Q: What is the best juicer? A: The one that is used. Whatever you make juice with is your most important appliance on a Feast. In order for the programme to work, you need to extract vibrant, living juices from your produce with no pulp left over. Some produce is difficult to juice, such as leafy greens, because each cell wall must be broken open to extract the juice. Some juicers do not have this capacity, such as centrifugal juicers like the Juiceman (still an good little juicer for fruits and root crops, however. The best orange juice we have ever had comes out of our Juiceman.)

To be clear, you can use either a blender or a juicer to make juice on a Feast, or a combination of the two. Historically, we have used both a juicer and a blender to make juices, and we will cover in detail how each appliance can be used to make great tasting, vibrant juice. What do we want in a juicer? Mainly:

Excellent extraction of juice from produce
Ease of use and cleaning
Enzyme Retention (i.e. juice that lasts after being made)
Affordability

This will be your most useful and used live foods kitchen appliance, without question. We know, it is just a blender, right? It makes smoothies, soups, salad dressings, sorbet, pâtés, and, most important in Juice Feasting, your green vegetable juices for straining through a nut mylk bag (see below).

Most of us do not have much time to make juices. You can make every juice on the Feast using this appliance. You may have a version of the Bass O'Matic seen in the video at right. If you do, please trade that blender in for this. Bass O'Matics and other honorable blenders even found at stores like Target and JC Penny are not going to break open the cell walls of your greens enough to be able to expose the juice inside.

After the Feast, you will want this baby to do the Four Means to Get Your Greens, which you can read more about under Current Projects or on Day 83 of the Program.

Get this blender even if you have to sell your oven and microwave and coffeemaker to get it. We are not kidding.

For more information on blenders, see the VitaMix/BlendTec showdown, and download the Blender File we have created for you below!

I have used many juicers in the last 12 years, including:

The last two juicers: the Samson GB-9001 and the Green Star 3000 are the two that derive the best juice for our purposes here. Both juicers press the juice, thus retaining the enzymes and without adding bubbly oxygen to the juice which causes it to go south faster. Both are quiet and will last for years. On the price/ease of cleaning side, the Samson wins. I (David) have used that juicer for all three of my extended Juice Feasts, and most of my students who have gone the juicer route over the Vitamix route have purchased that model. In the past year, I have begun talking about the Green Star for two reasons: it extracts about 10 percent more juice from the produce than the Samson, and it juices wheatgrass better. Most people consider the Green Star to be a superior machine, and I would agree. My Samson, however, is 4 years old and has been put through its paces, so until that juicer gives way, I will continue to use it, as there is nothing wrong whatsoever with it.

To put a price difference on what you will save buying the Green Star for a 92 Day Program, at 10 percent better extraction, you will get another 9 days worth of juice out of the Green Star over the Samson. At $20/day average for produce, that is $20 x 9 = $180 worth of produce you will not have to buy if you go with the Green Star. But it will take you longer to clean! And time is money, too. Either way, you will have one of the best juicing machines any person on earth has ever had access to. We are very fortunate.

Minimizing Loss of Nutrition. Other juicers and blenders with fast rotating blades can destroy a certain amount of nutrients in fruits and vegetables due to the heat during the operation of the machine. With your Green Star juice extractor, you can better minimize the loss of nutrients.

Because Green Star juice extractor has the unique triturating twin gear feature which is an impeller press system, its powerful low r.p.m turning speed generates virtually no heat to your juice and thoroughly crushes and presses fruits and vegetables, instead of cutting and shredding them into small pieces.

Juices leafy vegetables with tough fiber
You can make chlorophyll-high juice from wheat grass, barley grass, alfalfa and other grasses. Extract juice from pine needles, therapeutic herbs, fibrous plants, pulpy fruits and leafy vegetables. The Greenstar does all of the above and a whole lot more!

I used this juicer for my first three Juice Feasts, and my family has used it for the last few years. While it does not extract quite as much juice as a Green Star, and it does not juice root crops very well (carrot, parsnip, and yam) I really enjoyed it for its great pressed juice and really easy cleaning.

