Is this true....

[jazzygirl]

"replacing significant amounts of whole food with juice is a terrible idea."

This is what a friend told me. I was under the assumption that juicing gave you the same nutrients.

[Revvell]

You "may" be getting more nutrients because you have to juice more produce to get a decent amount. What you ARE missing is, the fiber.

Why don't you ask your friend what s/he means by that?

[Mrs. Papaya]

I'm assuming your friend is a typical SAD eater, or even a healthy "standard" eater. Either way, I don't listen to people who have average diets who try to give me advice. That's like someone saying, "You can't eat all raw. You won't get any protein! You need meat and dairy!"

I say this as someone who does not consume most food in juice form, btw. I do juice and have done juice fasts, but in general I eat whole food. I know the lots of juicing thing works for some people, though. You do lose the fiber with juice so you need to think about that. Otherwise, it's simply laughable to think that consuming mostly juice is bad while the SAD diet is not!

This type of lifestyle is going to appear very radical to some people and they are going to react likewise. Just don't listen to them.

[mcster]

This is a cut and paste from a website (they don't like links here). Great read...



** Why Juice?

People juice because they feel they aren't getting enough vital nutrients in their diets. The theory is that by juicing, you remove the fiber and therefore your body can easily absorb much higher levels of nutrients directly into the bloodstream.

This may indeed be true. But there are some problems with doing this. If you juice foods that are high in sugar content like fruits and carrots, by removing the fiber, you will get a high spike in your blood sugar levels.

Habitual juicing of sweet fruits and carrots is definitely not a healthy thing to do, regardless of the fact if some nutrients become more absorbable. These super high spikes in blood sugar are not healthy. You always have to look at the overall effect of eating a food on your health, not just how many nutrients a food has.

Many experts agree with me that juicing sweet foods isn't the wisest thing to do, but they promote juicing dark leafy greens instead. The good news is if you do this you won't get a high spike in blood sugar levels and you may indeed absorb more of certain kinds of nutrients.

But this can cause several problems as well. Your nutrient levels will become imbalanced. Just as getting too few nutrients is bad for you, so is getting too many.

When you have excess nutrients in your bloodstream, your body has to get rid of them or store them in your fat cells. This causes the body extra work and therefore, you're body has less energy and time to heal and repair itself.

Our bodies have a limited capacity for nutrients. There is only so much it can absorb. anything above that amount becomes an overload and is actually toxic. This actually happened to me when I used to take this super powerful supplement. I started getting pains in my side. As soon as I stopped taking the supplement the pains went away.

There's also another serious flaw in the whole juicing theory. What is removed during juicing is also a vital nutrient. Fiber is removed during the juicing process and as we all know fiber is an important nutrient, which helps in the digestion process.

Another interesting point about fiber is that the most nutritious part of a food is often in the fiber. Many of the nutrients in food are actually found in the fiber. An example of this is an orange. The albedo or the white skin of an orange is loaded with phytonutrients. That healthy fiber is removed in the juicing process.

In my opinion, juicing makes a food less nutritious, not more nutritious. I personally know some people who started getting constipation when they started juicing. It's no wonder since they are removing the fiber from the food.

A raw food diet is great because it's very high in fiber, why remove that fiber by juicing?

** My Results With Juicing:

The most juicing I ever did was before I ever went on a 100% raw food diet. I can tell you that extensive juicing did little if anything to improve my health. I was as depressed and miserable as ever.

But going raw made quick and dramatic improvements in many areas of my health. There is no comparison. There is so much more to health than just vitamins, minerals and nutrients.

** What You Don't Eat, Is More Important Than What You Do Eat:

One of the most important aspects of going 100% raw is what you don't eat. Because when you stop eating toxic: cooked, processed and chemical laden foods, you lower your intake of toxins dramatically.

This is actually much more important than the nutrients you take in. Because most people have enough nutrients and in many cases they have an overload of nutrients.

Everyone wants to believe they can take a magic pill or juice and their health will all of a sudden become better. But their nutrient levels are probably alright to begin with. On a health scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, for most people, nutrients only count as a 1 to 3 in importance to their overall health.

But lowering your toxic load by eating raw, is at least an 8-10 in importance for most people. So if you could sell a supplement that could truly lower your toxic load then that indeed would be the magic pill.

