Why do I need a juicer?

[voodoopenguin]

I know they've been around a while but there seems to have been a rise in media mentions recently and my dear wife has wondered about getting one. They don't seem particularly cheap though.

Did a bit of Googling and as far as I can see there are three ways a juicer can juice, centrifuge, masticating and some sort of pressure way. A juicer seems to separate the pulp from the liquid but what I have yet to find is why do I need to remove the pulp? If I eat a carrot I eat a carrot, if I drink a carrot I only get about 70% of it, isn't the pulp good for me as well? What do you juicers do with the pulp, throw it away, compost it or use it in soups?

We already have a Kenwood Chef food mixer with various attachments like a liquidiser as well as a food processor and a couple of those stick blenders, do we need another appliance?

Paul

[Z]

You need a Vitamix!

Said only halfway kidding - they're pretty nice, if you haven't seen one.

[space-time]

great question. I bought one of those $379 Omega Juicers only because it was 50% off last year, used a few times last year but never in 2013... maybe if I knew the benefits I could use it more often

[freeradical]

My brothers ex believes that juicing caused her to become a diabetic.

[PeterB]

I use mine for practically everything OTHER than juice. Sherbet, peanut butter, etc.

[Dennis S]

Someone on the forum said he thought juicing caused a family member to get diabetes. I think he could be right.

Some fruits and vegetables are loaded with carbohydrates. If you used concentrated juice from the wrong combination, coupled with possibly drinking an excess, plus not having much fiber, and being prone to diabetes, I think it could be very possible. You don't want that.

EDIT: I guess it was probably freeradical. His post slipped in while I was typing.

[decay]

IMHO, throwing away all that fiber seems like a waste of nutrition.

just eat more fruit and veggies!

[Numo]

The flip answer is that if you need to ask why you need one, you probably don't.

But the real reason you need a juicer is so someone can make money selling it to you. That's how capitalism works, so get on with it.

[rz]

Dennis S wrote:
Someone on the forum said he thought juicing caused a family member to get diabetes. I think he could be right.

Some fruits and vegetables are loaded with carbohydrates. If you used concentrated juice from the wrong combination, coupled with possibly drinking an excess, plus not having much fiber, and being prone to diabetes, I think it could be very possible. You don't want that.

We have a Vitamix, and one of the things they do when they have their demonstrations is to talk about how many fruits and vegatables are meant to be put in whole. This retains the fiber content. One example I remember is the guy putting in pineapple slices with the outer skin still on. The Vitamix shreds (or masticates, as Paul says) things into such tiny pieces, you don't even realize you're eating the outer part.

[bwicklander]

... to get rid of the bodies... Heh heh heh