possible.  Now we know that locally grown vegetables are about the best for our digestion, wherever you are in the world, find out what is least likely to be covered in pesticides or just go the extra mile for organically certified. Better still grow your own. 

Gulping it down

Your juice is not meant to be knocked back like a shot!  Take your time, and whilst it is not a meal replacement it is still meant to be enjoyed as such.  As the enzymes like to know what this is in the mouth, let the juice stay in your mouth and give them a chance to work.  Sitting down in a relaxed state is far better than trying to rush around drinking your juice.  Sit down, relax, take your time, drink slowly and let the juice do its best job, giving you a great start to the day.

Not juicing???

Well there is a mistake, juicer tucked away in the back of the cupboard and settling for commercially heat produced sterilized juice that has no live enzymes at all!  Get that juicer out, read the manual, get the veggies in and go for it.

Only 9 mistakes, so if you are making any mistakes at all, now you know.  Perhaps you were just curious and I hope now you can make a very informed decision as to which type of juicer to buy and the many benefits of using a cold press juicer to kick start your day.