5-year warranty on parts and labor
10-year warranty on motor
• Quick and easy cleaning
• The simplest assembly
• Extracts healthy, pure juice without hazardous chemicals
• Higher yield, with drier pulp
• Low 80 RPM speed insures the highest nutritional value
• Excellent for wheatgrass and leafy greens

It also costs about $120 less than the Green Star. However, if you are doing a 92-Day Juice Feast, extracting more juice with the Green Star will make up the difference in terms of buying less produce. Still, I want to suggest this juicer, as I have thoroughly enjoyed it over the years.

These bags are for use in straining juices (mainly Green Vegetable Juices) made in the blender. Also useful for making nut and seed mylks when not Juice Feasting.

When you order these, order FOUR NUT MYLK BAGS. The reason is that these will get holes in them during your Juice Feast, and they are essential for making your juices. Make sure that you have enough of these.

A tip is that when you get a hole in a bag, don't throw it out. Save it, and when the next one gets a hole, you can put the two together and keep right on juicing with them.

Also: clean your nut mylk bags in 3 percent hydrogen peroxide every week. The best way to do this is put a cup of hydrogen peroxide in a glass, and submerse your nut mylk bag in it with a spoon on top to hold it down. Just leave it like this while you are away at work, and rinse when you get home!

Note: An old t-shirt, a pillow case, or a lady’s knee-high nylon stocking can serve the same function until a nut mylk bag arrives.

When Juice Feasting, these jars are excellent for measuring the amount of juice you are drinking, and for taking juice on the go without concern for spillage. Since they are made out of glass, you will not find the taste and health quality of your juices affected by storage in plastic. Mason jars store easily in a cooler, which you may want to use if your juices are going to be a while between juicing and a refrigerator at work. They are also great for mixing in any supportive elements of the fast, such as Green Superfood Powder Concentrates, Blue Green Algae, hemp oil, MSM, and so on. The lids seal up tight, so that you won't find your juices spilling all over the place as you take them with you.

When you pick these up at the grocery store or big box store (if necessary) make sure you get a set of wide mouthed mason jars, so that you can fit your hand inside to get them clean. We also suggest that you purchase a case of 12, so that you can always have enough to carry your juice, some are in the sink or dishwasher, and if a few get broken, not big deal. A case should cost around $12, and these are great for taking your smoothies, etc. on the go with you after the Juice Feast.

Finally, if you have a Food Saver device, there is an attachment that will allow you to vacuum seal these jars completely. If you can do that, great. It will remove more of the oxygen and keep your juices more vibrant.

If you are worried that mason jars might be a little cumbersome, check out Heidi's post on the topic and be sure to read the whole article for a great tip about plastic lids (we have switched now too!)

This little gem will make life a lot easier in the mornings if you are using more than just a few apples. And by the way, when you are juicing apples, you do not need to remove the seeds!

One of our favorite apple recipes is Granny Smith Apple with lemon and ginger. If your glycemic realities allow for it, try it one afternoon!

This cleaver is for one use: opening young coconuts. You will learn more about young coconuts and how to open them during the Program on Day 18. On the Juice Feast, you can drink coconut water in place of some fruit juice, if drinking these high-glycemic juices is appropriate for you.

Most Asian Markets carry these cleavers. Make sure you get a cleaver that has a full metal handle, not the wooden covered ones. The wood will eventually loosen and render the knife useless.

Bamboo is a beautiful grass that grows to a harvestable height and width between 3 - 5 years. Some species grow up to 2 feet per day! After harvesting, bamboo does not require replanting, it has an extensive root system that continually sends up new shoots, naturally replenishing itself, making it one of the most renewable resources known. It is an ecologically renewable alternative to hard woods, and is 16% harder than maple wood, and 1/3 lighter in weight than oak. It can also be as strong as steel. Bamboo holds the promise of a sustainable, cost effective, and ecologically responsible alternative to the widespread clearcutting of our old growth forests. Why not begin with a bamboo cutting board, who knows, maybe one day you'll build a beautiful bamboo house! Because bamboo is so hard and dense, it absorbs very little, making it a very sanitary kitchen cutting board. We like to take our bamboo board with us when ever we travel. That way we can have a little counter top/table no mater where we are!

Your body is one of the most valuable things you will ever own, and the more you love it, the more it will love you back with joyful, healthy feelings. Beyond feeding it well, here are some of our favorite ways of loving up our bodies on the bathroom side of things.

