Eating fresh fruits and vegetables is the best way to ingest healthy vitamins and minerals.
However, a new trend hitting the wellness scene involves squeezing the produce and drinking the fresh juices.
While juicing is a healthy alternative to eating fruits and vegetables, the juice should not replace fresh produce in any diet.
Outpatient Dietitian at Inspira Medical Center Woodbury Stephanie Smith, RD. CDE., said replacing one meal with fruit and vegetable juice is safe, but to go to the juicing extreme in search of health and wellness can backfire.
“If you replace one meal with a fruit and vegetable juice, there’s no risk, but the problem with a juice fast or diet is that you miss out on proteins and nutrients that you get if you just eat your fruits and vegetables,” Smith said. “If you want to do it for a couple days to jump start your weight loss, that’s fine, but for more of a long-term juicing diet, just replace one or two meals with juice.”
Rachel Griehs, registered dietitian and clinical associate professor on nutritional sciences at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, School of Health Related Professions, said juicing is a “good thing if you don’t like to eat fruits and vegetables.”
“If it’s the only way you’re going to get your fruits and vegetables, then it’s good to juice,” Griehs said.
She agrees with Smith that it’s better to eat the entire fruit or vegetable in order to get all the health benefits.
“The problem with juicing is, you benefit from the whole fruit or vegetable because you get all the fiber and satiety,” Griehs said.
She said satiety, or the sensation of feeling full, comes from the fiber and other nutrients that accompanies eating the actual produce.
If you only drink the juice, you won’t feel full, Griehs said, and you can also take in a lot of extra calories.
“A medium piece of fruit can have up to 60 calories,” she said. “Eating one apple will satisfy you, but if you juice it, you’ll only get about four ounces of juice. So you add more fruit to make it a bigger glass of juice, which adds more calories.”
Smith said by simply drinking juice, you also run the risk of eating something unhealthy.
“When you just drink the juice, you don’t get the fiber and will eventually want to eat something, which will lead to cheating,” she said.
Griehs said the best juice recipes are a mix of fruits and vegetables.
“Three cups of leafy, green vegetables is 25 calories,” she said. “The best thing to do is to add vegetables because they are all low in calories, then add a fruit for some sweetness. Carrots also add a lot of sweetness.”
“I have done both a juice fast as well as casual juicing,” DiTomasso said. “Once you’ve tasted freshly juiced orange, apple and pineapple juices, you’ll fall in love.”
She also agrees that adding vegetables such as carrots enhances the flavor.
“There are some great blends that involve fruit and vegetable combinations such as carrot and orange, and apple and ginger,” she said.
So, while juicing is a good way to get your daily intake of fruits and vegetables, don’t write off good, old-fashioned whole, fresh produce.
“The satiety you get from fruits and vegetables makes you feel nice and full,” Griehs said. “You won’t get the same feeling when you drink a glass of juice. If you juice for an entire week, you will be really hungry because all the calories you’re getting are from juice, it’s liquid calories.”
Not only will you be hungry and tempted to cheat, Griehs said you will most likely gain back any weight you lose when you go back to a regular, balanced diet.
“The best thing to do is integrate juicing into your regular, well-balanced diet,” she said.