Tuesday 21 October 2014

Juice For Fiber

Eight medium strawberries contain three grams of fiber.


Consuming fiber has several health benefits. Fiber helps the body pass stool in a regular manner. It also can relieve constipation and hemorrhoids by helping you to strain less as you pass a bowel movement. Fiber can also help reduce your risk of cancer because it helps food and waste move through the body quickly. Juicing with high-fiber fruits and vegetables also allows you to consume the vitamins from those foods. To retain the fiber in the juice, a blender should be used instead of a juicer. Add this to my Recipe Box.


Instructions


1. Select a high-fiber juice recipe for blenders. Fruits that are high in fiber include berries, apples, oranges, figs, prunes and pears. High-fiber vegetables include carrots, broccoli, cabbage, cucumber, tomatoes and spinach. Many high-fiber juice recipes will mix several of these ingredients. Other ingredients might include water, olive oil or flax seed oil.


2. Wash and peel the fruits and vegetables for the recipe as needed. The Food and Drug Administration suggests that you wash your hands with warm soap and water for 20 seconds. Fruits and vegetables then should be washed thoroughly under running water. The FDA does point out that if you purchased prewashed items such as lettuce, it does not need to be washed again. In terms of peeling, remove any peel you would not normally eat. For instance, you would remove an orange peel or the skin of a pineapple, but you would not remove the peel of an apple.


3. Slice or chop your vegetables and fruits into smaller pieces. For instance, many blenders will not chop an entire apple or large piece of lettuce easily. Reduce the size of your ingredients into smaller pieces so that it can be blended more easily.


4. Remove any seeds, stems or other items you do not want to consume after slicing or chopping. The benefit of using a blender to create juice is that you retain the fiber of the fruit. The downside, however, is that nothing is separated when mixed together in the blender.


5. Combine the ingredients into the blender and blend according to the recipe instructions. Another difference in creating juice with a blender versus a juicer is that less liquid will be released from the fruits and vegetables. Also, with the fiber remaining in the blender, the consistency of the juice may be thick if you are using a "juicer recipe." Be prepared to add water or fruit juice in order to thin the consistency. Also, the recipe may instruct you to "pulse" or add ingredients in slowly in order not to overwhelm the blender's motor.

Tags: fruits vegetables, high-fiber juice, ingredients into, into smaller, into smaller pieces, remove peel, retain fiber