FRUIT JUICE
JUICING FRUITS

The following tables provides links to information about various fruits. Below this table is an introduction to juicing fruits which explains some of the basics do's and don'ts, amongst other things...

Apple	Apricot	Cantaloupe
Cherry	Cranberry	Grape
Grapefruit	Honeydew	Kiwi
Lemon	Lime	Mango
Orange	Papaya	Peach
Pear	Pineapple	Pomegranate
Strawberry	Tangerine	Watermelon

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Introduction:

Fresh fruit juice is absolutely delicious. Most people, including myself, like fruit juice because it is sweet tasting and highly flavorful.

Fruit juices, and fruits in general, are often referred to as the cleansers of the body. Fruits are referred to as cleansers because their natural acidity helps the body clean itself of unwanted bacteria.

In many cultures you will actually see many people drinking water with some lemon juice added to it. Over the years, these cultures have instinctively realized the benefits of even the slightest amount of fruit juice.

This page contains basic information about the do's and don'ts of juicing fruits. To obtain specific dietary and health advice for yourself, please consult your medical doctor or naturopathic doctor.

Diabetes, Hypoglycemia, Candida, etc:

If you suffer from a sugar related health problem such as diabetes, hypoglycemia, candida (yeast problems), gout and so on, you should consult your health care professional before juicing fruits.

Fruits, especially fruit juice, contain concentrated fruit sugars.

For your benefit, I have added a nutritional analysis of each fruit listed. This nutritional analysis is gathered from the US Department of Agriculture. The analysis shows how much sugar (in the analysis, the sugar content is mentioned as energy) there is per 100 grams of fruit.

If you suffer from a sugar related problem, consult your medical doctor or naturopathic doctor before juicing fruits and even vegetables.

If you are at risk at getting a sugar related problem such as diabetes, you will also want to consult your medical doctor or naturopathic doctor. Why? Because potentially the concentrated sugars in fruit juices can trigger or start such problems.

Even if you do not have or are not at risk for a sugar related health problem, you should still consult a medical doctor or naturopathic doctor before juicing fruits to determine what is a safe level of fruit sugar for you.

Children and Pregnant Women:

If you are currently pregnant, preparing to get pregnant or are nursing, you should consult your doctor before juicing.

Certain vegetables or fruits can contain nutrients and minerals that are possibly not safe for a pregnant or nursing mother.

If you are planning on providing fresh vegetable or fruit juice to your child, then you should also consult your doctor or health care professional before providing fresh juice to your child.

Fresh juice is concentrated nutrition and therefore, it's advisable to get professional advice before you begin. Naturopathic doctors have good knowledge of juicing and therefore can make an excellent choice to get professional advice from.

Citric Acid:

Citric acid is found in citrus fruits such as lemons, limes, grapefruit and oranges. In addition, citric acid is found in cranberries, strawberries, pineapples, peaches and even tomatoes!

Citric acid, when taken in excess, is said to make the blood too acidic. As such, it is said that the body tries to alkalize the blood by leaching alkalizing nutrients from the body such as calcium and magnesium.

As a result, you want to make sure you are not having too much citric acid in your diet.

Age, metabolic rate and how much exercise are 3 factors which can determine how much citric acid your body can handle without causing problems. Your health care professional can best determine how much is a safe amount for you.

What's a safe or appropriate amount of citric acid for you is only a question that your medical doctor or naturopathic doctor can answer for you. The answer to this question will vary from person to person.

The keyword here is "excess". Just as you normally will eat oranges, pineapples and other fruits which contain citric acid in your daily life, so can you drink the juice of fruits containing citric acid. You simply want to avoid excess citric acid.

Use common sense and if you have any concerns about citric acid, then consult your health care professional. The older you are, the more serious this problem can be as with age, we all begin to loose calcium in our bones.

Malic Acid:

Malic acid is found in apples, apricots, cherries, grapes, lemons and peaches. Other fruits that contain malic acid which are not included in the juice list are bananas, plums and prunes.

Malic acid is said to be a good antiseptic. Malic acid is also said to aid the intestines, liver and kidneys.

Tartaric Acid:

Pineapples and grapes are an excellent source of tartaric acid. Tartaric acid has long been known to inhibit some molds and bacteria.

Enzymes:

All fruit juices contain some enzymes; however, the two most famous are pineapple for its bromelain and papaya for its papain.

Most of the bromelain in pineapples is located inside the rind. As a result, it's good to juice the rind too. Don't worry, it doesn't taste bad. In fact, if you ask me, the rind of the pineapple adds extra flavor to the juice!

Ultimately, the enzymes in fruits are said to help digest undigested fats and proteins found in the gastrointestinal tract.

Why Organic?

When possible, it is best to use organically grown fruits.

If you are not using organically fruits, then you will always want to remove the peel or rind of the fruits. Unfortunately, a lot of the nutrients in fruits are found within the peel or rind.

Oranges, Tangerines and Grapefruit:

You always want to remove the peel of oranges, tangerines and grapefruit. The peel is not easily digested by humans and as such can cause problems.

Make sure that when you do remove the peel that you leave the white membrane. The white membrane is a valuable source of bioflavanoids which helps the body assimilate and use Vitamin C.

Good Combining:

Avoid combining fruit juices with vegetable juices. The only fruit that I combine with vegetable juices is apple.

When juicing melons, is best to not mix the melon juice with other fruit juices. Melons are a special breed of fruits and do best by themselves.

Additional Thoughts:

Many people, including myself, tend to juice fruits less often than vegetables.

The reason why is simply because fruits taste better than vegetables in most situations. As such, most people including myself, find it easier to eat fruits whole than to eat vegetables whole.

So when I juice, I primarily juice vegetables and have fruit juice less often.

I also juice fruits less often because it is harder to find organically grown fruits than organically grown vegetables.

I also juice fruits less often because of the higher sugar content.

I also prefer to juice vegetables more than fruits because vegetables are harder to digest than fruits. Therefore, juicing helps me get more nutrition from my vegetables.

I have easy access to organic apples which is good because I do like to add some apples to my vegetable juice.