Juicing:
Packed with vitamins and minerals, anti-oxidents and of course renowned to be extremely healthy for you. Full to the brim with nutrition and goodness we gulp down these delicious, nutritious juices.
BUT Juicing can be bad for you!
A word of warning about juices and smoothies!
Yesterday I watched a video from MotherNaturesDiet talking about juices and smoothies. It reminded me that you need to be cautious and not to over do it.
Fresh fruit and vegetable juice provide minerals, vitamins, essential fatty acids, carbohydrates, proteins and much more.
Normally fibre from fruit and vegetables passes through our system without fully releasing the nutrients to our bodies. Juicing enables us to receive the nutrients directly and in a highly concentrated form.
Whilst it may be convenient to pick up a cartoon of your favourite juice along with your weekly shop, pre-packaged juices are not comparable to freshly pressed juices.
The manufacturing process involved in shop bought juices reduces the amount of nutrients and thus reduces the benefits of drinking juice. More fibre is removed from commercial juices and they are pasteurized and are often blended with a number of preservatives and additives to improve shelf life.
Do you feel tempted to add lots of fruits to your juices and smoothies for greater sweetness? As most people prefer the taste of pineapple over cabbage – a word of warning about adding too much fruit!
Packed with vitamins, enzymes, and minerals, fruit also contains naturally occurring sugar, that has the same effect on your body as sweets or chocolate; high blood sugar and insulin levels = fat storage.
So, what’s the solution? The base of every good juice should be a vegetable – fruits are juicing additives, so use them much more sparingly! Here are a few tricks to ensure your juices and smoothies are as healthy as possible;
How fresh pressed juice can help you manage your sugar cravings
When you get sugar cravings don’t just reach for cake, sweets or biscuits- you are not only perpetuating your craving for sugar but also making unhealthy choices!
When you get sugar cravings don’t just reach for cake, sweets or biscuits- you are not only perpetuating your craving for sugar but also making unhealthy choices!
The sugar in these treats (a simple carbohydrate) is quickly converted to glucose in your bloodstream. Blood sugar levels rise when simple carbs are eaten alone – for example, when you grab a mid-afternoon chocolate bar.
P4J comment about this question:
Fruit juice is getting some bad press at the moment. Is fruit juice the new junk food?
I absolutely agree with Emine Saner and Elizabeth Chaplin in this story that was reported in the Guardian Fruit boxes should be consumed with caution. Concentrated, heat treated fruit juice is packed with sugar and very little nutrients as with heat treating most of the goodness is destroyed. But if you are having fresh pressed juice or smoothies packed with real fruit and veg I can guarantee you are going to be feeling more energised and your immune system will thank you. I like to eat my fruit and drink my veg. With the exception of bananas which are a must for making green smoothies packed with kale more palatable.
Juicing is great because: