Juicing For Weight Loss – good or bad idea?
Would I recommend juicing for weight loss?
It sounds like a good idea. After all we should all be eating more fruit and vegetables.
Fruit and veg contain many vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Plus they’re low calorie compared to fats, carbohydrates and protein (aside from fat-containing ones like avocados), so juicing for weight loss and general health does seem like a good idea at first.
Liquids are quicker to digest and absorb than solid food, so the nutrients get into your system faster.
And according to Government recommendations a glass of juice counts as 1 of your 5 a day (you can only count one glass, more can’t be counted).
But there’s downsides – the fibre is removed, and since you need more fruit in a glass of juice than you’d eat whole, the concentration of sugar is high.
And even though fruit is relatively low calorie, if those calories are as well as rather than instead of your regular food intake, those extra calories may contribute to weight gain or prevent weight loss.
But that doesn’t mean consuming only juice in place of meals is the way to go either!
This practice is often done in pursuit of weight loss, detoxing, ‘cleansing’ and to help bloating. But there is no evidence juicing achieves any of these, and may even cause further problems.
The body needs fats and protein, and to some degree complex carbohydrates. Protein (made of amino acids) in particular plays an important role in immunity and your body’s ability to process unwanted substances (‘detox’ if you want to call it that), so excluding protein in favour of just fruit and vegetable juices doesn’t make sense!
However many people report success with juicing, and most people need more fruit and veg.
So on balance, should we all be juicing for weight loss and/or weight loss?
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