juicing: yay or nay?

tycho_mx

I have a juicer, I love my juicer. My favourite are beets - great source of NOX, proven to increase aerobic performance in recent studies. My wife hates the flavour, though.

So I juice beets, carrots, apples, ginger, kale, cucumber, etc. Sometimes mixed with other juices for flavour, or made into a soup (rarely). And yes, you lose the fiber with some juicers (mine certainly filters them out), but that's not always a bad thing. Easier to do a hard workout with no fiber bulk.



I don't believe in detoxing fads, so I can't help you there. My body has a liver and kidneys, they seem to do a good job. Heck, take enough beet juice and you'll "pee the rainbow" , if you get my drift.

superhamdi

Cleansing/fasting: meh/nay. I did it for 3 days once, lost a few pounds that I gained back and felt crappy along the way. Short term solution.

IMO, juicing is good for a few things:

1a) Meal replacement: If you want an easy, healthy, quick lunch that you don't have to think about or plan (cut veggies at night, juice in the a.m. and take to work!) In light of your profession, perhaps not relevant for you. I wouldn't replace more than 1 daily meal because...food.
2) Supplement: Have a juice 15 min before a meal, eat less.
3) Good way to get fresh veggies in when you otherwise wouldn't.

Just be sure not to use too much fruit. I usually limit to 1 piece of fruit + 1/2 lemon in my recipes.

BrianSharpe

People advocate that juicing is great because they would never eat that much raw fruit and veggies with out it

And there is probably en element of truth to that........I could see someone using juice to supplement their intake but my personal preference is still real food from both an aesthetic point-of-view (chewing and enjoying the textures and flavours) and getting all the nutrients (including fibre)

tycho_mx

I do think lots of fruit and veggies are good for everyone. Raw has more nutrients, regardless of whether you eat it or juice it. The only thing about juice is the fiber has been removed. I have seen newer versions of juicing that is done in the blender to keep the fiber. I personally like frozen leafy greens and frozen fruit blended with coconut water. It is kind of like a shake. I eat regular food too

not always, some nutrients are more bioavailable after the foods been cooked - that means your body can absorb it more easily.

What fruit and veggies have more nutrients after being cooked? I have always heard the more you cook a fruit or vegetable the less nutrients it has.

Vitamin D. Doesn't need to be cooked, but needs some oil to facilitate absorption. One of the issues with cooking is that people then dump the liquid that has some of the nutrients dissolved in it. Make a soup stock with that

Other nutrients that are made more bioavailable by cooking: carotenoids, like the orange and red pigments in peppers and carrots. Of course, some other nutrients are also thermolabile and get destroyed by cooking. So as usual, balance.

tycho_mx

People advocate that juicing is great because they would never eat that much raw fruit and veggies with out it

And there is probably en element of truth to that........I could see someone using juice to supplement their intake but my personal preference is still real food from both an aesthetic point-of-view (chewing and enjoying the textures and flavours) and getting all the nutrients (including fibre)

And if you think about it, nutritionally probably is better to have some V8 equivalent than another can of coke...

mustgetmuscles1

If you are using it to get in some extra veggies that you might not eat normally then it is fine but there is nothing magical or extra healthy from grinding it up in machine. It also removes a lot of the beneficial part of the food so make sure you are actually getting the nutrients that you think you are.

katcunock

Cleansing/fasting: meh/nay. I did it for 3 days once, lost a few pounds that I gained back and felt crappy along the way. Short term solution.

IMO, juicing is good for a few things:

1a) Meal replacement: If you want an easy, healthy, quick lunch that you don't have to think about or plan (cut veggies at night, juice in the a.m. and take to work!) In light of your profession, perhaps not relevant for you. I wouldn't replace more than 1 daily meal because...food.
2) Supplement: Have a juice 15 min before a meal, eat less.
3) Good way to get fresh veggies in when you otherwise wouldn't.

Just be sure not to use too much fruit. I usually limit to 1 piece of fruit + 1/2 lemon in my recipes.

i actually think in my profession, since i only get 15 mins break a day and that's not enough time for me to eat a decent meal, juicing would be really good for taking to work / having a quick breakfast or no effort dinner after a shift.

Can you make a juice the night before and drink it the next day?

neandermagnon

I do think lots of fruit and veggies are good for everyone. Raw has more nutrients, regardless of whether you eat it or juice it. The only thing about juice is the fiber has been removed. I have seen newer versions of juicing that is done in the blender to keep the fiber. I personally like frozen leafy greens and frozen fruit blended with coconut water. It is kind of like a shake. I eat regular food too

not always, some nutrients are more bioavailable after the foods been cooked - that means your body can absorb it more easily.

