The fact that vegetable juice has made an appearance in the American diet is great because as we all know, most Americans do not consume their 6 servings of vegetables per day. Most vegetable juices provide loads of vitamins. When consumed as a supplement to meals or in place of products like soda and energy drinks, vegetable juice is a smart addition to a well-balanced meal plan. Fruit juice can be healthy, but in general is very high in sugar so it’s better to eat your fruits or add a small amount to your vegetable drink for additional flavoring. Large amounts of fruit juice increases risk for Diabetes and weight gain.
The problem with cold press juicing, which has become so popular, is it takes out all the fiber. So while you may be getting the vitamins in the vegetables you are missing the fiber, which promotes digestion and is needed to lower cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar. In addition, it is the fiber which helps you feel full longer and can promote weight loss. Juice without fiber will not only be digested quickly causing a spike in blood sugar, but leaves you feeling hungry much sooner.
One can purchase a magic bullet blender or nutribullet for anywhere from $50-150. It comes with to go containers so you can whip up a juice and take it with you.It is best to drink the juice fresh, but will remain consumable in an airtight seal for 1-3 days. Do not drink after 72 hours.
When looking at your meals throughout the day one should apply the rainbow rule. The “rainbow rule” means including vegetables of different colors into your daily diet to ensure you are getting the vitamins needed. Different colored vegetables and fruits contain various amounts of vitamins and minerals. Green vegetables, for example, have a lot of lutein, which helps clean the liver and yellow foods like carrots have lots of Vitamin A, which help with vision. When you look at the vegetables you eat throughout the day they should mimic a rainbow, with lots of greens, yellows, oranges, reds, and purples.
- Green: lettuce, kale, peppers, zucchini
- Yellow/ orange: carrots, squash,
- Red: peppers, tomato
- Purple: beets, eggplant
The exception to the fiber rule: cold pressed juice would be better than blended juice is if you have leaky gut, chrons disease, or some other condition in which you need to limit your fiber intake. Another reason would be if you were on a medically supervised juice fast because you needed to give your gut a break from digestion. It has however been proven that you don’t actually need to give your gut a break from digestion, it gets the required rest during sleep.
Side note: juicing with beets can change your bathroom habits. Beet juice will often turn your faeces red, which looks like blood. This is a benign condition, but if you expect GI bleeding contact your medical provider.
