Before I started juicing, I don’t think I’ve ever drank freshly squeezed pineapple juice, I usually drink pineapple juice from a can. The funny thing is I actually thought that it was healthy! After doing some research though, I found out that it isn’t and may cause cancer in the long run because of the exposure to BPA. Not good.

So when I started juicing, I thought that this is a great opportunity to juice pineapple and see how fresh pineapple juice would taste like so here goes.

Step 1: Chop off the crown

And don’t forget to slice off the rear end like this…

Step 2: Slice off the skin

Though you can also juice the skin of a pineapple, especially if it is grown organically, I’d prefer taking off the skin because pineapples grow very close to the soil and I don’t want to contaminate juice with soil sediments.

Step 3: Slice it in columns from top to bottom like this…

There you go this 3 step process will allow you to juice pineapple in any slow juicer. Remember, if you’re using a horizontal auger juicer, you’ll have to chop it into smaller pieces to fit in the feed chute. Don’t discard the core because you’ll need it to push the softer pulp out the pulp ejector port to maximize yield.

Bonus Recipe – Red Pineapple Juice

Here’s a pineapple juice recipe I’ve just concocted this morning.

1 small pineapple (peeled)

1 small beet (peeled)

Small chunk of broccoli stem (around 1 to 2 inches long)

1 large carrot (peeled)

1 Fuji apple

Half a lemon (you can juice lemon with the skin on)

This recipe will yield roughly 750ml of healthy, sweet red pineapple juice (perfect if you have a sweet tooth), and would be a perfect replacement for any canned variety because it does not use any artificial sweeteners. A great way pre-breakfast drink I may add.

The combination of pineapple, apple, carrot and beet maybe too sweet for some people (and I would not recommend this if you suffer from diabetes) but this is a great way to suppress your cravings for sweets the natural way. The lemon adds a tinge of sourness commonly found in processed pineapple drinks and completely eliminates the earthiness of beet.

Bon appétit

By the way if you’re interested in reading more about the negative effects of canned food, here are some great articles…

Losing weight is tough, KEEPING it off is tougher.

You can try to starve yourself and only drink lemon, water and maple syrup sprinkled with some cinnamon for a week but will-power alone will only take you so far.

Why not try a better alternative?

Try something that will nourish your body with vitamins, minerals and live enzymes.

No I’m not talking about “fresh” orange juice that you buy off the shelf from Costco, I’m talking about drinking fresh juice extracted from a juicer.

Yes when done correctly, you can use juicing for weigh loss. I’ll also share some practical and actionable tips for you to maximize the benefits of juicing so that you could shed excess weight safely without losing muscle mass and keep it off.

Juicing is one of the best ways in getting nutrients into your body minus the fiber. Since the fiber is already out of the picture, nutrients directly get absorbed by the bloodstream. And this is what sets it apart from smoothies.

If you’re in a hurry and want to see the recipes, click here.

It also allows you to consume different types of fruits and vegetables raw that will help you lose weight such as avocado, cucumber, pear, grapefruit, beet, cucumber, celery, etc.

Heat from cooking actually reduces the nutritional content in most vegetables so eating or in this case drinking them raw allows the body to absorb more enzymes, nutrients, chlorophyll and antioxidants.

All these are essential for a healthy and fit body, helping it flush out toxins, reduce inflammation, replenish damaged cells and fight diseases.

Juicing for weight loss, is it really possible?

There are a lot of success stories about people winning their battle against the obesity through juicing.

Probably the most famous is Joe Cross who made the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.

There are other notables as well – Neil Martin is another inspiring story that should encourage should encourage you to start living a healthier lifestyle right now. Poor lifestyle choices and eating habits almost cost him his life.

How does it help you lose unwanted pounds?

Two ways actually, first way is a bit extreme which is doing a juice fast where you will consume nothing but juice for a period of time. In Joe Cross’ case he did it for 60 days which resulted to him losing 100 pounds.

This method requires a lot of discipline and preparation before and after the fast. Failure in doing so may lead to lethal consequences.

Another way is incorporating juice as a part of your lifestyle, similar to what Neil Martin did. What he did was takeaway unhealthy and addictive processed foods in his diet and incorporated more fruit and veggies in his diet (juicing is a big part of that).

He actually lost weight before he started exercising and had lost a total of around 75 pounds in 12 months.

What you eat plays a huge role in your weight. Neil Martin said that “you cannot outrun your fork” which I found true because no matter how much you exercise, if you eat a diet rich in carbohydrates and a lot of junk food you’ll have a hard time shedding pounds.

