The biggest concern for keeping juices fresh is oxidation.   During the juicing process, fruits and vegetables are broken open and their enzymes and other nutrients are released from the fiber.   When the juice is exposed to air it gives up an electron to the oxygen in the air, thus oxidizing the juice and making it less nutritionally stable.  If you can reduce the amount of time the juice is exposed to the air and seal it up quickly you have a better chance of keeping the nutrients intact.

Juicing in Bulk

One of our readers, Kelly, has been kind enough to share her method and photos of how she stores her bulk juices.  You can read more about her juicing journey on her blog Happy Healthy Inspiration.

You’ll need a few 16 oz. mason jars, a sharpie marker, enough fruits and vegetables to make a day’s worth of juice and some recipes to follow.

Make your first juice recipe and then:

1.  Fill a mason jar all the way to the top with juice.  The goal is no air inside the jar.

2.  Seal the lid tightly.  Keep some extra lids around in case the seals go bad.

3.  Mark the outside of the jar with the ingredients and the date (and perhaps the time) the juice was made.

4.  Store in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

Extra Tips from Carey:

*  add 1/2 to 1 lemon to your juice recipe.  Lemons contain antioxidants and citric acid which discourages oxidation.

* Rinse your juicer (at least the basket) between recipes to keep the flavors separate.

*  Each jar holds one 16 ounce serving.  Do not drink half and then put it back in the refrigerator.

* You can flash freeze juices following these instructions.

* You can purchase 16oz Ball Mason jars here.

* Glass jars are most ideal.  If you must use plastic, be sure to get BPA free plastic.

images courtesy of Happy Healthy Inspiration.

Researchers discovered this interaction by accident while investigating whether alcohol (masked with grapefruit juice) would interact with the drug that was under testing at the time.   They instead realized that the grapefruit juice caused higher levels of the drug to be absorbed several times more than in previous tests.  After the discovery, further research found that an active compound (called bergamottin) found in grapefruit juice was the cause for the drug interactions.

This compound in grapefruit juice interferes with crucial enzymes inside your body which are relied upon by many medications to allow their active ingredients to be absorbed by the body in a controlled fashion.  The absence of these special enzymes often makes it easy for these active ingredients to enter the blood stream at a faster rate than intended.  The danger then comes about as high levels of certain drugs can lead to severe side effects or fatal overdose.

Interactions With Medications

The following popular medications are known to interact adversely with grapefruit juice:

• Statin medications such Lipitor, Zocor, and Crestor;
• Drugs used to treat high blood pressure such Lisinopril;
• Psychiatric and anti-anxiety treatments such as Zoloft, Valium, and Abilify;
• Prescription strength pain relievers;
• Various Anti-HIV medications

For a more complete list of medications, you can visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapefruit_drug_interactions

Should You Stop Using Grapefruit Juice?

If any of your medications belong to the class of drugs listed above, then you should talk with your health care provider so that he/she can provide proper confirmation and advice.  If your treatment is known to be severely affected by Grapefruit, your doctor may prescribe an alternate drug which doesn’t interact with the juice.  While alternatives for many of these drugs are available, in most cases, it might be best to cut back on your consumption of grapefruit while on your drug treatment regimen.

If your treatment does not interact adversely with Grapefruit then there is no reason stop consuming it, especially since grapefruit juice is a great source of Vitamin C and can improve your heart health.

Always consult with your doctor or pharmacist before starting or making changes to your treatment plan.

About the author:
Kevin Clarke is a pharmacist and publisher of Side Effects Hub.

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I’ll get to the answer in a later in the post, but let’s just look for a moment at the reason for asking this question.

Before you considered cleansing I’ll bet you never asked the question, “How much food should I eat in a day?”  You just ate until the point at which you felt full (or sometimes beyond that point).  It’s interesting isn’t it?

When you decide to get healthy or lose weight, you begin to examine your life and your past behaviors.  Sometimes this isn’t pretty.  And when you realize you’ve been overeating or eating the wrong foods for a number of years you begin to question every thought and every action.  You begin to distrust yourself and you seek help.  That’s okay.  That’s a great place to begin again.

How Much Juice Should You Drink?

When you are on a juice cleanse, that’s drinking only juice for a set number of days, the juice becomes your meal.  So think of it that way.  Spread your juice “meals” throughout the day and aim for four juices per day.

