Carrots...To juice or not to juice?

[teachingking]

I just read an interview with David Wolfe, where he suggests that juicing carrots it not a good idea (see below). Does anyone have any insight about this? I like to include a carrot or two in my green juices.

Interview:

JEAA: So carrot juice is not okay?

David Wolfe: The big orange carrots found in stores, even if organic, are unnatural, artificial creations. Those carrots will not grow in nature. If you plant one of those carrots in your backyard, the bugs, insects, worms, and bacteria will have a field day and chomp that carrot up in about 3 days. Juicing those carrots and drinking them releases so much hybridized sugar into your digestive system at once that the body doesn't know how to handle it! You will feel a sugar high, then the pancreas will insulinize the blood to remove the sugar, you will feel drowsy, and then you will urinate away whatever of that sugar is left in the blood.

[garden granny]

I don't know about David Wolfe, he's kinda out there. He uses tons of raw cacoa daily and that can't be good for ya. I would think carrots are perfectly healthy. I juice them quite a bit.

[belle]

hmm...well what does he suggest for the carrot type to consume???

[Riiiya]

he also talks about that in his book (sunfood diet..) I think he has some good arguments- i myself don't use carrots much, i always thought they were unnaturally big, bright, and sweet (in comparison to the carrots my grandparents would grow back in Ukraine) so that made me wonder..

The same things he says about beets..and bananas. I don't think it's a NO-NO, but i personally don't use carrots or beets much (bananas are too essential for me, i can't give them up:D )

[solarliving]

I've heard that Lung cancer rates could be cut in half just by consuming a carrot a day. All I know is when I used to juice beets, carrots and apples, my skin never looked better and I wasn't eating very well back then. I personally feel raw cacao is worse then bananas or carrots due to the caffeine.

[RawCutter]

i think he is talking about the huge, baby arm sized, commercially grown, bright orange carrots. the point may be valid about those 'big orange' carrots but I buy mine from the local farmers, the ones that do grow naturally in nature. i'm not worried about it and will continue to juice them.

maybe he should comment on the other carrots in the world instead of using an extreme example

[Coriander74]

I, too, don't know about any of that, but when I'm juicing I always use a carrot or two. My body loves them, and I don't remember ever getting an unnatural sugar high.

[Morn]

I juice carrots all the time and don't experience any negative side affects. Of course I am not a professional. I would recommend you trying it yourself and let YOU be the judge of whether or not it is a good idea for your body. Depending upon how you feel afterward should give you the right answer that is right for you. I myself will continue to juice carrots and eat bananas and all the other questionable raw products that don't give me any negative side affects.

[catdeveer]

i don't juice nuttin'.

want the whole thing, fiber and all.

smoothies, i say!

cat

[faith4u]

I,too, love carrot juice and my body loves it too!:)

I often think of all the stories from Hallelujah Acres of healing by using large amounts of carrot juice. Doesn't seem to have harmed any of them but many people have cured themselves of all kinds of diseases from juicing mainly carrots.

[teachingking]

Thanks for the feeback. I appreciate the "reality" check. I'm finding that it always comes back to listening to my body to see what works for me. I'm enjoying a glass of green/carrot juice as I write:)

[Ireland]

For anyone who is concerned about blood sugar issues, simply juice a bit of greens along with your carrot juice. It slows down the absorption of sugar into the blood stream.

[dreamrawalwz]

There are many healing properties in carrots. As someone mentioned, listen to your own body and not the "gurus" word for word ya know? Yes, the carrots and MANY other foods have been hybridized so what's left to eat? NOTHING! haha. So do your own thing if it makes you feel good. I would juice carrots, but I HATE the thick texture the juice has...reminds me of the texture of milk :eek: I practically gag.

[barose]

For me, I cant drink carrot juice. The sugar goes straight to my head and I feel shaky, sick, etc. I thing DW is right on target with that one. It doesn't feel natural.