How can you safely lose weight without losing muscle mass?

First let me get this out of the way. Having the right BMI (body mass index) equates to a healthy body.

In fact, this is a better indicator than body weight because it helps you know how much body fat you have.

So rather than putting in a lot of fruit in your recipes, make sure to use mostly vegetables and only use fruit as a sweetener because fruits are high in fructose.

Though it is better than synthetic fructose like corn syrup, fructose is still fructose and isn’t utilized by the body like glucose is.

When you drink fruit juice, the absence of fiber means that fructose is absorbed by the blood stream almost immediately and the liver gets overwhelmed.

Since the body’s cells in the body don’t utilize fructose guess what happens to it? It becomes stored fat – fatty acids and bad cholesterol. This equates to weight gain.

Add some protein and (healthy) fat

This is a concept that I wasn’t familiar with until I read Drew Canole’s post here.

I used to think that protein powders are nasty tasting but on the contrary, there are brands that make great tasting protein powders that when combined with the right vegetables will give you a filling and nutrition rich drink that will also supply the body with the protein that your muscles feed on.

Chia seeds are another rich source of protein that you can add to your juice not only for the nutritional benefits but also for a contrasting texture. This is one of the main staples of a lot of smoothie recipes so why not add them to juices.

An ounce of chia seeds (approximately two tablespoons) contains 4 grams of protein. It is also a rich source of antioxidants, Omega 3 fatty acids, fiber, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium.

The best part is it only has 137 calories per ounce and out of the 12 grams of carbohydrates, 10.6 grams is dietary fiber which isn’t digested so when you do the math, the true carb content is just below two grams which is pretty low.

The fiber content makes chia seeds in itself filling and it has another side benefit – it feeds good bacteria to your gut and keeps it healthy.

An alternative to chia seeds would be flaxseeds. This is also a rich source of Omega 3 acids and protein. If you’re adding this to your juice, get the grounded variety so it is much easier to use.

How to Juice?

The first thing you’ll need is the right tool which is a juicer.

Before buying one, read this article where I explain in detail the different types, the pros and cons and how it will fit your needs.

While you can still make juice using a blender, the process will take longer and it is a bit messy.

If you’re just starting out and you want to see if juicing is right for you then by all means use a blender but if you’re serious about this, please do invest in a quality extractor.

Now before you tell me that these machines are expensive, hear me out.

If you look hard enough, you’ll find that there are certain brands that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.

Recommended Juicers

The Recipes

It seems like everybody knows someone who has diabetes.

It could be a friend, relative or even an acquaintance.

That isn’t surprising because diabetes is an epidemic.

In this article, I’ll briefly talk about diabetes, the causes and how you can potentially reverse this through juicing and the right diet.

If my father who is in his early seventies was able to do it you can too.

Disclaimer: These recipes (particularly the first one) are so potent (when combined with medication) that it can excessively lower down blood sugar level to dangerously low levels. Please do your due diligence and have a regular blood test to monitor blood glucose level. These recipes will work best with type-2 diabetes.

If you check out the statistics in Diabetes.org close to 30 million Americans have diabetes and that number is rising with around 1.7 million new cases per year.

As of 2014, over 347 million people worldwide have diabetes, if that number doesn’t scream epidemic I don’t know what will.

This is close to my heart because my father, brother and uncle have diabetes and if I’m not careful I might get it too.

If you want jump straight to the recipes, click here.

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a condition where our bodies have elevated blood sugar levels because of two things – (1) the body does not produce insulin or (2) it does not respond well to insulin.

The first form of diabetes I described is type-1 diabetes, the 2nd which I’ll be talking about here is type-2 diabetes which accounts for 90 to 95% of diabetes cases.

We have to take this condition seriously because once you have it your whole life changes. Depending on the type of diabetes you have, you may either have to have oral medication, insulin shots or both.

When left untreated or undiagnosed this is a silent killer. Severe cases of diabetes can result to heart disease, hypoglycemia, blurred vision, and amputation.

That’s why it is important that we have our regular blood tests even if we are less than 30 years of age because this disease does not choose age. People young and old will be affected by this.

What causes diabetes?

There are five factors that play a role in diabetes (two of which you cannot control).

1. Unhealthy eating habbits

First is an unhealthy lifestyle that includes a diet rich in processed sugar, carbohydrates and red meat. Modern living has brought us a lot of great innovations, unfortunately that includes fast food that is rich in preservatives and high in sugar.

