Benefits of Juicing

All juice is not created equal. To paraphrase from one of my favorite movies, "there are two kinds" of juices in the world, my friend: those that you buy and those that you make yourself.

First, let's talk about what you buy. Almost everything that you can find in a store in the United States is pasteurized in order to eliminate potentially harmful bacteria. While this is safer for a big company afraid of lawsuits, it also eliminates many of the most important nutrients in the fruits and vegetables used to make the juice (and other pasteurized items as well, like milk). Enzymes, in particular, are destroyed by the high temperatures associated with pasteurization, as are many of the plant's phytonutrients. Most commercial juice is fortified with vitamins in an attempt to restore some of its nutrients, but many of the most vital elements remain lost and the resulting item is often little more than vitamin-fortified sugar water.

Juice bars, like Jamba Juice, etc, are better because they use the entire fruit. The problem with these is that they tend to avoid using veggies, and fruit alone is high in sugar, especially when liquefied because some of the fiber is lost.

Home juicers recommend that you use veggies as well as fruits. The process essentially just mulches your whole fruit and veggies into liquid. This allows you to easily ingest far more fruits and veggies than you could by eating them whole. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 75 percent of Americans don't eat the recommended five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Juicing is the easiest and most effective way to reverse this alarming trend.

The only potential downside to juicing is the bit of fiber that's lost in the process. However, fresh whole juice retains most of its original fiber and the mulching process creates a higher percentage of soluble fiber, which makes it easier for your body to utilize the plant phytonutrients.

The upside is that it's basically impossible to overeat this way. I've seen people down a liter of fortified orange juice in a sitting on a hot day. Because whole juice has fiber, it's far more substantial feeling and, hence, filling. It also enables those of us who are too lazy to eat whole fruits and veggies to get the nutrients we need with minimal work.

Juicing requires some work. You need to buy fruits and veggies and you need to juice them. Drinking them is the easiest part. There are places that will do this for you. Many health food stores have juice bars. Unfortunately, they tend to be expensive. You can probably buy a juicer for less than you'd spend in a week at the Whole Foods juice counter.