I might have raw carrots in a salad, slaw or sushi, and I feel fine with that - but no juice; no matter what else is blended with it.

[GoingtoRAW]

I love, love, love carrot juice but I always throw in an apple or an apple and something green when I juice carrots. I just love the taste and my skin looks so smooth when I drink carrot juice.....:p

[SeaSprite]

Mike Nash talks about this in his book Aggressive Health, which is AWESOME btw.. he says the same thing David says, but he says it's worth it for the absorbably nutrients, especially calcium. He suggested carrot juice with ginger for healthy bones and joints, because of the calcium and the ginger is anti-inflamitory. So I've been having carrot juice with ginger every day, and for the first time in my life I can run downhill with no worries about shinsplints, it feels like a flippin miracle ;) What he suggests is to add a bit of hemp oil to the carrot juice, because it will slow down that insulin rush. In general it's not great to eat hybridized foods like carrots, bananas, any fruit with no seeds.. but it's a hell of a lot better than Fritos!!

[Stina]

I want to get heirloom seeds with the old-fashioned carrots. They exist, right?

But I love juicing carrots, throwing the juice in the Vitamix blender with frozen bananas. What a wonderful treat. But that's what it is. Maybe once a week sugar rush, yee ha!:D

[Riiiya]

In general it's not great to eat hybridized foods like carrots, bananas, any fruit with no seeds.. but it's a hell of a lot better than Fritos!!

TRUE THAT!! :D

[Bobbie]

I juice fasted for 6 weeks, sometimes having nothing but carrot juice for a week, sometimes nothing but grape. It cured my psoriasis completely, and didn't give me any sugar problems. Most of us have been raised on high sugar junk food, and our bodies are used to dealing with far more sugar in a day than you would get from one glass of carrot juice. The Hallelujah diet consists of about 1l carrot juice per day and has healed many people of many diseases. Aojanus Vonderplanitz discovered that drinking carrot jucie every day (while still on a normal diet) cured his dyslexia.

I don't care if bananas beets and carrots are hybridized, they do you good.

[barose]

I juice fasted for 6 weeks, sometimes having nothing but carrot juice for a week, sometimes nothing but grape. It cured my psoriasis completely, and didn't give me any sugar problems. Most of us have been raised on high sugar junk food, and our bodies are used to dealing with far more sugar in a day than you would get from one glass of carrot juice. The Hallelujah diet consists of about 1l carrot juice per day and has healed many people of many diseases. Aojanus Vonderplanitz discovered that drinking carrot jucie every day (while still on a normal diet) cured his dyslexia.

I don't care if bananas beets and carrots are hybridized, they do you good.

Since I havent had refined sugar in several years becuase of PCOS, not just when I went raw, its possible that carrot juice was/is too much for me.

I wonder if its just one of those things people who have a history of diabetes or insulin resistance should avoid?

[bodaflower]

Oh my carrot juice is delicious, and it is the basis for my vegetable juices (carrots, a beet w/greens, rainbow chard, a bit of ginger? okay!!! :p)

I do agree that they probably aren't the most natural thing, but I never feel anything but great after drinking my vegetable juice, I suppose if your body was really clean and light, you'd want to watch more putting hybridized foods into your body, but for most of us, living in cities and occasionally eating less-than-alive foods, I think we're alright, and it will get us to drink more vegetables :)

[luckitri]

Under the cold soup thread gardengranny submitted Carrot Soup.

2 cups carrot juice
1 avocado
1 clove garlic
1 inch ginger
1 tsp curry

This is exquisite! Mmmmmmmmm! My bones will be getting more of this!

[garden granny]

Under the cold soup thread gardengranny submitted Carrot Soup.

2 cups carrot juice
1 avocado
1 clove garlic
1 inch ginger
1 tsp curry

This is exquisite! Mmmmmmmmm! My bones will be getting more of this!

It's my favorite.

