Juicers

Juicers are a great aid for incorporating more fruit and vegetables into your daily diet, and the taste of a freshly prepared juice far outweighs anything you're likely to buy in a supermarket! Fresh juices retain all their vitamins, nutrients and general ‘life force’ and can be instantly absorbed into your body, having a great detoxifying effect and helping to counteract excess acidity in your system.

If you've decided to start juicing, then you'll need a specialist juicer to extract as much from your fruit and vegetables as possible.

There's a huge variety, so think first about the type of juice you're likely to make - whether that's citrus juice only, a range of mixed fruit and vegetable juices, mixes involving wheatgrass or herbs, or a mixture of all.

The main types of juicer are citrus, centrifugal, or masticating - as well as a sub-category of juicers that either eject the pulp into a separate container, or keep it within the juicer itself, for emptying.

Citrus juicers work for citrus fruits only - you simply cut the fruit in half, press it onto the cone and twist to extract the juice. These are largely manually-operated appliances which are cheap to buy and simple to operate.

Centrifugal juices spin fruit and vegetables at high speed against shredding discs. The juice will be filtered out and can be drunk immediately. These are mid-range priced and very quick and easy to operate too.

Masticating juices 'chew' fruit, vegetables and herbs between two grinders to extract greater levels of juices. These are the most flexible and advanced type of juicer and can produce baby foods and nut butters, as they are able to deal with a wider variety of foods and herbs - including some cereals and grains. These tend to be the most expensive type of juicer, but if you are serious about incorporating a range of juices into your life, you may find them worth the investment.