It’s important to realize the function of the juice.  It loads your body with nutrition and flushes your system of toxins.  You want to drink enough to feel full.  If you are getting hungry it is a sign that you need more juice.

So here it is:

A good place to start is by drinking 16 oz, four times per day.  That gives you 64 oz.  You may drink more or less depending on your situation and needs.  For example if you are very active during the day, your body requires more fuel.  Drink more.  If you are hungry or feeling healing reactions (headache, body aches) drink more.

Your body knows how much juice it needs.  It will tell you.  Take a quiet moment and listen.  You will begin to learn the ways your body communicates with you and you can begin to start trusting yourself again.  Happy Juicing!

Your Turn

Are you trusting your body?  How much juice are you drinking on your juice cleanse?  Let us know in the comments below.

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What I’m talking about is the commitment to keep going day after day.  All things worthwhile take effort, nurturing, and commitment.  Health, exercise, relationships, education, creativity and doing your life’s work all require this.

It takes effort.

We all know this but we don’t always make the effort.   So why is it that we tend to give up so easily?  We experience resistance.  Our mind begins to contradict itself.

Does this quote by Seth Godin remind you of anything in your life?

“We say we want one thing, then we do another. We say we want to be successful but we sabotage the job interview. We say we want a product to come to market, but we sandbag the shipping schedule. We say we want to be thin but we eat too much. We say we want to be smart but we skip class or don’t read that book the boss lent us.”

Seth Godin calls this the lizard brain, the resistance in the back of our head that tells us to slow down in order to avoid danger (or often success) and keeps us from being great.  And it doesn’t go away, it will always be there.

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The lizard brain is afraid for us to be healthy, lean and full of energy because that is outside its comfort zone.  Our job then, is to learn to quiet the lizard brain or ignore it.

That can be a daunting task.  But here’s one thing I’ve learned about juicing and doing what matters. 

Do the important things FIRST.

Wake up and make your juice in the morning before you do anything else.  Don’t give your mind a chance to resist.  When given the chance your mind will tell you it’s too much work or convince you to do it later (which really means not at all).

Juicing in the morning gives you many benefits.

• quieting the lizard brain
• a sense of accomplishment
• quick boost of nutrition and energy
• motivation to juice/eat health throughout the day
• the power to claim your greatness

Your turn.

What greatness is your lizard brain keeping you from?  How will you overcome it to do the things that matter most?  Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Are you worried what your family might think or sad because you feel you can’t sit at the dinner table?  Fear not, if you are well prepared you can sail through this year’s holiday season with ease.

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Here are some tips you can use:

1.  Delegate food preparation.  Is the holiday dinner at your house this year?  For some people who are juice fasting it is difficult to prepare food for others.  The sights and sounds may either repulse you or tempt you to sneak a bite.  Turn the festivities into a potluck event.  Explain your situation to others and ask them to help by bringing their favorite dish.  Alternatively you can order food from a local restaurant,  just remember to plan ahead.

And speaking of planning ahead…

2.  Don’t skip a juice “meal”.  What if you’re having such a great time at your holiday party that your forget to drink your juice?  Don’t get stuck in this scenario because you might be tempted to eat solid food.  Have some vegetables and fruits pre-washed and cut so they are ready for juicing at a moment’s notice.  If there’s no way you’ll be able to make juice during the party then make a pitcher of juice ahead of time and drink it throughout the day.

But what if the situation is just too awkward?

3.  Make juice a part of the holiday meal.  Rather than explain to everyone why you’re not eating, encourage the others to join you!  Make juice as the “soup” course of your dinner.  Serve it in decorative bowls and eat it with a spoon!  In the event that your guests might not want a cold soup, gently warm the juice over a low heat and enjoy.

While food is certainly the center of holiday traditions, it’s not the only event going on.

4. Focus your attention elsewhere.  To help take your mind off of food spend some time playing card games with the kids or looking at family photo albums.  Of course there’s always the holiday football game and after dinner nap you could participate in!

Make the holiday’s joyous whether you’re juice fasting or not.  There’s no need to get into a debate about the pros and cons of your diet.  Everyone makes their own decisions.  But you can lead by example and be a positive role model.  And maybe at the end of the party someone will ask for your juice recipe!

Will juicing be a part of your holiday festivities?  How do you plan on handling it?

