Juice Extracting Is Not ALL Good – Here are Some of the Reasons Why
Whether you are juice cleansing or simply trying to get the best juicing benefits to sustain a healthy lifestyle, you could be forgetting one important factor. Are you starving your body of the natural fibre that you can get from the fruit and veggies you juice? You probably are.
If you are one of the many people who regularly skip eating fruit and vegetables in their natural, solid form, your body will not be getting the amounts of nutrients that it needs to maintain healthy functioning. What a lot of whole fruit and veg avoiders do to get around this problem is to juice.
Maximising the Nutritional Value
If you are already a juicer, one of the top juicing tips you are likely already aware of is that the best way of maximising your nutrient intake is to make your juice recipes from raw ingredients. Cooking or heating fruits and veggies seriously diminishes the nutrient content.
The other thing you will probably know is that it is best to drink the products of your juicing endeavours straight away. The fresher it is, the more natural nutrients it will contain.
But what about the fibre content?
Blenders and Food Processors Versus Juice Extractors
If you create your juices by using a blender or food processor, you will be retaining the fibre content. But only if you do not remove the skin before processing. It is the skins where most of the fibre is to be found. It’s not just fibre either.
The pith of citrus fruits and the skins of both fruits and vegetables also contain concentrations of antioxidants and polyphenols. You’ll be throwing these away too if you don’t juice the whole thing. If you are one of the many who use juice extractors, they work by separating the juice from the flesh and skin of fruits and veggies. Once again, you will be missing out on all that fibre and nutrition.
Adding It Elsewhere
If you don’t mind a little “chewiness” in your juice, one way of getting around missing out on the antioxidants, fibre and polyphenols is to add a small amount of the separated pulp back into the drink. Or you can consider adding it to other recipes.
This will work for some cooked rice dishes or soups, or you can mix it into cake or muffin mixtures. As juicing tips go, this is one that will make sure you get the full benefit of all the nutrition (including fibre) that your fruit and veggies have to offer.
Conclusion
If you are going to juice over an extended period then you should be aware that it may lead to constipation. If this becomes a problem then you could add psyllium husks or chia seeds to your daily diet for a period, in order to help move undigested waste through the bowel. Doing so will not take-away from the many benefits gained from a lengthy juicing regime.