Juicing is working for me!

I eat food but man I love juicing for the energy benefits. I make a big cup of fresh veggie/fruit juice and start zooming. I've never found any food combination or energy drink that compares to that to wake me up in the morning.

I love food and I eat solid food, but I do love the benefits of juicing in the morning for energy.

So...I'm not "hating" I'm actually curious as to the difference between juicing and just eating what you would juice?

What would be the difference and what are the benefits?

Yeah, I know google is my friend and all but I really don't want to spend hours sorting through opinion articles about it. Does anyone have a link to an actual scientific study that outlines this?

From what I *think* I understand, by juicing you are breaking fruits and vegetables down to their cellular level, making their nutrients much easier to be absorbed by the body. Therein, you are getting more nutrients out of what you juice verses eating the produce raw. Also, many juice with a lot of veggies/fruit at one time and, unless you're a dedicated vegetarian or vegan, it would be difficult for the average person to consume that much produce in one day without juicing it. Essentially, you're getting a wide amount of produce all in one glass with minimal effort. This is what makes juicing appealing, especially for those who don't particularly like eating leafy greens and such in their natural, whole state.

I will say that my one concern with juicing is the amount of sugar you're drinking. I understand that sugar found in a donut is not the same as natural sugar in a strawberry, but still...fruit is HIGH in natural sugar. Could this be an issue, or is it not? Thoughts?

being slothful

lazy/slothful/sedentary lifestyle.

Hold on there, Bubba Louie.....

I resemble that remark.....

I did a 30 day juice fast last summer and lost 27lbs! I gained about 20 pounds back

Ding ding ding!

Why is it so hard to see that you can't restrict like this and expect the results to last forever. Unless you plan on having nothing but juice for the rest of your life... you are going to gain that back when you go back to your normal habits.

you can eat at a deficit and then gain back if you're not disciplined, so...

eating in a slight deficit is wayyyy more sustainable then any kind of juice fast….

True but the gain can still be possible.

I wonder how OPs juicing is goiing? l am going to eat ice cubes and lemon water as a cleanse after the holidays. Not sure if I should add some fruits or vegetables, I'm scared to gain if I add fibre. I think for now the lemons and ice cubes will do.

wait what? Ice cubes??? No other foods...and afraid to gain weight from eating fiber really?

wow, just wow.

Right lmfao. Every food has fiber in it. Yes some has more and others have less but everything you consume has fiber in it......

So...I'm not "hating" I'm actually curious as to the difference between juicing and just eating what you would juice?

What would be the difference and what are the benefits?

Yeah, I know google is my friend and all but I really don't want to spend hours sorting through opinion articles about it. Does anyone have a link to an actual scientific study that outlines this?

I don't know for others, but for me, I juice because it's much easier for me to get my veggies in that way. I don't like vegetables much at all and days would pass when I wouldn't eat any. When I learned about juicing I thought it would be a great way to get in all my veggies at once. And it is! I really enjoyed doing a green smoothie every morning. Although I must say, my "juicing" didn't involve a juicer. I actually blended all my ingredients with a little water. That way I ensured I got in all the fibre that I may have missed out on. My ingredients were always mostly vegetables with 1 or 2 fruits thrown in so didn't have a problem with sugar.

My mother does real juicing every morning because like me she doesn't like vegetables. She doesn't include any fruits though. It has really helped her. She could barely walk before (she has RA but doesn't take any medication for it) and now, although she's no spring chicken :laugh: , she can walk and stand for hours. Her face looks fresher and younger and her skin looks healthy. She told me she feels so much better.

I would recommend juicing or blending to everyone. Not necessarily to replace all meals, but as a great addition to one's diet.

I did a 30 day juice fast last summer and lost 27lbs! I gained about 20 pounds back

Ding ding ding!

Why is it so hard to see that you can't restrict like this and expect the results to last forever. Unless you plan on having nothing but juice for the rest of your life... you are going to gain that back when you go back to your normal habits.

you can eat at a deficit and then gain back if you're not disciplined, so...

eating in a slight deficit is wayyyy more sustainable then any kind of juice fast….

True but the gain can still be possible.

I don't understand your point..if you eat in a deficit you will lose weight...you can't consume less energy and put on weight..its physically impossible, unless you have some sort of medical condition...

Just to try to clarify... I think what this poster is trying to say is....

The common school of thought is, you change your lifestyle, eating at a deficit.... you lose weight. Then, you maintain.

