Watch and read our interview with Eduardo Moreno, father and juicing business owner, to learn how the PURE Juicer changed his family’s life.
EM: My name is Eduardo Moreno.
BM: And my name is Bellen Moreno.
EM: And we have, @lets_smash4juice, in IG. And the company name is Smash LLC. And now-
JL: Smash LLC. And where are you located?
EM: We’re located in Orange County. Santa Ana, precise, near Garden Grove.
JL: Very good.
EM: Yeah.
JL: So I was just curious, you know, we ask the same questions to everybody, because everybody’s path to juicing is different. But, I’m just wondering, why did you guys get started with juicing? Do you have a history with juicing? And, yeah. Why did you start juicing?
EM: Never really have a history on juicing. The only thing is that after we started our family, we started being more conscious of what we give them. And throughout all the juices that we see, we started reading the ingredients, and we didn’t like that at all. And certain things for us to, like, we had so many drinks also in our lifetime, that is just given to us, but not really thinking what was in there.
JL: Yeah.
EM: And now that we have kids, we want them to actually have something great for them to keep their energy going, instead of just fitting fatigue or being down after, you know, drinking a lot of juice with weird sugars, or just imitation sugars that there are. And that’s what we kind of start going for it. Slowly juicing for our kids, and then slowly going with us actually drinking them too.
JL: That’s amazing. How long have you been juicing for?
EM: We started on, I will say, last summer when we start, I was looking at all cold-pressed juices, just started to drink them, but we started doing it ourselves on last October, 2022.
JL: Wow. What do you notice? Have you noticed a difference in your energy? If that was what it was for, and are you, what are you noticing now that you’re starting to drink cold-pressed juice?
EM: I feel the energy that usually, like, I would say like lunches. So when you work on a nine-to-five job, you’ll start getting tired like midday, and that, it’s not happening. Even though we have our kids most of the time, I’m not really feeling any tired of their screams, their running, or… Just not having anything that gives that thought of being, I would say lazy, or just wanting to take a nap with them, or anything like that. So a lot of energy with it.
My stomach is actually feeling better. Didn’t really used to, I would say, have a lot of bowel movements, but now with it actually helping me out to have it consistent. And I slowly see my weight slowly going down, but not as quick as one would thought. But, just drinking the juices and making all sorts of juices with even the fruits that we never thought that were available. Start pressing them and something different comes out. And just by pressing and taking the organic residue out with the PURE Juicer, it’s something different that I seen, and this tastes really better than just smoothies, in general.
JL: Yeah.
EM: I wasn’t really a fan of smoothies at all. My wife liked smoothies, but I really didn’t like ’em. Just.
JL: Yeah.
EM: I thought it was like the whole healthy, “Let’s eat smoothies.” But just with the PURE Juicer, actually I wanna drink more, ’cause it’s just kinda like a water base, but with nutrients and flavorful, actually.
JL: And surprisingly there’s a lot of soluble fiber and which speaks to just your digestion and your regularity that you get from it. There’s actually, the juice is thicker, it’s smoother, it’s like silky smooth.
EM: Right.
JL: And, you know, the hypothesis is that, you know, there’s soluble fiber in there, so it’s drawing in more water to your system and helping you get rid of all of that. So you might not see the weight loss necessarily, but I, it’s such great news to hear that your body is working the way that it’s supposed to. So now that it’s building trust, I like to say it’s building trust with you. So it’s, you know, at over time it will, you know, the weight will take care of itself. You know, your body will get to where it wants to be, so that’s wonderful.
EM: Uh-huh, nice.
JL: Do you have a juice that you like? Is there a go-to juice for you and for your family, and is it different
EM: The go juice is the orange and carrots. That’s usually what my kids like and that’s only, the only juice that I started even drinking at the beginning.
JL: Yeah.
EM: It’s just carrot juice with orange.
JL: Yep.
EM: And when I start adding more stuff, that’s when it gets intrigued. But the go-to, that’s always even for before I start juicing, was the orange and carrot.