But there is no such supplement, although many supplements manufacturers try to make that claim. The only way to ideal health is to eat a 100% raw food diet, which also happens to be made up of the true superfoods for humans, raw fruits and vegetables.

The other big problem with juicing is how time consuming and expensive it is. You have to buy so much extra food to turn it into a decent amount of juice. You have to use about 8 to 12 carrots for a large glass of juice.

What I hated the most was all the preparation and clean up time. Making juices took a long time because all the foods had to be cleaned and cut into small pieces. Then the cleanup took another 15 minutes or more. It's a true waste of time and money and you get an inferior product as a result.

** A Powerful Alternative To Juicing:

I like to blend my foods with a high-powered blender like the Vita-Mix 5000. The great thing about using the Vita-Mix is that you can make whole food juices. That way all the nutrients are in the food including the fiber. It's a whole food.

It's the ultimate kitchen tool for the raw foodist. So many of us use a Vita-Mix many times a day to quickly make delicious meals. There are several reasons I can think of why owning a Vita-Mix will help you to succeed at going raw. For one thing it makes eating raw even more delicious.

Let's say you want to eat breakfast. Maybe you're bored of just eating mono meals of bananas and other fruits. You can quickly and easily make delicious raw smoothies. (Note you can do this with a regular blender as well, but preparation time and clean up time is a bit longer with a regular blender.)

A favorite of smoothie of mine is wild blueberry / banana. It tastes unbelievably good when you use really ripe bananas with just the right amount of wild blueberries. Regular blueberries also taste pretty good, but the wild ones taste even better to me and their antioxidant levels are much higher.

What about making a strawberry / banana smoothie? It tastes great as well and is a surprisingly compatible food combination. Normally it's not recommended to eat acid fruits and sweet fruits together.

So a Vita-Mix can help you to add variety and improve the flavors of your raw foods. It helps you to stay raw because you can make so many great tasting raw food recipes with it.

But it also does something else. It helps you to eat more food. For some of you that is a problem, when you go raw you just don’t eat enough calories, you're not used to stretching out your stomach and so you can get really skinny and lack energy.

By making smoothies you'll find it easier to eat more bananas than without smoothies. Therefore, it can help you to get enough calories during the day. For some reason it's just easier to eat more when the bananas are in the form of a smoothie.

This is a good trick for people who become underweight on a raw diet.

Another great thing about the Vita-Mix is the ability to make big blended salads. There are four big advantages with making blended salads.

1. You don’t have to make a salad dressing. The whole salad becomes like a thick or thin soup depending on how you make it.

2. It again allows you to get down more greens. I sometimes eat more than a large head of romaine in a day, plus lots of tomatoes, cucumber and celery with the use of my Vita-Mix. It has a large 64 oz container so that I can make a big blended salad in one shot. Normal blenders I'd have to make two blended salads instead of one because they have much smaller containers. Plus they are much slower and I can't put in harder ingredients like carrots.

3. It saves time as well. Eating a large regular salad takes me at least 45 minutes to eat because I chew my salads thoroughly. The Vita-Mix has done all of my chewing for me. Now I just need to eat a mouthful and swish it around in my mouth a few seconds to let my salivary juices flow and help in the digestion process.

I can eat this big blended salad in ten minutes.

4. The final benefit is similar to what juicing claims to do. There are some people in the Natural Hygiene movement who believe that by making blended salads we can actually absorb more nutrients from the salads.

I don't know if that is true or not, but I know I can definitely eat more greens because of making blended salads and this will of course increase my nutrient absorption.

In my blended salads, I also add carrots. This something a regular blender can't do because it doesn't have enough power. Just one carrot and you've got a full day's supply of vitamin A. Plus carrots are a great thickener and flavor enhancer. You can use them to make low-fat raw pâtés.

If you want to make raw pâtés, you need a high-powered blender like the Vita-Mix. A regular blender doesn't generate enough power to make these pâtés. You can also grind flax seed or any seeds into a fine powder or flower.

For a summer treat, you can make the most delicious, low fat, raw ice creams. This is a powerful tool for the aspiring raw foodist. I highly recommend you get one for yourself. It makes raw eating more fun than ever.

[proteus]

"replacing significant amounts of whole food with juice is a terrible idea."

replacing whole foods with anything is not the best idea. adding significant amounts juice to any diet is a great idea.

[sport]

Fasting has been part of many ancient cultures and is widely held to be very benificial to your health.
It is not something that us raw food people thought up in the 20th century.

