Common Juicing Mistakes You Might Be Making

Get The Most Out Of Your Juice Cleanse

Juicing is one of the best ways to flood your bloodstream with a high dose of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that will get your body and mind on the path to a healthier life. But there are some common juicing mistakes that many new (and even experienced!) juicers make.

We want to make sure you get the most out of your juice cleanse. So, before you begin your juicing journey, here are a few of the most common juicing mistakes (and how to avoid them).

FACT: Juicing is a great way to get nutrients into your body that you might be lacking.

Are You Making These Common Juicing Mistakes?

1. You don’t consume your juice when it’s fresh

To get the full health benefits of juicing, you should be consuming your juice while it’s fresh. Once opened and exposed to the air, the enzymes in your juice start to degrade. When that happens, your juice starts to lose some of its nutritional value. For the most nutritional benefit and freshest taste, make sure you’re drinking your juice soon after you’ve opened it. Pulp & Press juices have a guaranteed minimum shelf life of at least 14 days when it arrives to your door. Once opened, make sure you’re drinking it within 2-3 days.

We've already worked out the logistics for you to ensure that the juice delivered to your door is as fresh as possible. If you’re doing some of your own at-home juicing as well, it is important to remember that juice will only keep in the fridge for 2-3 days.

2. Your juice has too much (processed) sugar

Juicing is a great way to get much-needed nutrients into your body, allowing you to absorb your daily dose of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes from fruits and veggies. But if you’re not careful with which juices you’re drinking, this can mean your body is also ingesting a lot of (added and unnatural) sugar.

Our bodies thrive with natural fruit-based sugars because we’re able to metabolize them much easier than processed or refined sugars. Fruit sugar is made up of both fructose and glucose, which allows both your liver and insulin to break them down more easily than synthetic sweeteners. Fruit sugars also tend not to spike blood sugars like processed or refined sugars.

Although it’s best for your health to reduce your total intake of any sort of sugar, the naturally-occurring sugars you get from your juice cleanse outweigh any sort of sugar-based risks. For healthy individuals with no underlying medical concerns, the naturally occurring sugars in cold pressed juices are no cause for alarm

3. It’s not cold pressed

Raw cold pressed juice is a nutrient-dense way to consume fresh fruits and vegetables. This process uses a hydraulic press that applies thousands of pounds of pressure to extract the maximum amount of liquid from the fruits and veggies. Pressing, instead of blending or squeezing, prevents oxidization and helps preserve the important phytonutrients and enzymes you want to get from your juice.

Heat pasteurization, on the other hand, is a process that exposes juice to high heat designed to kill bacteria and extend the shelf life of the product. But heat and oxygen also destroy the enzymes and nutrients in your fruits and vegetables—meaning it’s less fresh and less nutritious. With HPP (high pressure processing), no additional heat or oxygen is used in the juicing process, so no nutrients are lost like they are in traditional pasteurization.

Learn more about the high pressure pasteurization process we use to make Pulp & Press cold pressed juices (and its benefits).

4. You’re not hydrating

Making sure you’re staying hydrated is important—especially during your cleanse. Water makes up over two-thirds of your body weight and is an important part of making sure your body and mind are functioning at their best! Dehydration can cause some uncomfortable symptoms like headaches, dizziness, fatigue, poor memory, and even poor mood.

Even though the fruits and veggies in your juices contain water, you should still aim to drink at least 8 glasses of water per day. This will keep you hydrated, reduce feelings of hunger, and help flush toxins from your body so you can get all the benefits you expect from your juices.

5. You’re drinking caffeine

Slowly removing stimulants like caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine before you start juicing will help make sure you’re getting the most from your cleanse. The juices throughout your cleanse will provide your body with the nutrients you need, so you might find that during and after your cleanse you no longer need to rely on your morning cup of joe to get you up and moving!

If you’re an avid coffee drinker, you might find you experience withdrawal headaches without your morning cup—in that case, try replacing your coffee with non (or low) caffeinated tea like chicory root, dandelion root, or rooibos.

6. You’re not eating clean

After you’ve supercharged your system with a juice cleanse, you want to maintain it! That means eating clean even after your cleanse is over. Incorporate fruit salads, raw veggie salads, steamed and raw vegetables, whole grains, soup, and legumes into your meals each day. You can also start to reintroduce animal protein and dairy—consider steamed fish as a replacement for meat, and goat’s milk in place of cow’s milk. And always opt for organic if you have the chance!

Check out our guide on what to eat after your juice cleanse.

7. You’re not drinking it on an empty stomach

Drinking raw pressed juice on an empty stomach helps ensure your body gets the maximum micronutrient-absorption and toxin-flushing action. This is especially true if you are undergoing a juicing detox cleanse. Otherwise, raw juice can be effective as either a between-meal snack or as part of a meal.

8. You’re supplementing with the wrong kind of smoothies

Smoothies aren’t a bad thing to incorporate into your juice cleanse—as long as you’re drinking ones with the right ingredients! In some cases, smoothies can contain non-organic and/or processed substances that have preservatives or other ingredients (like those refined, added sugars), reducing the benefits of your raw organic juice.

Pulp & Press smoothies aren’t your typical blended smoothies. We’ve picked some of our favorite health powerhouse players like kale, spirulina, blueberry, and banana for smoothies that are packed with clean, healthy ingredients, plus additional protein and fiber. Perfect for adding to your juicing routine!

9. You don’t pre-cleanse

The diet you follow before your cleanse can have a big impact on your juicing experience. It’s a good idea to start adjusting your diet a week or two before you start juicing, taking out processed, packaged, fried, and fast foods.

If you don’t already, try to start eating natural whole foods like fresh veggies, fruit, whole grains, legumes, nuts (like almonds), and seeds (like flax). You should also limit red meat, dairy, poultry, and eggs. If cutting out meat is too difficult, opt for small portions of fish.

Learn more about how to prepare for your juice cleanse and how to get the most at every stage.

You’re On Your Way To A Successful Juice Cleanse

Even if you have made some of these mistakes in the past, don’t worry (and know you’re not alone). Now that you know how to make the most of your juice cleanse, you’ll be able to enjoy even more of the benefits. You are on the path to a healthier life as an experienced juicer!