Juicing, since it's radical, is not a lifestyle change, ergo... it's 'assumed' that one will go back to their old eating habits, and gain any lost weight right back.

I think all that this poster is trying to say is.... you can lose by eating at a deficit, you can lose by juicing, and you can gain back after juicing, AND you can gain back after eating at a deficit.

That's how I interpret what was said, anyhow.

For me the difference is/was mostly psychological...although I had MANY miraculous changes in my body (astounding body fat percentage decrease, better eyesight, more energy--make that super youthful vim and vigor energy, miraculous inches loss all over my body, but mainly in my upper body (especially my stomach, and back areas), even my head/face, neck, feet, hands--all over but super a lot in these areas. I only did it for 2 1/2 to 3 months and although I only saw 20 pounds loss, I lost a tremendous number of inches, fat & flab, 4-6 pants sizes down, super beautiful and glowing skin and longer, thicker hair and nails and so much more. Because I was working out a lot and lifting weights, my ugly flab & fat turned into sleek and lovely muscle instead and I LOVED that).

I say mainly psychological though, because the daily juicing (I had two or three per day and ate fruits and one large mostly vegan homecooked meal in addition to the juices), because the juicing helped me to kick MANY food addictions I was having...which I really consider just as much psychological and physical--Here's the addictions juicing helped me kick:

My coffee addiction/habit
My sugar addiction/habit
My junk food/processed foods addictions habits
My dairy/fried/greasy foods addictions
My carb addiction
My hatred of water addiction
Mt soda/store bought juices addictions
My sitting on my duff--being slothful & lazy habit and developed a super love for exercising

Juicing for me was primarily psychological, it helped me kick bad habits and eat to live instead of living to eat junky fat & flab inducing/producing foods and drinks...and avoid a lazy/slothful/sedentary lifestyle.

Could I have done these things WITHOUT juicing? You bet your life I could have--but didn't, the juicing was a kinda PUSH or something for me to change. Does one have to juice to see these results? Nope...not at ALL!

Congrats to you on changing your lifestyle and health so dramatically! Sounds like you had some great motivation.
A couple of questions-
When did you lose the 20lbs, and did you keep it off? I am assuming you lost it before you started on MFP since your ticker doesn't show it.
The dramatic changes in your body with only 20 lb loss, is quite amazing, and as you said, due to the exercise and weight lifting. I would love to see some before and after pics. Do you have any you could post?

Hi and thanks so much for your post and questions!

I posted my story here...on this thread:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1067770-juicing-is-working-for-me?page=2

To answer your specific questions that were not included in the detailed post above....here they are:

When did you lose the 20lbs, and did you keep it off? I am assuming you lost it before you started on MFP since your ticker doesn't show it.
I lost 19.6 pounds total and started here February 14, 2012, weighing a HUGE 199 pounds. I'm 5"6 and over 50 years old. I did the juice thing for 2.5-3 months and it took me going back to my S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) and lifestyle 6 months time to not only regain all the 19.6 (almost 20 pounds) back...but 6 more ugly pounds of flab/fat in addition--these gains have crept up and taken all of this time on Mfp...so more than a year (almost 2 years) and as of today, I'm yet stuck at the unattractive and unhealthy 204 pounds as of today...For most of my young and adult life, I couldn't gain weigh to save my life. I've always been stick skinny. It wasn't until I started having children late in life that the ugly pounds and fat and flab started piling on me. If/when you read the link above--it'll tell you why I started juicing and when and why I stopped. I did a modified juicing thing for 2.5-3 months total (From February 2012 to May 2012). My ticker doesn't reflect the fabulous changes juicing did for me, because I'm no longer juicing and continuing to live a gluttonous, sedentary/lazy S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) lifestyle and lost all of the tremendous wins I had juicing--again, see the thread posted above...it shares my story.

Also...drinking my exotic and exclusively organic veggie juices and my one large meal per day with two fruits/healthy snacks I would consume around 1200-1250-1300 cals (sometime a wee bit more, sometimes a wee bit less) per day.

The dramatic changes in your body with only 20 lb loss, is quite amazing, and as you said, due to the exercise and weight lifting. I would love to see some before and after pics. Do you have any you could post?

