Many people have had success with juicing for weight loss. If you want to do juicing right to achieve a weight loss goal, here are some of the things to consider:
- Choose organic options. To avoid toxins, and increase the nutritional value of your produce and healthy enzyme intake, use organic vegetables only.
- Stretch your budget. To get fresher vegetables, buy them from local organic farms and in season vegetables and fruits whenever possible as they are cheaper and fresher, giving you the best bang for your bucks.
- Watch your sugar intake. Earlier on we looked at some of the fruits with high sugar levels. So take time to consider the fruits you’re adding to your juicer. If you indulge fruits with very high sugar levels, you could easily go into a calorie and sugar overload with just a couple glasses a day. To avoid that, base your juice primarily from vegetables and add sweetness and flavor with low sugar fruits like lemons, limes, berries and small amounts of green apples. Ginger also adds great flavor with little calories.
- Stay active and workout. Being active and getting regular workouts are essential for your weight loss journey. Exercising allows you to build lean muscle mass, boost metabolism and burn more calories.
- Stick with power vegetables. Consider spinach, kale, broccoli, greens, cabbage, celery, tomatoes and cucumbers as your key vegetables for juicing.
- Research the recipe wisely. There are so many juice recipes online and in books, however not all of them are legit. Look from the recipes that are tried and true, those are the ones you will benefit from.
- Watch out for the juice fast pitfall. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre establishes that drastic restriction of caloric intake can slow metabolism making it even more difficult to lose weight. Losing weight too drastically on juice fasts that are too low in calories will cause you to lose more water and muscle than actual fat. This will likely result in regaining weight you lost or add more. So, incorporate green juice to increase your energy boost and detoxify off junk food.
- Add boosters to your juice. Some of the boosters you can add are chia or flax seeds or walnuts, they will fortify your juice with omega-3 fatty acids that are healthy for your heart. Add proteins or protein powder when using your juice as a meal replacement to make you feel full longer, feed healthy, and promote lean muscle mass and increase intake of lean protein in your diet.
- Aim to always eat a balanced diet. Juices are good for your health, no doubt about that. However, green juice is not a replacement of whole food. Please do not attempt to substitute too many meals with the juice. The juice will not supply you with enough calories to keep you fueled throughout the day. It does not have enough fiber or other nutrients to keep you healthy nor satisfied. Doing that will only make you fatigued and hungry, this will quickly lead to you abandoning you’re weight loss efforts. By eating a balanced diet, you will make sure that you meet all your nutrient needs and avoid going into starvation mode.
- Don’t fall for the juicing hype. Don’t get it twisted. There is no magic pill for weight loss. Yes, juicing is a great tool for weight loss, but that’s all it is. What you need is to learn how to eat right and make profound dietary and lifestyle habit changes. That’s the long-term key to weight management success.