[Frecs]

i think he is talking about the huge, baby arm sized, commercially grown, bright orange carrots. the point may be valid about those 'big orange' carrots but I buy mine from the local farmers, the ones that do grow naturally in nature. i'm not worried about it and will continue to juice them.

maybe he should comment on the other carrots in the world instead of using an extreme example

My understanding is he is talking about all carrots as we know them. (Even, for the one who asked, "heirloom carrots".) Here's why: carrots are descended from Queen Anne's Lace. Man selected for certain characteristics until something edible was achieved--the carrot. You wouldn't want to eat Queen Anne's Lace. The same has been done to develop broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale...all brassicas come from one common ancestrial plant. My understanding of biology does not make these hybrids. Hybrids are plants or animals that will not breed true. If carrots were hybrids, then you couldn't take the seeds, plant them, and expect to get carrots like the parent plants -- you might get nothing or you might get something like the original (in the case of carrots, Queen Anne's Lace). (Burpee Big Boy Tomatoes...those are hybrids because you can not collect the seeds, plant them and get more Big Boy Tomatoes.) There is a difference between hybridizing and selective breeding.

I don't buy into Mr. Wolfe's theory. IMHO, he lacks basic biological and botanical knowledge.

[rawnpawgirl]

Carrots have tons of wonderful healing properties. They are loaded with beta-carotene, a very important antioxidant. There are numerous testimonials of how people with cancer have changed to a vegan/raw diet consisting of loads of carrot juice and the cancer has been cured due to their immune system being strenghtened and fighting it off naturally.

For a great testimony, check out www.drday.com. You can see a picture of her tumor which is absolutely huge. She did not undergo chemo or radiation. She took the natural approach which included vegan/primarily and 8 glasses of carrot juice a day.

Dr. Norman Walker also advocates it a ton and that man was amazing living well past 100, drinking lots of carrot juice. I have his juicing book and he says turning orange by drinking carrot juice is a great thing! He does suggest using carrot/spinach juice too, which would really help to decrease the insulin spike.

According to Gabriel Cousens, carrots are moderate on the glycemic index and he allows his clients to add them back in at Phase 1.5 on fighting mycosis infection. They can't be that bad. I, for one, am all for carrots and love fresh carrot/OJ or carrot/apple/beet or just adding carrots to my green juice-- though I can't do that for 3 more months cuz I am on the Cousen's Phase 1 where I can't have ANY sugar whatsoever! BOOOOO HOOOO!

[Arky]

Max Gerson used carrot juice. That's good enough for me.


If you're concerned about the hybrid sugars releasing too quickly, then you could consider chucking the juice into the blender with a few flax or hemp seeds (actually, flax seeds are also beneficial for cancer sufferers, if Joanna Budwig is correct, although she mixes flax oil with proteins such as cottage cheese - apparently sulphur is a key factor). But I digress.

Carrots can be extremely nutritious and I both eat them and juice them regularly. I always combine carrot juice with green juices, such as cucumber, celery, kale, parsley etc. Dr.Norman Walker's book on juicing is a great read, despite the dated language, and casts a good deal of light on the subject.


J.

[RawHeaven]

I think David Wolfe may have a point. People who are generally seen as "out there" usually later in history will be taken seriously. Take Einstein & Edison for example. Not comparing Mr Wolfe to them necessarily, so please don't write me about this...hahaha. I'm just saying he thinks outside the box. Which I kind of respect and like about him.

I think he has a point because whenever I've had straight freshly juiced carrot juice, I've felt an immediate high, headache and a sugar rush. When I have carrot, ginger and apple juice combined I'm fine. I will try the suggestion to juice the carrots with greens also to see how it effects me.

Regarding the original question, I long ago gave up drinking carrot juice straight up - doesn't work with my body. Guess you always have to just fall back on listening to your own.

[FloridaPatty]

most of the food grown today.He feels that hybrids are not as good nutritionally as heirlooms and wild food. He is basing it on his own experience after he was raw for awhile, he discovered he could go further if he stopped eating hybrid or even grafted food products.

