There is no doubt in my mind that juicing veggies and fruits is a good thing for your health. It is a simple and quick way to add the good vitamins and minerals from veggies into your diet, without having to eat a truckload of kale.

Some people slate the amount of sugar in juice as detrimental and use that as an excuse to ignore juicing. I can see their point but I don’t 100% agree. I always try and make a juice of 80% veggies and then just use some fruit likes apples to sweeten it up a bit. I reckon this is a good formula – mostly veggies, a bit of fruit to sweeten.

So to get started with juicing you are going to need 3 things.

1. Some good juice recipes.
2. The produce to make the recipes.
3. A juicing machine to make it.

Step 1

The internet is awash with juicing recipes so I will just include my favorite juice of all time here, it is a banker. My kids even drink this and they are the ultimate food critics. This one is inspired by the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead on Netflix, check out the trailer here.

Recipe: Mean Green

• 1 head of celery
• 1 large cucumber
• A good handful of spinach or kale
• 2 apples
• Juice of 1 lemon or lime

Step 2

Go buy this stuff from your local shop. If possible and feasible for you, opt for organic varieties. The fewer chemicals and pesticides you ingest the better right? If not organic, then wash it all thoroughly.

Step 3

This is the most exciting part – go shopping!

There are two main types of juicers out there. Centrifugal and Cold Pressed Masticating Juicers. Here’s the lowdown on both….

Type 1: Centrifugal Juicers

These are widely available and generally, the cheapest juicers to buy. They are high-speed juicers that extract the juice from the pulp by pulverizing the produce against a fast spinning round cutting blade. They have a wide neck that is usually the width of an apple so less chopping is required.

On the positives, they are fast, cheap and easy to use. On the negatives, they actually produce less juice than masticating juicers and the juice quality is reduced due to the heat from the spinning blades that destroy some beneficial enzymes.

I have used the Philips juicer below a lot when I was starting out. I still use some days when I am short on time as it’s a lot faster than the cold pressed. Just head to your local electronics store and ask them for a centrifugal juicer. Expect to pay around €100.

Type 2: Cold Pressed Masticating Juicers

These juicers operate via a masticating (chewing) or cold press method to produce a superior juice to their centrifugal counterparts. In contrast to the rough extraction and high speeds of centrifugal juicers, cold press juicers operate at lower speeds and gently compress fruit and vegetables to ‘squeeze’ out their juice. While more costly, their slower and more thorough extraction rates produce a higher-quality juice and more of it.

On the positives, they produce more juice and a higher quality of juice. As a result, they last for longer, keeping for up to 72 hours in a fridge. This one positive alone can really help you make juice a part of your daily routine as you can make a batch ahead of time that will last 3 days.

On the negative side, they are more expensive and require much more chopping and preparation. These juicers are not as convenient as the centrifugal ones but are of a higher quality.

For this reason alone, in terms of starting out, I suggest getting yourself a centrifugal juicer to begin this with. The benefits of it being cheap, fast and convenient outweigh the negatives of a lower juice yield and quality, but just for now. The important thing you are trying to do is get into juicing, start to like it, engage with it and feel better for it.

So to begin with, get a centrifugal juicer. Establish the habit of juicing in your life. If you did this for a few weeks consistently, you will feel the benefits of weight loss, less vitamin and nutrient deficiency and more energy. Over time, as your interest in juicing builds, I would then recommend upgrading and making the investment in a cold pressed juicer.

If opting for a cold pressed masticating juicer go for Hurom, you will love it. Expect to pay a few hundred euros for this one.

Step 4

The most important step. Drink it!