Check in and science tidbit

This weekend, the fiance and I started juicing:

No, not that kind of juicing!

THIS kind of juicing!
BOOOOSH KADOOSH!

So lately, while piled and piled with stress, I've felt REALLY old. My eyes feel old, my body feels old, my mind feels foggy. Also, I turn 26 this month. I'm starting the descent into (gasp!) 30! So, after obsessing about this all week, I bought some eye cream and a juicer. Because I obviously need an excuse to shove more fruits and vegetables into myself. Bring on the juices!

The coolest thing about fresh-made juice without preservatives or stabilizers is that it seperates over time:

This juice was made last night and stored in the fridge (beets, carrots, spinach, ginger, and apple if you're curious) and look at the layers! 

So, what are those layers made of? Well, first let's talk about how the juicemaker works. Another excellent picture by Doc...

The fruits and veggies get shoved in the very top of the grey area, which contains a motor (black) and a grater (purple). The grater has a very fine mesh of holes and some ridges to break down the food. It moves at a very high speed and breaks down the veggies into pieces. The juices seep through the fine mesh into the chute (black long thing) and into a cup (the thing that is obviously a cup, people...). The fibrous veggie matter gets shot into the other side into a fiber-catcher (creating naming). It's AWESOME. 

Back to the layers. 

Layer 1: Particulates that are heavier than water sink to the bottom, but are still pretty light because they made it through that fine mesh, so they are easily stirred up by movement.

Layer 2:  Undisturbed water-soluble layer. It contains most of the vitamins and minerals because they are easily dissolved in the water from the fruits and veggies. 

Layer 3: This is the interesting layer. Would you believe that layer contains a mess of FATS AND PROTEINS? Yeah, the fiance didn't believe me either. Layer 3 is called an emulsion and it forms when the high mineral content of the juices and the high-speed spinning action of the grater mix in some fats and proteins into the water layer. The fats and proteins mix and form a bubbly layer. The \bad news is that the juice isn't fat-free, but plant fats are pretty minimal and not always digestible. The good news is that this layer will allow you to obtain more Vitamin E and A, which are fat-soluble vitamins, from your juice. 

Ok, back to work. Hope you liked the juice science....talk to you soon and I'll tell you what I've been up to!