JL: Orange and carrot. That’s so good. I just figured out that you can just cut the ends off the oranges and maybe just take like four pieces of peel off, wrap it without even a liner, and press it. And it’s delicious. And it’s, it works really, really well. So it’s super slick, in case you wanna try that method.
EM: Yeah, I’ll try that one. Yes.
JL: Yeah. Let’s see. Did it take a certain, so you started in October. I’m wondering when you, if you were to tell a customer, like how long for you did it take before you started to see the benefits of juice?
EM: I would say in the, I would say like a month. About a month, about a month, yes.
JL: Yeah How much juice do you say you drink in a week, or in a day, however you wanna do it?
EM: I think we have 64 throughout the week.
JL: Yes.
EM: So we go through a 64 ounce through a week. We have it in the fridge and we press it again and again.
JL: Yeah. Oh my gosh, this is great. It’s making me thirsty.
EM: I usually do twice a week. It’ll be on Monday and Thursdays.
JL: Yep.
EM: For me, obvious ’cause I have my kids most of the time, and have enough time for me to press on those days and ask any of my friends, anybody that follows us on IG, if they want any juices while I’m pressing for ourselves.
JL: Yeah.
EM: And then I’ll add more for them if they would like also.
JL: That’s great. Are you able to sell, or is there people that want the juice?
EM: Yes. I have continuous flow of people or clients that actually come. A few friends that are, I would say, subscription-wise.
JL: Yes.
EM: That they wanted every, every time in the fridge. So I’ll just press it and get it ready for their fridge. And other friends will have a good enough order for them to drink like throughout the whole week.
JL: Yeah. Yeah.
EM: So it’s a, it has a few following that actually love what we’re doing, and they want to try our juices as well.
JL: That’s good.
EM: And how we separate certain juices, it’s something different that you won’t see on the market, ’cause it’s, we don’t really specify much as a healthy option, but a flavorful option.
JL: Mm. I think that’s what people are looking for, and flavor doesn’t remove health–
EM: Right.
JL: So I think it’s such a great entry into juicing. You know what surprised me too, is I learned that black and red grapes, and even green grapes, are so good for our brains.
EM: Oh.
JL: So you think that it’s just sugar, but the neurologist, who’s our medical advisor, she’s like, “That’s actually what our brains feed on.” “That’s what our brains need.”
EM: Yeah.
JL: And those grapes are some of the best things for our brains, so. And they taste delicious.
EM: Awesome. Yeah, we do have a few line of just with grapes. The, what is it, the Blood Dragon Split, that will have the grape. It has a pink pineapple and also has the dragon fruit, the red dragon fruit.
JL: Oh yeah. How do you? That’s pretty slimy, isn’t it? Yeah.
EM: At the beginning, there was no process, but eventually I had a good sign how much to press, what pressure time, or like slowly press it and slowly open out, instead of just one stop and it’ll make a mess.
JL: Yeah. Yeah. And no need to grind it. Just pressing is the way to go.
EM: No, just the seed. The black seeds will be left on the mesh.
JL: Yeah. Starfruit is really good too. And you can just press starfruit, in case you haven’t done that one yet. It’s really yummy.
EM: I actually had the star fruit at the beginning. I did not know how to press it, I just saw it. I’m like, “How am I gonna press this?” It doesn’t really have so much. And me thinking a little bit longer, it kind of went spoiled on it. So I’m like, “All right, I’ll try another time.”
JL: Yeah. You can just press them.
EM: But, I’ve tried, but that was my option once.
JL: Yeah. And in the future, you can always just message us, and if we’ve done it, we’ll let you know how we did it.
EM: Awesome.
JL: And that way, you know, we’re happy to share that. We don’t always keep everything on social, so if we’ve done it, we would love to share how we did it.
EM: Oh, sweet. I like that.
JL: What led you to PURE Juicer and, you know, like just why did you choose PURE Juicer for your family and for your business?