[proteus]

Fasting has been part of many ancient cultures and is widely held to be very benificial to your health.
It is not something that us raw food people thought up in the 20th century.

human sacrifice was also a part of many ancient cultures - does that make it a good thing ?

fasting was usually in a religious context - was it not ?

[mcster]

Fasting has been part of many ancient cultures and is widely held to be very benificial to your health.
It is not something that us raw food people thought up in the 20th century.

Just to clarify, fasting and cleansing are two very different things that often get confused. One consists of drinking water. The other consists of drinking liquids with nutrients, typically juices of some sort. I've never done a fast but I did a fruit juice cleanse for 30 days once. It was a phenomenal experience with clear health benefits. Drinking juice allows your organs to rest while nutrients allow them to restore themselves and provide you with vital energy. I'm not sure it would be a smart idea to continue with such a diet on a prolonged basis but as a cleanse (regular maintenance) and in addition to regular meals, they are a great idea IMO.

[jazzygirl]

replacing whole foods with anything is not the best idea. adding significant amounts juice to any diet is a great idea.

Exactly... I am not replacing anything. I have added more veggies to my diet since I began juicing and an apple a day! I never eat apples~!

BTW... what is SAD?

Mcster, thanks for the great article!

[Stina]

I don't agree that fiber is a nutrient......... it's more of a mechanical action. Believe it or not some people thrive without it, bowels are capable of adapting.

[Stina]

Exactly... I am not replacing anything. I have added more veggies to my diet since I began juicing and an apple a day! I never eat apples~!

BTW... what is SAD?

Mcster, thanks for the great article!

Standard american diet........meaning junk food.

[klomasius]

That's done it! I must be severely unhealthy then. I've only consumed juice for the past 32 days! Even though I feel fine I guess I'm at the brink of death! :)

[changeisgood]

I've been juicing for atleast 15+ years - I haven't gotten sick probably for the last 6+ years atleast. I've neveer had a problem with spikes in blood sugar, if anything it balanced it. There's nothing better tasting then fresh orange juice, etc. yum. better then any storebought even from the health food store.
It may take me xtra time - I find the time therapeutic. It's meditative to me, and the veggies, fruit and I have a relationship from the maarket time in choosing my combos all the way thru prep and cleaning - which is filled with love. (We've all heard about grandma's cooking is so good because it's filled with love)
Cleaning takes all of a few minutes - certainly our lives can give a few minutes to something good.
Now that I am raw - I alternate it with my GS (I add greens to my juices-except the oj, ojand grapefruit, or apple/pear).
My blender/food processor works great.
The above quoted material sounds like an advertisement for vitamix.

[lovemy2girls]

Does she realise what is in your juice? Is it possible she is thinking of like...frozen cans of juice, or storebought, pasteurized 'juice' ?

[green goddess]

I think of juicing as a kind of 'supplement' to my diet. I enjoy it most days, usually in the morning, and end up using the pulp later for soups. I find juice is easy to absorb nutrients from, without the fibre. I've done juice fasts, and I've felt good from them. I'm not too keen on the idea of living purely off juicing forevermore, but it serves a purpose and is a rich source of nutrients.

If you like juicing, go with it! It's up to you how much you want to do and what reasons you do it for, as long as you feel good from doing it. If you're concerned with throwing away the pulp, of not keeping the juicing foods intact, then making smoothies might be a good alternative, as it keeps the whole food together, fibre and all. But, again, it's all up to you!
:talljuice:

[Amii]

It's not a terrible idea at all. In fact, juicing can be a great way to speed up the health process. But it's not the best idea to juice long-term and have nothing else, if that's what your friend meant, because juice contains no fiber. Otherwise, she's talking out her... you know what!

[jazzygirl]

Before I began juicing, I ate hardly any veggies.... frozen broccoli or steamed spinach, that was my extent of veggies.

My friend (he) eats entirely raw. He's been trying to get to me eat raw for a while but it's not that easy when I just began eating veggies as an adult in 2008. I never even knew kale existed!

Since I began juicing, I am now experimenting with different types of vegetable, tasting them raw before I juice them. It's been quite an experience.

Green Goddess.... how do I make smoothies with vegetables?

Thank you everyone for your replies :hug

[mcster]

I've been juicing for atleast 15+ years - I haven't gotten sick probably for the last 6+ years atleast. I've neveer had a problem with spikes in blood sugar, if anything it balanced it.

