“You are what you eat.” I think everyone has heard this phrase at one time or another. It originated in 1942 by nutritionist Victor Lindlahr who published, “You Are What You Eat: how to win and keep health with diet” (Martin). This phrase basically implies that good foods lead to good health. From this, it’s also safe to conclude that bad or dead foods end with poor health.
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Since we started our Whole30 journey over a year ago, we have been looking for ways to be creative with our diet so we don’t lose our motivation. We have done the Whole30 three times now and I’m not going to lie, it was hard at first.
Mac and I were looking for ways to speed up meal prep and keep it interesting. We talked about trying to juice, but with so many options out there where do we start?
We read reviews of a bunch of juicers and our heads were spinning on deciding between a centrifugal (no pulp) or masticating juicer (pulp). We settled on the, “Breville BJE200XL Compact Juice Fountain”. I am going to try my hand at giving you a fair and unbiased review of the juicer.
We got the juicer from Amazon. Here is a link to the Breville BJE200XL. Since we were unsure of the style, quality or price of the juicers on the market we basically made our decision based on customer reviews and price point.
Pro’s
- This Juice Fountain retails almost everywhere for $99.95. You could find this online or in department stores like Bed Bath and Beyond, Crate and Barrel, etc.
- From the time we unpacked the juicer, it felt sturdy and made of high quality parts. I didn’t get the feeling that it was poorly designed.
- The plastic housing and measuring cup feel very durable, they are BPA free, and dishwasher safe.
- 700-watt motor operates at 14,000 RPM. For everything that we have used it for this seems to be more than adequate to do the job. We have done everything from Apples, Citrus Fruit, Carrots, Celery, Ginger, Garlic, Spinach, Cucumbers, Grapes, Sweet Potatoes and Tomatoes.
- Compact size is super nice if you don’t have a ton of counter space. The unit measures 9-1/2” x 8-3/4” x 16”. Being novice juicers, this was an important feature for us.
- 1-year limited warranty. We have not had any problems with ours, but I would recommend keeping the receipt just in case.
Con’s
- Extra large 3” feed tube is not nearly big enough for your Costco variety oranges and apples. We found that we need to cut these down into thirds or quarters. We just decided that we’ll get the small bag of packaged fruit in the produce section. Typically, we have found that these are smaller and easier to work with.
- One setting, its either on or off. Now that we are more experienced with the juicing, we would like to have a variable speed juicer. Since we juice everything under the sun, we feel like some pulps is left “wetter” than others. After reading more about juicing, slower settings are better for the softer fruits and vegetables you are going to juice.
- Since this is a centrifugal juicer, it completely separates the juice from the pulp. You are losing all the fiber qualities of the raw fruit. If this is something that is important to you, I would look at masticating juicers. We haven’t used any of these, so your best bet is to look at the Amazon Best Sellers Here.
- Being that it is compact it weighs 11 pounds which if you juiced daily you would want to keep it on the counter.
- Yes, this is the, “compact” model, but I will caution you, if you are doing a batch of juice for a few days having to empty the pulp collector multiple times is a chore.
In conclusion, we have really enjoyed this juicer and think it’s the best one for beginners. The price point is really where we needed it to be when we started our juice revolution. In the last year, we have probably used it 125-150 times. Early on we were only doing a couple of glasses, but that became arduous. We graduated to making a small pitcher and now we are doing ½ gallon at a time. We found that we drink it fast enough, but we do not want the hassle of daily juicing. If we do ½ gallon it will last 4 days-ish, almost enough to get through the work week grind.
The major drawback of doing that much juicing is the fact that you must empty it 2-3 times. However, it isn’t as easy as just emptying because you must break it down completely. When we do this, I always give it a rinse, so I am not spreading sticky juice all over everything.
As a side note, once you are done juicing, make sure and clean the unit. If you let the filter dry it is difficult to get the stuck-on bits thoroughly cleaned. It is much easier to do when things are still wet.
This unit has been super helpful for us on our Whole30 journey as well as in between rounds. What juicer do you use? I am thinking we may need to upgrade to a larger one soon.