EM: At the beginning, I was actually in a restaurant business for a quite while, like little over eight years.
JL: Oh.
EM: And I seen a bunch of juices throughout my experience there. And when I, I came across the PURE Juicer, it was something different that I never seen before. And with the mesh, how it removes the granite material, just leaves the the pure juice itself, that was something different that I seen, and I advised my wife about it. Like, “Look, this is something different. I seen a bunch of different juices but nothing like this.”
JL: Yeah.
EM: So for me, I was just trying to get for it and I couldn’t actually afford it, ’cause it is on the high end and it’s obviously a great machine.
And throughout time I was looking on OfferUp, and that’s where we actually got it from. A friend on OfferUp were like, “Hey, you want your juicer?” And they’re like, “Yeah, we were trying it so much for myself, but it’s too much work.” I’m like, “Yes, I seen it’s too much work, but I’m willing to go for it.”
JL: Yeah.
EM: And I got it from them, from OfferUp. And then slowly had it with us.
JL: That’s awesome. Do you find it’s that much work? ‘Cause I think sometimes people say that, but it’s actually not as much work as you would think. But what’s your impression?
EM: It depends on certain produce or the fruits. It’ll be much work. But if you have a consistent, I’ll say a certain juices that like, not certain juices, certain fruits, just like oranges, some apples, pineapple. Any of those you already have, know way how to cut it, know how to prep it and clean it, and then press it right away.
JL: Yeah.
EM: But I feel like some other people think that they have to go exceed on cleanliness or exceed on prepping it.
JL: Yeah.
EM: So that’s where the time consuming comes along for a lot of people.
JL: Yeah.
EM: But if I did it a couple times, and I, for us to give away to our clients and our friends, it makes us go through trials and errors throughout, and we find better ways when we start juicing. We find better ways to juice more and more.
JL: Yeah.
JL: Efficient. Good, good. Yeah, I found that I can make 24 ounces of carrot apple in 10 minutes. From the very beginning to the very end. Like putting the cloths to dry. So it’s, so I need to do that more so people can see that it is quite easy to do in the process. So, but that’s great feedback. That’s great, and I’m glad that, I mean, that’s great too that you found it on OfferUp. So that you’re able to get a bit of a discount. Way to go.
EM: So eventually, when all this gets more, I will end up buying another one, ’cause how it’s getting busier. I don’t want one day to just fail on me. So hopefully, at the, I have enough, or to have a second one in the near feature.
JL: What do you like using about the PURE Juicer?
EM: I like using it. The features what I use? Like…
JL: Yeah. Like I mean, so it, so work the press is pressing, you know, what do you think of the grinder? Do you, do you use the grinder too, very much? Or is it mainly the press?
EM: I use the grinder on carrots, I use it on celery. I use it with, what was it, the beets. Like gold beets or red beets. Anything that I’ll say, vegetables, or some tough that needs to be grind up, I’ll go through there. It’s easy to clean, not too much hard. It’s just of like two pieces comes off, rinse it, hot water rinse, and let it dry with sanitize. And not that much crazy with it, but the press is just extraordinary, how it just works. It just puts all the fruit and then just comes out very clean.
JL: Yeah.
EM: I like the press a lot.
JL: I know, the press is amazing. There’s actually a video out there, where this woman presses everything from like jelly beans, to cupcakes, to sandwiches.
EM: Go on.
JL: Yeah. She’s, and she uses the PURE Juicer, so.
I think a lot of people like the press. Question for you, so you mentioned that, how you’re feeling, which I love that your digestion is working better. So that’s actually huge, and that it’s building sort of gut health. Have you noticed a difference with your kids, and do they like the carrot orange juice as well?
EM: Yes. They’ll just see me certain places that we go pick up raw material, and they’ll be like, “Oh we’re gonna go get some juices.” ‘Cause they already know if I go there, they’re eventually gonna drink some juices right after. So they’re excited every time we get any fruits, ’cause they just wanna try it. And then if they see me, they just look like, “Is that a different juice?” or “What color is that juice?” It’s just the intrigued of the colors, also.