Before you get into the shower each morning, you will use a dry skin brush to support your organs of elimination. At first, it may be a little scratchy, but give it a few days, you will come to crave it! One of the best statements on skin brushing comes from Dr. Jensen's Guide to Better Bowel Care:

Your daily regimen should begin with skin brushing for a period of three to five minutes. I believe skin brushing is one of the finest of all "baths." No soap can wash the skin as clean as the new skin that you have under the old. You make a new top layer of skin every twenty-four hours. Skin brushing removes the old top layer and lets this clean new layer come to the surface.

The skin is one of the five main elimination channels of the body, throwing off about two pounds of toxic material each day in the form of perspiration. The skin has been called the third kidney because of its ability to rid the body of toxic waste material. Do not hinder the skin by using oils, cremes, or other noxious glop that serves only to clog it in the name of beauty. Instead, see what regular skin brushing can do for you.

Skin brushing is accomplished using a natural-bristle brush with a long handle to reach those hard-to-get-at places. The whole body (except the face) should be brushed one-half hour after rising and prior to the morning bath or shower. You may wish to skin brush again before retiring for the night. Note the powder that comes off your skin as you brush. These are crystals of uric acid and other dried waste products that came out with the perspiration.

Always brush the skin when it is dry, and never expose the brush to water. Although the bristles may seem a bit stiff at first, this is because the brush is new and your skin is not yet used to the brushing. If you find the brush is too stiff, you may, just once, hold the bristles in hot water for no longer than one minute and no deeper than one-half inch. This will soften the bristles a little. However, it will not be long before you desire a stiffer brush! Your skin will love you for brushing it regularly, and you will love the way your skin feels and looks, too.

This is a great life practice! Please continue to skin brush each morning after the Juice Feast!

Most tap water is loaded with chlorine, heavy metals, fluoride, and microorganisms. Being that your skin "eats" what ever it comes into contact with, please try not to feed it toxic shower water! Chlorine is probably the most damaging of them all, funny, because it is put in our water to "protect" us from other nasties such as harmful bacteria. Chlorine can seriously affect your health when absorbed over a long period of time. When you are in a hot shower, you are not just absorbing it through your skin, but into your lungs as well through steam. Chlorine has been linked to many types of cancers, as well as allergic reactions, anaemia, atherosclerosis, and heart disease. Chlorine also has adverse effects on skin and hair because it destroys proteins, thus damaging the proteins of your skin and hair. Once you have installed filters on your shower, you will notice that smoother, itch-free skin replaces dry and itchy skin. Your hair will become softer, smoother, and stronger too as chlorine is no longer stripping it of its vitality. Eye irritation can also disapear.

Even though you start to smell sweeter and sweeter the longer you cleanse, we still like a little soap once in awhile. What we find we don't have a need for is deoderant, we just don't use it. It is wonderful to not need it, and a bonus that we are not using a plastic packaged, often chemical laced product. If you are using a run of the mill, drug store deoderant, please stop, you are filling your pores with toxins. Look into getting a natural crystal deoderant or some equivalent from your local health food store.

Dr. Bronner's Soap is our favorite soap for many reasons. It suds, it gets you squeeky clean, it comes in re-fillable 100% post-consumer recycled bottles, it has no chemical additaves, no animal products, and no synthetic ingredients, it is all 100% organic, and the label is always there to remind us that "We're all one or none." It is the only cosmetic we need! If you don't count sleep, raw foods, and exercise that is.

Take your pick of Almond, Peppermint, Eucalyptus, Baby-Mild, Tea Tree, or Lavender. All come in either liquid form or in bar form. Our favorite is the liquid Peppermint, which really does make you feel minty and clean, watch out! It is great on a hot day or after a hot yoga class, as peppermint has a mild cooling action.

Oral hygeine is really important to keep in mind not only in the morning, but throughout the day. Even your Green Vegetable Juices are a about 60% carbohydrate, so you can get a coating of plaque in your mouth if you do not rinse after drinking juice.

After you leave the shower, use a tongue scraper. During any cleanse, you will often find a yellow or white coating on your tongue, which many cleansing professionals over the years consider a reflection of your bowel toxicity. You may want to take your tongue scraper with you to work if that coating returns during the day.

