The journey to healthy eating can be a bit complicated with some half-truths and uncertainties, especially when it comes to consuming drinkable vegetables and fruits. Many people believe that fruits and vegetables should be eaten raw or cooked, while others say that juicing is a good alternative. There are many juice cleanse diets out there, and some people consider them as just a fad, while others swear by them. Let's take a look at the pros and cons of juicing:
Pros
- Boost of Nutrients: This is a great way to add more vegetables and fruits to your daily diet. Although it is more effective to eat fruits and vegetables, drinking them is better than not eating them at all.
- Convenience: These are great on-the-go meals when you're in a hurry. You can make the juice in advance, or even make a big batch and freeze it for later.
- More Variety: You can mix a variety of fruits and vegetables, even ones you don't like. It's a surefire way to get the nutrients you've been missing.
- Use of Ripe Vegetables and Fruits: Many people routinely throw away ripe vegetables and fruits. However, juicing is a great way to reduce waste. Plus, ripe vegetables and fruits provide even better flavor!
Cons
- High Cost: The reason for the high cost of juicing is the raw materials and labor. Juicing is labor-intensive because it involves sourcing produce, washing, peeling and slicing it, and then juicing it, not to mention cleaning up afterwards. Also, it needs a good quality juicer machine. Even if you already have a juicer at home, you'll need a lot of vegetables and/or fruit to get the right amount of juice from it.
- Low Fiber: Juicing vegetables and fruits means you're getting less fiber than you would get by eating them all. Since you've removed the nutrient-rich pulp, you've lost fiber and reduced levels of other key minerals and vitamins.
- Too Much Sugar: Even homemade fruit juices have more sugar. Increasing the fruit content of your juice means you'll be consuming more sugar. For example, eating one apple gets you about 10 grams of natural sugar, but if you eat apple juice, you'll need about 3 to 6 apples, depending on their size and the amount of juice you want to drink. That means over 30 grams of sugar! It is best to juice more vegetables to reduce sugar consumption.
Juicing has many advantages and disadvantages. However, since most people only eat two to three of the recommended five servings of vegetables and three servings of fruit each day, juicing is actually a good idea to at least give your body some of the nutrients it needs.