JL: Yeah, yeah. Oh, colors! You know, remember the blue spirulina lemonade is so good. Yummy! If you ever wanna put spirulina in your lemonade, ’cause then it’s a beautiful blue color. And then we’ve also done charcoal, activated charcoal, which is great when you’re teen–when you get teenagers, for it clears up your skin a little bit. It’s activated charcoal is really great to pull toxins out of the body. And a lot of times I take, if I eat something that doesn’t sit right, you can take it and that kind of soaks it all up and then you get rid of it, so.
EM: Okay.
JL: So you can get black and blue, and yellow and red.
EM:Interesting.
JL: All kinds of things.
EM: Oh, okay. I will try those things, also.
JL: Yeah. Yeah. Okay, we’re almost done. Is there anything else that you’d like to share?
EM: The almond milk, it’s a very interesting one. My wife actually just drinks almond milk, and we’ve been actually looking at that. Probably going forward with the almond milk soon.
JL: Yeah.
EM: But I think from any other juices, how I’ve seen it, I think this will have like the biggest yield with it. ‘Cause I’ve seen other juices that you just put everything out, just come out on the other side. But I haven’t really seen it personally, or kind of noticed it correctly. So that’s something that we are gonna try.
JL: It’s really great. I just talked to a friend today who said she used to just make it by hand. She said she literally makes twice as much with the same recipe, using the press.
EM: Right. Yeah. Crazy.
JL: And you know, I just did the one where we did the strawberries, so you can just press the strawberries separate. You can press blueberries separate. You can press beets separate as well. So just know that you can make straight up almond milk and then you can have little shots to like add to the milk.
EM: Cool.
JL: If you wanna add those varieties. And talk about fun options for color. You’ve got pink, you’ve got purple. You’ve got, you know, any kind of color. I’m sure you can make a green one too. But, I mean there’s so many different options.
EM:That’s right.
JL: And it’s nice, ’cause you know, there’s no preservatives or anything. And almond milk froths quite well, so, yeah.
EM: Ah, exactly.
JL: And the other thing, I dunno if you saw that, but you can make your own peanut butter. And for kids, and like different nut butters. You can make almond butter and just run it through the feed shoots using a four grid, and it’s the best nut butter you’ve ever had.
EM: Mm, I will try that too. My kids actually like peanut butter, but I haven’t tried it yet.
JL: Yeah, yeah. There’s a video on Instagram on that, so. Is there any way, would you like to share your business? Maybe your social handle? Or a website or anything, that we can, if people wanna connect with you and order juices, or follow your social media, what would you like folks to do, if they wanna contact you?
EM: For now it’s on Instagram, at the moment.
JL: Okay.
EM: At Let’s Smash at, Let’s Smash For Juice.
JL: Okay, okay. Is there anything else that I might have missed?
EM: Those who are on the sidelines thinking about juicing, I’ll say just go for it. It’s something that’ll probably change your life, one way or another. ‘Cause it has changed my way of thinking and consuming fruits and vegetables, from, ever since I started seeing, working with PURE Juicer.
And if my kids see them, and they’ll be tasting this for while we still are juicing, and if they start drinking something else from the streets, or from the, I’ll say from the gas station or anywhere, they’ll be like, “Oh, this doesn’t taste great. I want my juice.” I think that’s, that’s where this ultimatum was. I hope that it happens though.
JL: It will. It will. You are setting such a phenomenal example. It’s just such a pleasure to meet you in person. Thank you so much for your time. And, all right. Well, Eduardo, thank you so much. Please tell Bellen thank you so much for your time too, and you guys are amazing.
EM: Yeah. She’s over there.
JL: Yeah, good.
EM: Awesome, thank you.
JL: Awesome. Well, happy juicing to you!
EM: Thank you, you too.
JL: Take care.
