Centrifugal vs. Masticating Juicers

My husband surprised me with a new Hurom juicer to start my 30 days of juicing, aka"30 before 30 juice cleanse"  Given that I'm starting my juice cleanse around my birthday instead of before my birthday, I'm calling it my  "30 turning 30 juice cleanse". 30 days of strictly juicing goodness to cleanse out my unhealthy 20's :)

 I even talked my sisters into doing it with me!  It's going to be so ah-ma-zing!

So what's so special about this juicer??

Juicers typically fall into 2 categories:

Centrifugal and Masticating

Centrifugal juicers are more commonplace and generally less expensive. They typically have an upright design where food is pushed into a spinning blade on its floor. The teeth shred the food into a pulp, and the centrifugal motion pulls the juice out of the pulp and through the mesh filter, where it is funneled out of the juicer via a spigot. So basically- it shreds the produce to pulp and then through centrifugal motion pulls the juice out. 

Masticating juicers squeeze and press the produce instead of shredding it, allowing for more juice to be dispensed and allowing you to juice things that centrifugal juicers typically can't handle such as leafy greens, wheatgrass, and parsley. Masticating juice lasts longer than centrifugal juice- which begins losing nutrients within after the first 20 minutes . They are also powerful enought to juice nuts! That's nuts! (lame pun intended). Masticating juicers are more expensive- however, given that you get more juice from your produce and have a wider variety of things to juice- they are (in my opinion) the better buy. 

I've always used a centrifugal juicer for my juicing needs. (I used the Jack LaLanne Juicer)
Until now.
My new Hurom Juicer is so powerful I can finally squeeze wheatgrass juice at home! And it's more quiet than my Jack LaLanne juicer- which sounds like a jet plane taking off.

So when my family saw this new quiet juicer (besides the "bones crushing" sound my boys said it makes) everyone had to test it out with me. It turned our family game of UNO into a family night of juicing instead!

So that begs the question- what juicer do you use/recommend? 

Fed Up Documentary Review

I'm a bit of a documentary freak. Especially when it comes to social causes.

I don't typically watch documentaries on nutrition as I feel like they are redundant (for my personal growth- I like to learn NEW things)

HOWEVER... for whatever reason this documentary spoke to me and I decided to give it a go.

First off- this documentary was incredibly well researched and put together. Katie Couric narrates the entire movie and you can't help but feel her passion and frustration as she guides you through one of the biggest political cover up stories ever told.

But rather than give away the entire premise- (because you should definitely watch it yourself) I'll just give you a quick synapsis as well as my thoughts on what was taught:

Fed Up follows the lives of several young kids with diabetic, prediabetic, and obesity issues. It discusses exactly how the food industry (big chain fast food, grocery stores, and big name food labels) continuously sabotage our Western views on diet and nutrition in the name of politics, money, and power. 

Several leading experts discuss the age old adage of "calories in- calories out- aka diet and exercise.  They agree that not only is this idea misleading but also completely false doctrine. 

Basically, you can count calories all day long and exercise your heart out but it won't necessarily lead to weight loss and it especially doesn't mean you are healthy. They discuss being "Fat on the Inside"- which  means that you appear skinny on the outside but your insides (heart and other organs) are laden with fatty deposits and function on levels comparable to obese patients. 

 But the primary message being sent throughout the entire documentary is the misconceptions about sugar. If nothing else this message should shake you to your core!

In the end all the nutritional and medical experts agree that the only way to true optimum health is a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

I was thoroughly engaged the entire movie.  My two young daughters age 9 and 10 even got sucked into the movie! The fact that the movie follows young children with real life struggles their age makes it not only kid friendly- but also engaging for the younger audience. 

I even learned something new via the politics of nutrition - which completely appalled me- but not surprisingly  so as I have very little faith in politics to begin with. 

Bottom line: WATCH THIS MOVIE WITH YOUR KIDS!