I agree. During my 30 day juice cleanse, I never experienced blood sugar spikes. I felt fully energized all the time. The only think I consumed aside from fruit juice (combos specifically designed to detox), I ate a papaya a day.


The above quoted material sounds like an advertisement for vitamix.

Yes, it can sound that way but I found it to be worthwhile info to consider and share.

[Stina]

I've been juicing for atleast 15+ years - I haven't gotten sick probably for the last 6+ years atleast. I've neveer had a problem with spikes in blood sugar, if anything it balanced it. There's nothing better tasting then fresh orange juice, etc. yum. better then any storebought even from the health food store.
It may take me xtra time - I find the time therapeutic. It's meditative to me, and the veggies, fruit and I have a relationship from the maarket time in choosing my combos all the way thru prep and cleaning - which is filled with love. (We've all heard about grandma's cooking is so good because it's filled with love)
Cleaning takes all of a few minutes - certainly our lives can give a few minutes to something good.
Now that I am raw - I alternate it with my GS (I add greens to my juices-except the oj, ojand grapefruit, or apple/pear).
My blender/food processor works great.
The above quoted material sounds like an advertisement for vitamix.


Love it!

[Stina]

I agree. During my 30 day juice cleanse, I never experienced blood sugar spikes. I felt fully energized all the time. The only think I consumed aside from fruit juice (combos specifically designed to detox), I ate a papaya a day.



Yes, it can sound that way but I found it to be worthwhile info to consider and share.


Why a papaya? That sounds funny! Everyone say "why a papaya" thee times fast!

[Stina]

When people give me bad nutritional advice, I just drolly say, yep, everyone is a nutritionist! Although my dry humor seems to go undetected.

[green goddess]

[QUOTE=Green Goddess.... how do I make smoothies with vegetables?[/QUOTE]

Actually, I don't make green smoothies with vegetables, come to think of it... I use greens, like kale, spinach, romaine lettuce, other lettuces, parsley, collards, dandelion greens, swiss chard, and whatever else falls in the greens category! I was using carrots for a while a few years ago, but found that they didn't combine very well with the fruit in my smoothies. Often gave me a bit of a tummy ache until I figured out what was going on!

I like using (sweet) vegetables like tomatoes, cucumber, peppers in my pulp soups. Using veggies like broccoli etc. in my smoothies doesn't appeal to me!

[Bananna]

just ask him questions about why he thinks that. Whenever someone disagrees with what you think it's the perfect time to explore I say!

It would make me curious, not defensive. :)

[Aleesha Sattva]

I don't agree that fiber is a nutrient......... it's more of a mechanical action. Believe it or not some people thrive without it, bowels are capable of adapting.

they sure are. i had regular bowel movements during my 209 day fast (juice and water days) with no assistance at all. no colonics or enemas.



BTW... what is SAD?


Standard American Diet = cooked foods. (not junk food as stated in another response)


That's done it! I must be severely unhealthy then. I've only consumed juice for the past 32 days! Even though I feel fine I guess I'm at the brink of death! :)

You must be! I had my bloodwork done every 4 weeks during my 30 week fast and my levels were GREAT. My doctor was thrilled. When I saw him last week he asked me if I'm fasting - I said yes and he said, "How long are ya going for this time?" I told him I was just taking it day by day... he's soooo supportive of my juice fasting! :throwhearts: He sees how healthy I am because of it!

Now on to the article posted by mcster. This is not his opinion... just what he shared...

by removing the fiber, you will get a high spike in your blood sugar levels.

Not necessarily true. My A1C was 5 throughout my 209 day juice and water fast and in Canada... that's PERFECTION! I lived on sweet juices and tomato juices. If you are concerned because of issues with blood sugars... just add a little green to your fruit juice. For example: pineapple/apple/cucumber/kale/ginger is lovely!


But this can cause several problems as well. Your nutrient levels will become imbalanced. Just as getting too few nutrients is bad for you, so is getting too many.

Really? I wonder who's blood work they examined to come up with this opinion. I've already shared mine was stellar!


There's also another serious flaw in the whole juicing theory. What is removed during juicing is also a vital nutrient. Fiber is removed during the juicing process and as we all know fiber is an important nutrient, which helps in the digestion process.

Gotta disagree with this one. YES fibre is important in a SAD diet since it's so fibre deficient. But a raw food diet is rich in fibre - so you aren't suffering from a lack/depletion at all.



