To Juice Or Not To Juice

About 6 months ago, I was talking to a girlfriend and she mentioned she was going to start juicing. I heard how it worked and I just got stressed out instantly “Explain it to me again…. You mean you won’t eat anything, just drink juice? And when you drink juice, it will only be fruits and vegetables? Oh and you bought alllll these fruits and vegetables and they will only last 3 days?” … Nope I can’t do that, too much work and too much stress. lol

Well, it came up again this weekend. I was still just as skeptical but my concern was if you would even get enough calories from them. We looked some up and turned out that depending on what recipe, you actually could get a good amount of calories. I was intrigued and took a step back to go learn about the juicing experience.

So if you are like me, I’ll save you the embarrassment of asking: Smoothies – All parts of the fruits and veggies are used. Juicing – The pulp and skin of the ingredients are removed using this cool tool called the juicer. You are welcome 😉

Carbohydrates Refresh

From the Carbohydrates post.. Carbs are sugars that help give the body fuel/energy. There are 3 types – Complex, fiber, Simple. You want to try to eat more complex carbs and fibers because they keep you full longer and give you more energy for your buck and you want to reduce simple sugars especially man made ones. The best simple sugars are the ones from fruits because they are natural and have more nutrients

Juicing Fruits

That being said, the juices from the fruits retain their carbs and calories from the simple carbs but lose the fibers since the skin and pulp are thrown away.

Juicing Vegetables

Vegetables are really low in calories but very high in nutrients. The beauty of juicing vegetables is that you can get most of the nutrients out of them but it would take a lot of vegetables to hit your calorie goal.

My Conclusion

Juicing can be an amazing addition to your current diet especially using recipes that have both fruits and vegetables. It is a great way to gain the benefits of fruits and vegetables especially if you are usually not a fan. However I am opposed to making it the only component of any diet because your body needs more than just fruits and vegetables to fully function properly.

The Juices end up having no proteins and hardly any fats which are crucial for energy , to rebuild/repair tissue and so much more. I have heard some people add milk and yogurt but you would still have to be cautious to make sure you are in fact getting enough throughout the day. If you juice consistently for a while but are not getting enough calories, your body will go into starvation mode and even if you drop some pounds for starters, you will gain them even quicker once you start eating regular food. 

 

I know juicing is the new cool trend, so if you are going ahead with it, please understand why you are doing so and what it will do for your body. Don’t fall for marketing schemes, take your fitness into you own hands and do only what is best for you. Got questions? Let’s talk. Have a wonderful day!