Dr. Richard Anderson, in his excellent book Cleanse and Purify Thyself, has this to say about the tongue during a cleanse:

Many people notice that as they cleanse, their tongues turn whitish-gray and filmy, and the breath becomes more and more foul. This reflects what is happening in the digestive canal. As they drink fresh juice, mucoid layers will soften, and so they may notice that the abdomen swells. As more and more mucoid layers are removed, the swelling goes down, the tongue gradually becomes clearer, and the breath improves. This is a good gauge as to how clean a person is becoming, for when you are totally clean, the tongue will be shiny red (just like a newborn baby's). It will be free of all whiteness or film, and the breath will be sweet (unless we eat onions or garlic).

For more on oral hygeine and Biological Dentistry, including a discussion of Root Canals, Mercury Fillings, and Fluoride, see Day 44: Biological Dentistry and Teeth in the 92-Day Juice Feasting Program.

For use as a skin moisturizer, nothing compares to coconut oil. It not only makes you smell and taste good, like a tropical beach, but it prevents stretch marks, heals existing ones, has antiseptic elements that keep the skin young and healthy, and relatively free from infections. We also use it as a lip balm if our lips get parched and cracked from too much sun and dry heat, or cold and icy wind. It will make your lips very yummy and inviting!  It makes a great erotic oil as well, provided you do not put it on latex. Thinking of giving or receiving a massage? Bring out the coconut oil!

Use coconut oil for your enemas, because it acts as an antimicrobial, antibacterial, antifungal agent, and is very resistant to rancidity, as opposed to olive oil or sesame oil, which are commonly used for enemas, but tend to photoxidize and go rancid. Stick with coconut for your enemas.

I (Katrina) have used coconut oil several times to aid in the rapid healing of some epic scrapes and cuts. I can't imagine being with out coconut oil now. It is a mulit-purpose wonder oil.

For more on eating coconut oil, please see the Supplements and Supperfoods section under the Juice Feasting Intro.

As with coconut oil, Aloe Vera can be used both internaly and externaly. For the external use, we like Lily of the Desert Gelly when we don't have any fresh aloe leaves on hand. Putting aloe on your face is like getting a face-lift, and you will actually feel your skin pulling tighter and firmer. I (Katrina) like to put aloe on my face at night before bed, and then allow it to do its magic while I am sleeping. The legendary beauty of Cleopatra is sometimes attributed to the practice of massaging fresh aloe vera gel onto her skin every day. It is great for relief from sunburn, skin blemishes (zits or detox breakouts), cold sores and rashes. Aloe is very high in MSM, and for this reason works as an amazing anti-inflammatory, making it the best sunburn and burn relief ever. It also makes an excelent shaving gel for both men and women.

If you are using fresh aloe leaves, you can slice them lenghtwise to access the healing gel inside to use as lotion or in your juices. David Wolfe suggests using fresh aloe blended with orange juice as a wonderful beauty tonic.

An enema kit is very, very important. Have you ever heard the phrase, "Nature abhors a vacuum?" It does, and as your bowel empties out of years-old fecal matter and childhood toys that were left up in there, every cell in your body gets the message that it, too can release old waste and move it to the bowel for elimination. You do not want to slow the progress of old matter leaving your body. Doing so by not doing enemas, or any of the other aids to elimination will ensure a back-up and reabsorption of old toxic matter that will make you feel weak, and ill. The Juice Feast is designed to nearly eliminate this possibility, provided that you do the necessary things.

You want to do an enema first thing in the morning because your body has done a lot of work processing stuff during the night that is ready for release. You do not want to carry this stuff around any longer than necessary. Doing an enema in the morning will be a great boost to your energy level, and to the efficiency of the cleansing aspect of the Juice Feast.

To learn how to do an enema, please see A Day in the Life of a Juice Feaster under the Juice Feasting Intro.

Once you have completed your Juice Feast, your enema kit will still be a great addition to your bathroom. We also like to take one with us when we travel, as sitting for long hours is often involved with travel and this tends to lead to constipation. Constipation can bring on undesirable side affects such as headaches, irritability, low energy, bloating, ect. If you do find yourself constipated at your location of destination, just pull out your trusty enema kit, find a quiet bathroom, and soon you will feel fresh as a daisy.

Don't worry about this one! Soon doing an enema will be a healthy life practice that is easy to do, which you can access when the need arises!