There are many fads and trends in the diet and health world. Juicing has become popular as a way to lose weight, cleanse the body, and significantly increase intake of minerals and vitamins. It’s always better to look at the science behind a diet trend, so you may wonder is juicing healthy?
The juicing trend has gained a lot of marketing effort. If vegetables and fruits are good for you and your body, then is drinking them in one go each day surely of advantage?
However, the science behind juicing is more complicated compared to the marketing line, and the reality is that we should consider both pros and cons before considering adding juicing into your diet regimen.
The Pros Of Juicing
Many people juice fruits and vegetables on a daily basis without even thinking about the pros and cons of the activity.
However, it’s always wise to examine the nutritional value and science behind it not just look at the marketing lines.
We look into some of the health benefits of juicing:
- If your daily diet is deprived, then juicing even on a semi-regular basis will provide your body with some much-needed nutrition. Through juicing you strip away much of the fiber content in fruits and vegetables through the pulverization process which makes it easy for your body to absorb the nutrients faster, hence giving you a high dose of nutrients. These nutrients then contribute to your overall health and well-being and also boost the body’s immune system.
- The pulverization of most of the fiber also unlocks some of the enzymes that are found in some fruits and vegetables and make them available for absorption and digestion.
- By juicing regularly, you’re gaining a habit that is actually of great benefit. Juicing means you’re thinking of your body, your health and what you’re putting into your body, therefore developing this habit is of massive psychological benefit, particularly for those who previously had poor eating habits. This change in habit often leads to other positive life-changing activities, including eating more foods of greater nutritional value and regular exercise. Many of us don’t eat sufficient fruit and vegetables on a daily basis as we should, so drinking even a small cup of freshly juiced fruits and vegetables can help our bodies.
The Cons Of Juicing
Juicing has quite a couple of pitfalls despite the strong marketing line. Much of the nutritional science behind it is still being debated in diet circles and among researchers, but some particular problems are slowly becoming more well-known. For instance:
- Due to the pulverization process, juicing fruits and vegetable strips away most of the insoluble fiber. Eating fiber regularly, without juicing, is essential to a smooth digestive process, and helps us to maintain a healthy weight because it causes you to feel fuller for longer.
- Due to the stripping away of much of the fiber, our bodies absorb a lot of natural sugar; which is especially critical when juice blends consist mostly of fruits. Juicing fruits alone creates an abnormal spike in sugar levels, which becomes problematic for people with diabetes and promotes weight gain. Over time, this excess of fructose sugar causes us weight problems as they are converted to fats and stored in our bodies. This results to regular juicing having the opposite of a beneficial health effect. However, it is important to note that the sugar overload only occurs when the fruit is the chief ingredient. When you juice a ratio of 90% to 10% or 80% to 20% of vegetables to fruits then this is not a problem.
- Juicing can be very expensive. In most cases, a quality machine will cost around $150, and you will also have to incur the cost of production. For some juices, you need many vegetables to make just one glass of juice which becomes expensive over time.
Thoughts On How Juicing Has Health Benefits
There is a high chance that juicing is here to stay, at least for the near future. However, it’s wise to consider both the pros and cons of the idea of juicing. If you are looking to supplement an already poor diet, then drinking juice will offer superior nutritional and health benefits.
