Congratulations to our juicer winners: Diana, Cindy, Melissa, Suzy, Korie, Jim, Jen, Dianne, Carlos and Susan. The winners have already been notified via email. Enjoy!
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I had two cups of kale, a carrot, an apple and half a cucumber for breakfast this morning. And I drank every last drop.
I’ve been on a juicing kick lately. It started after watching the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead that chronicles the journey of Joe Cross as he attempts to improve his health through juicing. But I’ve found it’s been a great way to up my veggie intake (breakfast is a hard meal to have a salad), another way to use all the greens that have been coming in my CSA bin and a fabulously sneaky way to get my kids to consume all sorts of veggies they normally wouldn’t.
Juicing has come a long way in recent years. One of the current trends is slow juicing, a process of slowly squeezing the nutrient-rich juice out of fruits and veggies instead of quickly spinning the heck out of them which some claim breaks up the nutrient molecules.
I had the chance to check out three recently-released slow juicers plus have a great giveaway for those of you who want to get started.
The first juicer I tried was the Healthy Juicer Electric from Lexen Products. This juicer is a masticating style juicer with what looks like a long single drill bit. The juicer slowly presses, squeezes and crushes fruits and veggies to release their juices. Unlike a blender or a traditional juicer, since the juice extraction is slow, it doesn’t heat the juice and destroy any of the natural live enzymes.
The Lexen Healthy Juicer has an external pulp screen which means you can choose to leave it on (completely smooth juice, no pulp) or take it off if you like a little pulp in your juice. I also liked the beyond juice, the Lexen Healthy Jucier can be used to make pasta (3 pasta attachments included), wheatgrass (separate auger included), babyfood, soy milk, nut butters and frozen desserts (put in frozen fruit, get delicious sorbet!)
I was pretty impressed with the versatility of the product and how when you use the external pulp screen, the juice truly is completely smooth. Like most juicers, the Lexen has a fair number of parts, but the Lexen juicer was also very easy to clean. One drawback – since the Lexen Healthy Juicer is longer than it is taller, you’re going to have to sacrifice some counter space.
Next I tried two very similar juicers – the Hurom Slow Juicer and the new Omega 350 VERT. Both of these juicers have a compact vertical design. Even with all the pieces on, I can easily store it on my counter under my upper cabinets. Both juicers are slow masticating juicers which crush and press the fruits and veggies (instead of grinding, blending or chopping) to extract the most juice possible without damaging the nutrients.
Compared to the Lexen, I found both the Hurom and Omega VRT 350 to be faster, easier to add fruits and veggies one-handed without much tamping, and able to extract more juice. But the juice is not completely smooth like with the Lexen. The Hurom and Omega are also a little trickier to clean. Both come with a two-headed toothbrush/pick and yes, you need to use it.
The differences between the Hurom and Omega VRT 350? The Omega comes with 2 juicing screens (a fine and a course for more or less pulp) and is $10-$20 more expensive. The Hurom has a handle on the back which can be useful for tipping the machine to get the last bit of juice out. Overall, both are stellar machines and a great way to up to your veggie intake.
**GIVEAWAY** The kind folks over at Omega are hosting a 10 juicer giveaway of their new Omega VRT 350. A perfect way to counteract all those holiday cookies and cocktails or a great gift for someone in your life. To enter, leave us a comment below answering this: What is your biggest holiday temptation? Is it the eggnog or the appetizers? Candy canes or Starbuck’s yummy holiday coffee drinks? Leave us a comment below and hopefully you’ll be on your way to a healthy and happier holiday season!
One entry per person. US residents only. No PO boxes. Entries must be received by Dec. 2, 2011, 11:59 pm. Winners chosen by random.org and notified via email. If winners do not reply with their shipping details within 2 days of notification, a new winner will be chosen.
My biggest temptation is all the pie!
My biggest temptation is the cookies…especially when I am baking them!
My weakness is carbs…… Potatoes, stuffing, cakes and cookies. Fill my tummy with yummy juice full of greens and vitamins!
Love fresh juice!!
My weakness if fudge. I love chocolate.
Pecan pie is my downfall and salted carmel mochas….
It has to be the homemade caramel pop corn! I could sit down and eat the whole bowl!
Gingerbread waffles with hot chocolate sauce…mmmmm
My biggest temptation is all the Starbuck’s holiday drinks!!
The sweet carbs…pumpkin breads, cookies, pies, etc.!
Pumpkin pie all the way!!!
Biggest temptation (that I have no guilt indulging) – peppermint mocha with whipped cream
My biggest temptation is the ever-present candy bowl. I have a hard time stopping myself.
Anything homemade or chocolate
Any thing with peppermint! I can’t resist the temptation!
Salads loaded with mayo and chocolate deserts
ANYTHING with pumpkin!!!
My biggest temptation is all the sweets….pies, cookies, cakes. My downfall!
My biggest temptation is chocolate pudding pie…my MIL makes the best in the world!
All the home made cookies and candy. It’s hard when trying to loose weight!
My biggest temptations have to be pie and cookies. I bake a lot for Christmas so of course I have to taste everything once or twice……. I mean 10 times. Lol.
Sleepyheadedmom at gmail dot com
My biggest temptation is all the sweets!
My biggest weakness is Eggnog Lattes. (i try to limit to once a day)
My biggest temptation is all the cakes, cookies, and pies!!!
Holiday temptations – Mine come in the form of home-made sugar cookies and Starbucks white chocolate peppermint mochas!
My biggest temptation is baking load of Christmas cookies with my kids, and then eating them alll ourselves. (Mostly myself!)
My biggest temptation is the abundant cookie tray my diabetic second cousin brings each year on Christmas Day. Ironic? Yes.
Still…those butterscotch haystacks get me every year.
Chocolate caramel brickle. They’re known as “the disappearing cookies” in my house.
I love my Hurom Slow Juicer and use it nearly every day. I have been adding fresh pomegranate to the juice, and generally start with a carrot-apple base.
The Hurom Slow Juicer is very quiet, and like Kate says has a very small base so it’s easy to store on top of the counter, making you more likely to use it.
It’s worth every penny I spent! You can find the Hurom Slow Juicer like I did, on Amazon.com
My weakness is all the homemade bread and cookies.
Chocolate covered graham cracker star cookies-my weakness
the cookies, brownies… just about anything chocolate, especially when freshly made!!
Cookies!
My biggest temptation is all the cookies — I love Christmas cookies!
I’ve been wanting to try a juicer, so I hope I win! Pick me! 😀
My biggest temptations are the desserts! Pies, cookies, sweet breads…you name it!
I get a little crazy around pecan pie.
Anything pumpkin or chocolate.
Or better yet, pumpkin chocolate.
Doesn’t stand a chance….
Bwahhahahahah. (licking fingers as I type 🙂
I know it’s too late…but didn’t see many responses, so just in case you still have extra juicers to give away ~ my biggest holiday temptation is the stuffing and gravy. I could eat a whole plate of it! So bad. If you still have extra juicers, I’d LOVE one. I’m very big on juicing and alkaline diet, and my dad now wants to get into juicing now for his health, so I’m looking for juicer giveaways for him, just in time for the holidays. ♥ Thank you.
I personally own the Slowstar juicer by tribest. I love juice tomatoes and turning the juice into a spicy tomatoe soup.
The other day, while I was at work, my cousin stole mmy apple ipad and tested to see
if it can survive a forty foot drop, just so she can
be a youtube sensation. My iPad is now destroyed and she has 83 views.
I know this iis entirely off topic but I had to share it with someone!