The Juicy Truth

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

So lately I've been hearing more and more about juicing. Juicing is by no means a new art. After all, juicers of many varieties have been around for decades. But what's the hype now?

I'll tell you. Nothing. Well, nothing to do with actually juicing, anyway. There are countless cleanses out there that claim to melt away body fat forever, and some of them have to do with juicing. That's why juicing keeps resurfacing.

The actual act of juicing is great in theory- especially if you don't like eating fruit, but you do like juice. I'd prefer you have fresh fruit juice because fresh fruit hasn't been processed or pasteurized. Some of the processes used to make fruit juice shelf-stable can destroy nutrients found naturally in fruit. furthermore, juicers have a tendency to extract a lot of the fibrous membranes in fruit, and we all need that fiber!

Another thing I want you to be cognizant of is serving size. If you like juice fresh squeezed, store-bought, or otherwise- the serving size is 4 oz. If you're juicing, remember- you're supposed to get 2 servings of fruit a day. So 4 oz. of juice counts as one, but that might be far more than 2 pieces of fruit when you juice, depending on the fruit.

I have a juicer. I like to juice vegetables. If you like vegetable juice, that has far less sugar, calories, and carbohydrates. So that is a different story, other than the fiber issue.

So let me give you the run down.
- Best case scenario- I would like you to eat your fruits and vegetables whole because it is way less waste and more fiber.
- If you do juice, don't assume the more the better. A big 16-32 oz. cup of juice (or smoothie, for that matter) can contain upwards of 500 calories or more! Remember the rule of thumb- 4 oz. now, if you'd like to stretch that, add some water and ice and make a smoothie!
- if you're not willing to eat any fruits or vegetables, try fresh squeezed juice. Just remember the things we talked about today!

Til Saturday,

Sarah