Juice Cleansing FAQ

Q.  Do I leave the peel on my fruits and veggies when juicing?  And what about the seeds?
A. Generally, if you buy organic produce you can leave the peel intact.  Non-organic foods should be peeled or at least washed thoroughly. You can make your own vegetable wash with this recipe. Citrus fruits should be peeled because the rind tastes bitter and may contain pesticides, but you can leave the white pith.  Many seeds can be left in the fruit and put through the juicer.  Hard “pit” seeds such as peach, plum, and cherry must be removed first.  Apple seeds do contain a small amount of a cyanide compound, which the body can easily detox in small amounts.  Juice machines do break open the seeds which can release the compound.  If this is a concern for you, then you can core the apple before juicing.

Q.  Can I make a pitcher of juice and store it for the day?
A.  The vitamins and nutrients in juice can oxidize or decrease over time so it is ideal to drink the juice right away.  The presence of light and oxygen speed up this process, but you can slow it down by keeping the juice in the refrigerator.  Be sure to use an airtight container (preferably opaque or dark in color) that is not much larger than the amount of juice and store it for up to 24 hours.

Q.  How many days do I have to drink the juices?
A.  If you are attempting a juice cleanse (juice fast) and have never done so before you may want to try a 1-day cleanse.  It’s a quick way to get your body used to the schedule of fasting.  The most common cleanses last 3, 5, or 7 days.  This is plenty of time for your body to eliminate standard toxins built up in the body.  You can do these short cleanses periodically throughout the year.  If you would like to attempt a longer cleanse, please enlist the help of a health professional to monitor your health and progress for safety reasons.

Q. Do I drink the juice all day or can I eat something such as raw foods when I get hungry?
A.  The reason for not eating during a juice cleanse is so that the colon does not use energy to digest new foods entering the body, but instead removes the built up foods and toxins that have not previously been absorbed by the body.  The reason for drinking juice is to give the body nutrients without digestible material.  There are some modified versions of the juice cleanse which allow minimal amounts of food, but this would be considered more of a maintenance diet and not a true fast.

Q. Can I use a blender?
A.  A blender is different from a juicer.  Blenders do not remove the fiber from the juice, therefore your body is digesting food.  The point of a juice cleanse is to relieve the body from digesting for a few days.  I recommend buying a juice machine, however you may blend your foods and strain them through a nut milk bag or cheesecloth to manually remove the fiber.

Q. Can I use just one recipe for my entire cleanse or should I mix in different vegetables and fruits?
A. It is best to mix up the recipes for a couple of reasons.  First you may get bored drinking the same juice all day for several days.  Also your body requires a lot of different vitamins and minerals to maintain optimal health.  By trying different veggies and fruits in your recipes you’ll be giving your body balanced nutrition.

Q.  Is it possible to do the juice cleanse with a majority of fruits instead of veggies?
A.  I recommend a vegetable based juice cleanse.  Fruits can be great in limited quantities, but fruits speed up the detoxifying process and can make your cleanse symptoms (shakes, headaches) feel worse.

Q.  How do you get enough liquid from the leafy vegetables?
A.  Some of the leafy vegetable just don’t have that much juice in them.  However the juice that is there is very powerful so don’t dismiss them altogether.  To get the best yield out of the leafy greens try rolling them to compact the leaves or wrapping them around a cucumber or carrot.  Making them “bulkier” may help to get more juice.  If you are getting serious about juicing you may want to check out a masticating juicer.  This type of juice machine “chews” the food at slower speed and may work better on the leafy vegetables.  Check out my juice machine guide for more info.

Q.  If I went on a juice cleanse, where would my protein come from?
A.  Vegetables DO contain protein.  For example spinach has about 1g of protein per cup and broccoli has about 2g per cup. Typically as a society we consume too many proteins and we’re conditioned to believe that we will not survive with less.  You will.  But if you are concerned about proteins you can add a powdered spirulina/wheatgrass type supplement to your juice.

Q.  How much weight will I lose on a five day juice fast?
A.  You may lose some weight during a juice fast.  The amount will vary per person but the average is about one pound per day on a five day fast.  Much of this is simply retained water and built up food matter in the colon.  To maintain the weight loss it is important to stick to a routine of healthy eating, exercise, and periodic cleansing.

Happy Juicing!