Unless you've been living under a rock the past 20 years, I'm sure you've heard of the juice craze which touts a healthy drink that cleanses your system. Is juicing good or bad? Let's get into it!
If you know me personally, you may know I am a sucker for infomercials - NOT buying the products, but when I see one I feel a compulsive urge to watch it. It's more like an obsessive guilty pleasure, if anything. You may also know that before I went back to school and got a science degree, I was an organic and non-GMO-only juice snob. I still stand by fresh juice (shout out to Blue Yorkie Juicery in Algoma, WI!) being out-of-this-world better than bottled grocery store juice, that is my professional opinion, but let's dig a bit deeper into the nutrition part which is why we're all here!
I was influenced (before influencing was a thing) by my roommate at the time who had a juicer from the Jack LaLanne informercial which, while a product of its time, does state some truths but it is, of course, biased in order to sell a product. It talks about how you can get energy from natural sugars and feel so much healthier, which is true, but it also says a few things I need to point out as a dietitian that is not afraid to tell you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
It talks about how you get less pulp with a quieter machine, and that you can reuse the pulp you do get to make muffins and stuff. I'll get to the pulp thing in a minute but there's some pretty scary-sounding chemicals in bottled juices brought up that you avoid with juicing things yourself, namely preservatives and other stuff which is harmless and not gong to kill you, I promise, hashtag dose makes the poison. Does ascorbic acid sound like a corrosive? It's not, look it up. Go ahead, I'll wait.
It also mentions store-bought juices have a ton of sugar in them, but a homemade juice will have lots of sugar too. I don't think the majority of the ones you buy will have sugar added but regardless - it does not matter if you're drinking a homemade juice blend or a Naked juice with no added sugar, there is going to be a lot of naturally-occuring sugars from the carbohydrates in the fruits and vegetables. I repeat this all the time so here's a reminder: carbs are not bad for you. You would be AMAZED if you knew how often I have to tell people this. A (insert any fruit or vegetable here) is not bad for you and frankly I am ashamed of humanity for making some people feel like they have to avoid produce for goodness' sake. As a highly trained nutrition professional, I will never tell you to stay away from a fruit or vegetable, unless you have an allergy or another medical reason to avoid something, there is no point to stay away from a certain food. Again, I unfortunately have to undo some of the harm unqualified people spew out. How could anyone demonize something so healthy as fruits and vegetables? Our society is awful sometimes.
Anyway, the main thing about juicing is, if that's the only thing you're consuming, there can be dangerous consequences. For instance, if you're doing a detox juice cleanse where you have a delicious and nutritious blend of fruits & veggies to replace a meal (heaven forbid you do this for multiple days), it can cause a bigger-than-usual blood sugar spike, digestive issues, and more. While you do get a nice energy boost from the carbs and lots of beneficial vitamins and minerals, you are not getting essential nutrition from fat, protein, or fiber. First and foremost, that is a big problem, you can absolutely develop a form of malnutrition from that and it happens quicker than people think. As far as "detoxifying your system" - ugh, I have so many issues with this, I might have to save it for another post - main point is, don't! Your body detoxifies itself for free, you do not need a detox tea or cleanse. Frankly, a juice cleanse isn’t much different than colonoscopy prep (though it usually tastes better!). Sure, rest your colon, you’re drinking only liquids extracted from fruits and veggies and sometimes with herbs or spices such as ginger root added in. Sounds fun. There’s something missing in though - your body requires protein every day, so the longer you stay on a juice cleanse, the more lean muscle you’ll lose. Yeah you'll drop weight, but it’s not the weight loss you want. You lose muscle, it decreases your metabolic rate a little because it takes a lot of calories to maintain muscle, what a mess. Adding some protein powder to the juice would help a bit but obviously it's much better to just eat a balanced diet with plenty of fiber from fruits and veggies.
Speaking of that, let's talk about the more general issues that will happen to more people - GI distress and blood sugar spikes! Most people do not need to be worrying about tracking blood sugars but particularly in people with diabetes, a large glass of carbs ONLY is not what your body needs or wants. You need to have a good balance of each of the three macronutrients (carbs, fat, and protein) in a healthy diet for a variety of reasons but the main one here is to keep blood sugars as steady as possible. Blood sugar will rise and fall regardless of whether or not you have diabetes. The body needs balance and a carb-only bolus isn't a great idea especially if that's all you're consuming for extended periods of time.
Similarly, a lack of fiber can cause diarrhea and/or constipation - yes, two opposite problems! How? Why?! There are multiple kinds of fiber which I won't get into here, but the point is that the naturally-occurring fiber that is in fruits and vegetables isn't going into your juice, most of it's going into the pulp section in the back or side of the juicer. This often ends up in trash or compost; you can apparently reuse the fiber in muffins and stuff, but most of the time, I'd rather just eat the source of fiber in it's normal form rather than having to add it into something else. It's like eating an apple versus drinking apple juice - most of the time, I'd rather eat an apple. I actually had an apple earlier today and most days, fresh fruit of some kind is what I prefer versus a juice. Same with a vegetable juice! You lose the fiber content of fruits and veggies when juicing, but in the grand scheme of things, juice is infinitely better than soda for a variety of reasons.
Juicing isn't all bad! It can be a very quick, easy, and delicious way to get some color into your body! It's certainly the fastest way to get in a bunch of vitamins & minerals all at once. It is so easy to incorporate more produce in your diet, especially if you are not a big fan of a certain fruit or veggie but still want the nutritional value they offer! You can also pack in a lot of produce and their nutrients into a single glass for not a whole lot of calories. The good and the bad news with the caloric content is: while it is quite low in calories (like if you're going a whole day with minimal calories such as when doing a juice cleanse) you can quickly feel light-headed and weak - why? Calories are energy, so if you're not getting enough calories in, you are not supporting your body's needs. A juice is a great part of a meal or snack. Notice I did not say a good meal replacement! Ok, I think I made my point, stepping off soap box now :p
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