[Arky]

Hey, SeaSprite, just re-reading this thread, I noticed you mention Mike Nash's book. It's one of my favourites on the subject, too, even though I don't agree with his continual emphasis on E3Live.

Mike has succeeded in writing a far more intelligent and down-to-earth book than the majority of the 'raw' offerings on the marketplace, and it's also written in a highly engaging style. I often recommend it to friends who take an interest in the many raw foods they see me eating. Mike's also recently put some video clips up on YouTube, BTW.


J.

[RawHeaven]

most of the food grown today.He feels that hybrids are not as good nutritionally as heirlooms and wild food. He is basing it on his own experience after he was raw for awhile, he discovered he could go further if he stopped eating hybrid or even grafted food products.

i can respect this...but...hmmm...raw or not i'm still somewhat high maintenance when it comes to experiencing the comforts of life. it will be a long time coming before you'll find me foraging through the forest searching for food. hybrid will have to work for now. :p

[raven]

David Wolfe isn't the only one who cautions against carrot juice. David Jubb, Gary Null, Brian Clement, Gabriel Cousens and nearly everyone else I've ever heard speak recommends moderating consumption of carrot juice. If you've ever seen non-supermarket carrots from local farmers, they look like gnarly little fingers, nothing at all like the perfect, bright orange carrots in the produce aisle. I think we need to take into consideration the experiences of those who've worked with many thousands of people and not dismiss them too readily.

That being said, if carrots and their juice agree with you then I wouldn't worry about including them in your diet. For those who are more sugar-sensitive, it's best to dilute the carrot juice and mix it with green juice.

Suzy

[cayenne]

I don't believe carrot juice is bad when it helps to cure cancer patients...

Like with any juices there can be a problem with the sugars for those who are sensitive to it, but for those who can tolerate loads of fruits, they can certainly also tolerate carrot juice!!! Actually carrot juice has the added benefit of natural sodium, so I believe carrot juice will be big boost for most of us unless you get loads of sodium rich green vegetables, then you don't need them. The same for beetroots.

There is a disadvantage of carrot juice though: it has an excess of phosphor, while the whole carrot is nicely balanced. So the calcium stays behind in the pulp if you have an ordinary juicer, which is not good. You can compensate that with lots of greens though. If you combine it with spinach juice, then there is no problem at all, the spinach will make it balanced. With the Norwalk you will get a lot more calcium in the juice, so that is why the Norwalk can not easily be beaten by other juicers.

Anyway, if carrot juice is good for cancer patients, then I will certainly not believe that it is bad for us.

[FloridaPatty]

i can respect this...but...hmmm...raw or not i'm still somewhat high maintenance when it comes to experiencing the comforts of life. it will be a long time coming before you'll find me foraging through the forest searching for food. hybrid will have to work for now. :p

because I want fruit off them in my lifetime. That's why people graft fruit - you get fruit in a year or two, not 20-30. Plus with citrus, if you don't graft from a tree you know, you have no idea what kind of fruit you get until it comes on the fruit -in 20-30 years. Most of the time the fruit from seeds is not edible.

As for non-hybrid veggies and fruits - I need to eat something. I still haven't figured out how to grow all my own food. Plus a lot of hybrids are edible, which is more than I can say for their long lost relatives.

[rawstrength]

Interesting fact: carrots grown 1000 years ago were purple! They probably are pretty hybridized. You can decide for yourself if they're healthy.

History

The carrot can trace its ancestry back thousands of years, originally having been cultivated in central Asian and Middle Eastern countries. These original carrots looked different from those that we are accustomed to today, featuring deep purple coloring, ranging from lavender to deep eggplant. This coloration was a reflection of the anthocyanin phytonutrient pigments these carrots had. In pre-Hellenic times, a yellow-rooted carrot variety appeared in Afghanistan and was further cultivated and developed into an earlier version of the carrot we known today. Both types of carrots spread throughout the Mediterranean region and were adopted by the ancient Greeks and Romans for their medicinal use.