The idea of juicing seems to make the rounds in popularity and unpopularity, much like another other “health” regimens.
On the surface, it seems like a good idea. It’s a way of getting a lot of nutrients all at once, perhaps taking care of your fruit and veggies intake for the day in one glass.
It’s not a good idea and here are a couple of good reasons why:
All fruits and vegetables are the source of carbohydrates: They are natural sugars, but they are still sugars. Fruits contain more natural sugars than vegetables. While these carbohydrates are more complex than simple sugars, they are still sugars.
Try this experiment: Make yourself a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. Sounds delicious! How many oranges did it take? My guess would be it take 6 to 8 oranges to fill up a 12-ounce glass. Who would eat 6 or 7 or 8 oranges in a day? Nobody. You might eat one, maybe two. That would be healthy.
A medium orange has 15 grams of carbohydrates. Eight medium oranges would equal 120 grams of carbs, about half the recommend intake of carbs.
But you know how easy it is to slug down a 12-ounce glass of orange juice without even thinking about it.
Eat an orange. Heck even eat two oranges. Don’t drink juice.
Juicing leaves behind the fiber: If you have one of those fancy pants expensive juicers, you know that the fiber gets left behind as an unappetizing sludge that’s difficult to clean out. That’s where a large part of the nutrients are found.
If you’ve read my posts for any period of time, you know that I recommend getting whole foods and getting your vitamins from foods as much as possible.
Why would you want juice fruits or veggies and throw away some of the most important nutrients in your food? It doesn’t make sense.
Why not just eat your food?
I admit to a certain amount of laziness and there is some attraction in
drinking a big glass of stuff that contains most of my fruit and veggie needs for the day.
So—there’s an easy way:
Blend a variety of fruits and veggies in a high-speed blender that leaves behind no sludge. You’re getting the entire thing.
My morning smoothie recipe (I’m not very precise) made with organic ingredients as much as possible:
A big handful of kale
½ cup other veggies, including carrots, broccoli, spinach
The smoothie sounds great! I bought a Stainless steel Cusinart stick at Bed Bath & Beyond last summer and love to make simple smoothies. My favorite is blueberries, banana, raspberiries, strawberries, vanilla yogurt, and add a little almond milk. Delicious!
The smoothie sounds great! I bought a Stainless steel Cusinart stick at Bed Bath & Beyond last summer and love to make simple smoothies. My favorite is blueberries, banana, raspberiries, strawberries, vanilla yogurt, and add a little almond milk. Delicious!