What fruit and veggies have more nutrients after being cooked? I have always heard the more you cook a fruit or vegetable the less nutrients it has.

tomatoes, can't remember the compound in it, but it's one of the anti-cancer ones. I don't know any more off the top of my head.

it's not that it has more nutrients, it's that the body can absorb the nutrients better. cooking doesn't add nutrients. and overcooking will destroy some of the nutrients, so it's a happy medium thing. I eat both raw and cooked tomatoes, to get the best of both worlds (in terms of both taste and nutrition)

ETA: thanks to the poster above for answering the question better than me - I did think of carrots in relation to this question but couldn't be sure that I'd remembered it right.

jkwolly

Cleansing/fasting: meh/nay. I did it for 3 days once, lost a few pounds that I gained back and felt crappy along the way. Short term solution.

IMO, juicing is good for a few things:

1a) Meal replacement: If you want an easy, healthy, quick lunch that you don't have to think about or plan (cut veggies at night, juice in the a.m. and take to work!) In light of your profession, perhaps not relevant for you. I wouldn't replace more than 1 daily meal because...food.
2) Supplement: Have a juice 15 min before a meal, eat less.
3) Good way to get fresh veggies in when you otherwise wouldn't.

Just be sure not to use too much fruit. I usually limit to 1 piece of fruit + 1/2 lemon in my recipes.

Why not too much fruit?

katcunock

i think it's generally recommended, whether eating or juicing, to get double the amount of veggies as you do fruit, because of the (naturally) high sugar content in fruit

jkwolly

i think it's generally recommended, whether eating or juicing, to get double the amount of veggies as you do fruit, because of the (naturally) high sugar content in fruit

And?!

People need to stop with the anti-sugar rampage.

katcunock

lol i'm not on an anti sugar rampage, just repeating what i have heard in regard to fruits vs veggies.

emtjmac

Judging yes, juicing no.

mayfrayy

i used to supplement a lot of meals with juicing.
I couldn't stand not eating steaks, so i'd just have a steak for dinner, juicer and protein shakes throughout the day.

It was a lot easier to fine tune macros and get all the micros

i've never ate fruit, i dont like sugar.

darrensurrey

i think it's generally recommended, whether eating or juicing, to get double the amount of veggies as you do fruit, because of the (naturally) high sugar content in fruit

And?!

People need to stop with the anti-sugar rampage.

:mad:

You think sugar is safe? I dropped a box of sugar on my foot and was in a plaster cast for 2 months.

jr235

You're all missing an important point.

Juice is delicious.

And not that crap you can buy in the store. The fresh stuff.

tycho_mx

i think it's generally recommended, whether eating or juicing, to get double the amount of veggies as you do fruit, because of the (naturally) high sugar content in fruit

And?!

People need to stop with the anti-sugar rampage.

Settle down . Remember this is a calorie-tracking website?

I can eat about 4 cups of cabbage for the same calories as one single orange. No, it's not the same nutritionally but there's a large bulk vs. calories factor when you put them in your plate as part of your meal.

katcunock

haha

i like the taste of fruit but there are some veggies im not partial to, im hoping tha tby juicing i can regularly consume them, such as avocado and kale

cliffshaw

I've not juiced before, but the wife and I are seriously considering it. We watched the documentary "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead", which got us interested in the whole idea. Worth watching; we watched in on Netflix.

Although neither of us are looking to lose weight, the nutritional values you can add through juicing is what has us looking at it. I don't think we'd ever use it as a meal replacement, but I think it would be a great natural nutritional supplement. It is hard to eat the kind of fruit/veggies we should have compared to the ease of drinking them.

katcunock

I've not juiced before, but the wife and I are seriously considering it. We watched the documentary "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead", which got us interested in the whole idea. Worth watching; we watched in on Netflix.

Although neither of us are looking to lose weight, the nutritional values you can add through juicing is what has us looking at it. I don't think we'd ever use it as a meal replacement, but I think it would be a great natural nutritional supplement. It is hard to eat the kind of fruit/veggies we should have compared to the ease of drinking them.

i watched that too, other than the inspiring results, the main thing that struck me was just how expensive it would be. I typically spend £25 ($50) a week on food for me and my partner, typically a mixture of healthy and less healthy foods, the main bulk being spent on meat, dairy and fresh fruit & veg.