To Juice…Or Not To Juice…

To Juice or not to Juice, this is the debate amongst health practitioners. I have raw-foody friends that say “no” to juicing, and I have vegan friends that say “yes” to juicing. So what gives???

The question comes down to nutrients versus fiber. When we juice veggies, we get lots of nutrients but we get no fiber. Pulling the nutrients out by juicing is helpful when we need a strong blast of vitamins and minerals. Fiber is very important because it helps to clean our digestive tract and it holds on to any heavy metals that may have been in the veggies, and carries them through our bodies till they are eliminated. If you are suffering from an imbalance or illness and heavy doses of nutrients are needed, juicing is best. If you are in balance and feel like a cleanse of your digestive tract is more important, eat raw or juice the entire vegetable with a Vita-mix. It is important to realize that if you juiced 15-20 lbs of veggies to get that much nutrients, it would be very difficult to digest 15-20 lbs of veggie fiber. It is possible to make juice with your fiber still in it, but it will have to have a significant amount less veggies. Which means a significant amount less nutrients.

So the answer seems to be, juice to get a nutritional blast, but make sure you are eating plenty of raw veggies to get your fiber. Balance using a juicer and using a Vita-mix so that you make juices that are nutritionally dense and juices that have less nutrients but more fiber to help keep your insides clean and free of heavy metals.

Stay Healthy!!!