At the end of 2009 I set a few food goals for myself (check them out here). One of my goals was to consume more fruits and vegetables. I figured juicing would be a good way to get more produce in on a daily basis. Believe it or not I have been juicing pretty consistently since the beginning of the year. I juice about 4 or 5 mornings a week. I’m kind of obsessed.
I started off using an old that we had for years. The Acme is powerful but ours is possessed. It would vibrate so much and start walking across the counter. Sure it has all sorts of technology built in so that it wouldn’t walk but trust me when I say this thing could MOVE. After a few frustrating months I decided to just get a new juicer since I was really into my juicing.
After some research I settled on the Juice Fountain Plus by Breville. I bought the lower-end model that has plastic parts vs. metal parts but I figured the motor and mechanism are the same. There are a few features about this juicer that I love. First of all it has two speeds! I use low speed to juice soft fruits (think citrus, berries, grapes etc) and the high speed for everything else. The chute is LARGE. We’re talking fit a whole apple huge. This makes prep for juicing so much easier because there is less cutting involved. I also like that the pulp shoots out one way into it’s own container and the juice goes the other way. Clean up really is easy. I also have to add that this machine is FAST. It extracts juice from a whole apple in about 5 seconds. Unlike my Acme there is no need to keep the machine running after the fruit has been juiced in order to extract more juice from the pulp.
Clearly I love this machine.
In terms of WHAT to juice I typically turn to . I have an older version than what is on Amazon but it’s great. Not only does it give you different combinations of fruits and vegetables to juice but it also talks about different roots, herbs etc. that you can add for medicinal purposes. I don’t usually mess with that section but I can see how it could be use.
Here are a few of my favourite combinations:
Pear, apple, beet, ginger
Apple, pear, grape
Orange, carrot, ginger
Grapefruit, orange, carrot, pineapple
Cranberry, pear, grape apple
Apple, beet, carrot
Carrot, celery, apple, parsley
I could really go on and on. I usually have the following in my fridge and juice in various combinations: apple, pear, beets, carrot, celery, orange, tangerine, grapefruit, ginger, grapes, pineapples and maybe some berries. My favourite juices involve beets. Who knew?
The only downside to juicing is that you miss out on the pulp which has all the fiber in it. I’m currently coveting the VitaMix blender which can pretty much puree everything. The next time I feel like dropping $600 I will buy it for sure! For now I’m totally content with my Breville.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
{new blog entry} What I Bought: Breville Juice Fountain Plus (JE95XL) http://goo.gl/fb/DpCC2
This comment was originally posted on
I have had this juicer for about a year now. Every morning I juice a half or whole apple PLUS two or more of the following: 1/2 english cucumber, 2 organic carrots, 2-3 stalks celery, cantaloupe, brocolli (long stalks), or a handful kale/collards. I sometimes juice the apple first and collect the pulp to use in oatmeal right after. I also add 2 tsps benefiber to make up for the lost fiber (this probably doesn’t do much but helps my guilt). The only bad thing is that this juicer to be taken apart and washed in the dish washer (to thoroughly clean it) so I end up running my dishwasher alot. Otherwise, it’s a great buy.