Not only dramatic (and that's the perfect word, because what happened to my body, mind and soul) in just 3 wee months or less of juicing (and thereby saying NO to a S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) lifestyle in eating and living (lazy/slothful/priviledge (eating and drinking whatsoever I wanted)...even moderately (though it is a proven FACT that eating whatsoever one wants to, moderately, people will lose weight)...not so for me (special snowflake that I know and admit I truly am) eating and drinking whatsoever I want doesn't work for me, because I am also prone to being slothful and lazy and perhaps it's my age or lack of self-control--but moderate doesn't work for me. I'm an ALL or nothing type of chick. Also not purposely exercising, instead sitting on my duff for the majority of the day, wasting time and energy). My juicing was modified...I did eat a large meal per day that was NOT including coffee, processed foods, fast foods, processed sugars, white foods (except baked potatoes), meats (except high quality wild fish), sodas, store bought juices, and basically NOT eating or drinking anything wasn't plant based and minimally processed. Doing this (Juicing was the "gateway" to/for/of denying myself these super delicious and highly addictive (for me) processed foods and privileged (lazy, greedy/gluttonous) lifestyle.

Not only did I see these tremendous effects/affects in my body--but in my mind as well. I felt POWERFUL (choosing to deny myself the things which were making me and keeping me fat, sick and looking and feeling all bloated/swollen, unattractive, inactive and just plain YUCK! The juicing gave me energy like never before nor since and that gave me the will and strength to exercise. The weights I was lifting was not a lot...from my weight machine here on my homegym. The reasons my ticker is not showing the progress is because it's gone and I'm back to looking and feeling like UGH. Living any ole way I want to, eating any ole thing I want to (AND counting my cals/keeping tract in my food diary and staying at or a wee bit below my daily calorie goals) and not taking the love and care and sacrifice to do what I need to FOREVER to become slim and trim.
This thread has inspired/encouraged me to redo my juicing thing, but this time....FOREVER, not for a mere three months. This time, I won't work-out like a maniac, and thereby not hurt myself like I did last time. This time, I'll have a PLAN. So it won't be a repeat of my past failure in juicing...experience is the BEST teacher and I've learned what NOT to do and what to do in juicing and will do it differently and again, FOREVER/lifestyle this time.

In terms of posting pics/personal info on the internet, I'm old-school and don't believe posting pics and personal info (other than what I've posted thus far) is wise nor good. So no, I don't have any pics for you. I hope this answers your questions and thank you so much for taking the time and interest in asking these questions, and please do NOT hesitate to ask any more questions if you have them, I'll be glad to answer.

So you lost weight juicing, then could not sustain it and gained back the weight and more? So now you are going to do the same thing again and hope to get different results?
OK...have fun with that.....

There are a lot of folks returning to MFP for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, whatever time.... who have been here before, logged, eaten at a deficit, lost weight, and eventually fallen off the wagon.... So, should these people not try 'the same thing again' and expect different results?

I started juicing this week, and have enjoyed it so far. I think it's important to understand the benefits of juicing, as well as the benefits of blending, as the two are completely different, but both still beneficial. I think if you're doing a juicing fast, it's okay for a short amount of time, but juicing alone isn't something that a person could expect to sustain for a lifetime. Juicing is, however, a great way to make sure you're getting the necessary fruits and vegetables you need daily, and should supplement your already healthy, nutritious meals. I think we also should remember that there are many ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle. We should provide constructive criticism, when applicable, and continue to encourage one another. I would hate for anyone seeking a healthy lifestyle to feel MFP isn't a good site for them because of any negativity they may see in these boards.

So you lost weight juicing, then could not sustain it and gained back the weight and more? So now you are going to do the same thing again and hope to get different results?
OK...have fun with that.....

There are a lot of folks returning to MFP for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, whatever time.... who have been here before, logged, eaten at a deficit, lost weight, and eventually fallen off the wagon.... So, should these people not try 'the same thing again' and expect different results?

The difference there, me being one of those people who lost and gained, is that I never stopped with my deficit and exercise. Thus, it's a lifestyle change. I have good days and bad days and I have moments where I could care less about my calorie goal. But unlike juicing or any other kind of fad diet, this is something I WILL do the rest of my live. It just takes perfection.

I get that. And I admit to being a little facetious here.... but, here's what I'm saying. Any MFP'er wouldn't hesitate to say that someone who juiced, and lost weight, then gained it back was a failure.... so, I'm asking.... what's the difference, if someone is 'attempting' to change their lifestyle, by counting calories, loses weight, then gains it all back? Different procedures, same results.

I find these threads much more entertaining if I tell myself that 'juicing' is some kind of new sex act that I haven't heard of yet.