** My Results With Juicing:

The most juicing I ever did was before I ever went on a 100% raw food diet. I can tell you that extensive juicing did little if anything to improve my health. I was as depressed and miserable as ever.

As Alissa would say... "It's what you are consuming that is NOT raw that is causing your issues... not the raw portion of your diet!


Everyone wants to believe they can take a magic pill or juice and their health will all of a sudden become better. But their nutrient levels are probably alright to begin with. On a health scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, for most people, nutrients only count as a 1 to 3 in importance to their overall health.

Seriously? :LOL: um... yeah now I definitely am going to believe what this article is saying... nutrients aren't important to our body?


So if you could sell a supplement that could truly lower your toxic load then that indeed would be the magic pill.

They do! It's a cleansing supplement - like Cleansmart (http://www.renewlife.ca/products.php?id=39) for example!


What I hated the most was all the preparation and clean up time. Making juices took a long time because all the foods had to be cleaned and cut into small pieces. Then the cleanup took another 15 minutes or more. It's a true waste of time and money and you get an inferior product as a result.

Unless you are eating without any prep (like taking an apple and simply eating it) there is prep time to all your food consumption. I look at it this way... I'm worth the time and energy I put into making myself healthy raw live juices! I'm soooooooo worth the time! :heart

[Revvell]

Not going to respond to this whole thread yet, there are times when juicing is waaaaay more beneficial than any other way of "eating"... Certainly ADDING freshly made raw juice to one's food program is.

.... and, there are times when making and eating smoozies is, as well.

What's really cool is, we have choices. For those who feel juicing "works" for them; they juice! For those who prefer smoozies for ease of making, creating, drinking and storing... there ya go!

For those who wish to create and eat gourmet, have at it!

For those who wish to eat simply... this is good too!

OR!!!! Any combination of the above!! Life and eating are as simple/easy or as convoluted/complicated as you choose to make it!

For me, it's all about playing with my food ~ whether I choose juice, smoozies, blenders, food processors, dehydrators... I've got choices and, I enjoy them all!

A REALLY good series of books to read are by N. W. Walker who wrote about juicing and fresh, raw foods before it became so popular.

Revvell

[green goddess]

I agree with you, Revvell! Everyone has their own choices and chooses what's best for them! Some days I like juicing, some days I like 'smoozies' (cute, my dad-in-law calls them 'smoodies'!)

:)

[Aleesha Sattva]

I totally agree... whatever you are doing... enjoy it! Cause life is meant to be fun!

Now everyone... go play with your food!

[Stina]

Standard american diet........meaning junk food.

Yes Aleesha.......you're right.............I'm wrong!


I've been high Raw for almost five years. Certainly, there could be many definitions of it......it's just that most folks are using it as a general way to describe how Americans eat, which is why there is an epidemic of obesity.....lots of hydrogenated fats, high fructose corn syrup, refined flour products, mass-produced meat. This type of damaging food is very widespread and mainstreamed.

If I met someone who ate macrobiotics or low fat wholefoods vegan, even if it's cooked, I wouldn't say that's S. A. D. or sad!

[Aleesha Sattva]

very true Stina... but it does refer to the 'usual' 'mainstream' 'normal' 'accepted' diet of americans.

and we both know that eating healthy is not within that definition LOL

[Stina]

very true Stina... but it does refer to the 'usual' 'mainstream' 'normal' 'accepted' diet of americans.

and we both know that eating healthy is not within that definition LOL

Yes, Aleesha, that was my point. You insisted it merely refers to cooked food.

Are you having a rough day fasting? Balance in all things.............:) even moderating!

[mcster]

Aleesha: So long as it's clear you're quoting the article I posted and not me, it's all good. :)

[Aleesha Sattva]

good point... i'll go switch the quote markers so it doesn't sound like you. you didn't post who did write the article though.

stina, i was agreeing with you... i guess i didn't write it in a way that it read that way to ya. :hug cause i wasn't insisting on anything. just so you know. i was merely sharing my opinion just like you are sharing yours! :throwhearts:

[Aleesha Sattva]

Are you having a rough day fasting? Balance in all things.............:) even moderating!

and just so you know... I wasn't moderating... I was posting.

[mcster]

good point... i'll go switch the quote markers so it doesn't sound like you.

Thanks. :) I don't agree with some of those statements either.