So it is no surprise that people diagnosed with diabetes have had a meteoric rise in the past few decades.

The less processed the food is the better it is for your body.

For example brown rice or wild rice would be a better option than white rice because the later contains a lot of refined carbohydrates.

The later in contrast has lots of fiber complex carbs which is considered slow release carbohydrates – these are digested more slowly preventing your body from producing too much insulin.

2. Lack of exercise

In a study done by the American Physiological Society, lack of exercise lowers the body’s sensitive and/or responsiveness to insulin which is one of the causes of diabetes [source].

Science Direct further reinforces this by stating that increased physical activity lowers the risk of IGT from progressing to type-2 diabetes. In their studies, they found that exercise increases the body’s blood glucose and free fatty acid utilization thus lowering blood glucose levels. In other words, blood glucose and fatty acid is used as energy during physical activity. [source]

3. Genes

The second way of getting diabetes is hereditary. If any of your parents have diabetes, the greater chance you have getting this ailment so you have to be very careful when any of your folks have this ailment.

Watch what you eat closely because it won’t take a lot for your body to have elevated blood sugar levels.

4. Ethnic Background

Third, your ethnic background can also play a role. According to EveryDayHealth.com, Native Americans, African Americans, Hispanics and Asian Americans are more prone to diabetes but take note that lifestyle factors play a big role like the food they eat, culture, etc.

In contrast to the list above, the Japanese probably have the healthiest diet in the world. Only 4 percent of the population are overweight and if you look closely at what they eat it’s easy to figure out why.

A traditional Japanese dish often starts off with miso soup then followed with a low calorie and high fiber mix of vegetables, fish and seafood. To wash things down, they drink a hot cup of tea instead of a cold soda.

Okinawans have a saying “Hara hachi bu” or eat until you’re 80 percent full so it’s no surprise that there aren’t many overweight Okinawans and they live longer.

In the Philippines where I live, we have a rich and diverse culture and that includes food. Unfortunately a lot of the a lot restaurants here serve foods that are rich in fat, carbohydrates and sugar, if you’re not careful you can get high cholesterol and diabetes over time.

5. Age

Forth, age is also a big factor, the older you get the more prone you will become to acquire this condition. I’ve told you earlier in this article that my dad who is about 72 years old has type-2 diabetes and he isn’t the type who eats a lot of junk food so when I heard about the news I was shocked.

Foods that cause diabetes (eating too much of these may be a triggering factor)

• Drinks that are rich in sugar such as sodas, fruit punch, fruit drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks, sweet tea [source]
• Candies, raisins, pancakes (and syrup), French fries, white bread, whole milk, bacon, cakes and pastries, pretzels [source]
• Cereal grains, industrial seed oil, fructose [source]
• White rice, regular pasta, sugary breakfast cereal, white bread, instant oatmeal, corn flakes [source]
• Foods rich in saturated fat like regular ground beef, hot dogs, sausage, spareribs, gravy made from meat drippings, coconut oil, palm oil, poultry skin [source], [source]

The important take away here is having a balanced diet, while you can eat a piece of chocolate cake every now and then, avoid making it a part of your daily diet because it will increase your chances of diabetes.

Yes even if you’re in your 20’s (or younger), you will have to eat everything in moderation.

How to prevent diabetes?

With the right diet and enough exercise, diabetes can be prevented.

According to Harvard School of Public Health you need to do 5 things:

1. Control your weight

First you need to control your weight. Being overweight increases the risk 7 times!

Second you need to get off that lazy boy and increase your physical activity. Not only does exercise improve your muscles’ ability to use insulin and absorb glucose. It also helps you sweat and lose weight by building muscle and reducing fat inside the body.

2. Get off the freakin’ couch and exercise

Even with a simply brisk walk 30 minutes a day lessens the chance of developing type 2 diabetes by 30% [source]! Of course a more intense exercise regimen will reap more benefits, choose a workout program that will suit your fitness level.

Third watch what you eat. This in my opinion is the toughest part because we are so used to eating processed foods and some of them claim to be healthy or “sugar free”.

This can be broken down in 4 parts

Recipes for diabetics (or people with pre-diabetes)

In the recipes first few recipes I will share here there is one common ingredient that is found in most anti-diabetes medication – bitter melon. According to diabetes.co.uk it contains 4 ingredients that help lower blood glucose levels – lectin, charantin, vicine and polypetide-p.