The verb “to juice” means to extract the juice of fruits and vegetables. Juicing, as a meal replacement or mere refreshment, has become a 5 billion dollar business, and is projected to grow by 4% to 8% a year according to Barron’s. There are more than 6,200 juice bars across the county. Devotees the likes of Bill Clinton, Jennifer Aniston, Gwenth Paltrow, and other celebrities and models have popularized the habit. As Barron’s points out, “The habit doesn’t come cheap: A 17-ounce bottle of cucumber, celery, parsley, kale, dandelion, Swiss chard, lemon, and ginger juice will set you back $13.07 at Juice Press, a raw-juice bar with four outposts in New York and a busy mail-order business.”
Some report a feeling of elation and find their symptoms such as rashes, bloating, constipation, gas, and acne are alleviated when they start juicing. Caitlyn Weeks, The Grass Fed Girl, explains in her article 9 Problems With Juicing, “I believe this is because when people go on a juice fast they eliminate all the possible food allergens that they were previously consuming. Most people are sensitive to dairy, wheat/gluten, soy, corn and other grains. People are also very often poisoning themselves with new substances like soybean, canola, and corn oil found in processed foods and at most restaurants. The removal of these food toxins will dramatically improve someone’s health, which is the same thing that happens on a juice fast along with some other unintended consequences. [A] juicing diet is just a temporary fix and long term juicing can lead to other problems.”
We would consider the notion that juicing is healthy to be a dietary myth. Here is a list of our concerns about juicing:
1. Juice is not a whole food.
One of our main goals, as is outlined in the book Nourishing Traditions, is to eat whole foods in their most natural state. When we drink juiced vegetables and/or fruits, we are not eating the whole food. Juice doesn’t include the pulp, or the fiber. Caitlyn Weeks explains, “Fruits and vegetables come in whole forms for a reason and they have evolved certain nutritional profiles that we have barely begun to understand. Why mess with perfection when we have no idea what we are doing? I just think when a vegetable is pulverized and the pulp is removed from the water there may be certain phytonutrients or natural co-factors that we will be missing. This is similar to the way we now understand that isolated and/or synthetic vitamins are not replacements for healthy foods.”
2. Where is the fiber?
The primary effect of juicing is to remove most of the fiber from a vegetable or fruit. Unfortunately, that fiber is very important.
Fiber from vegetables and fruits helps to keep you full, which you probably already know. What you might not know is that the fibrous part of the vegetable also contains polyphenols, which act as anti-oxidants. Juicing typically removes both the fiber and the polyphenols. As Caitlyn Weeks points out, “The fiber from green vegetables can feed the beneficial bacteria which helps motility. Some people keep the fiber when making green drinks [in a blender] but that can cause problems too [which will be discussed later in this article].” Many people with health conditions such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome are better able to digest well cooked vegetables in broth and soups.
3. Fructose
You consume more fruit in juice than if you simply ate a piece or two of fruit. For example, few of us would eat four oranges at one time, yet that’s how many 8 fluid ounces of juice could contain. That is a staggering 22 grams, or 1.5 tablespoons of sugar. Apples contain even more sugar: 26 grams, or 1.8 tablespoons in a single 8 ounce glass. One orange, considered to be one serving of fruit, contains 9 grams, or under 2 teaspoons of sugar.
Dr. Thomas Cowan, MD, considers fruit to be an overrated food, and advises that we consume local, organic, seasonal fruit in small quantities. He advises avoidance of any dietary regimen emphasizing an increase of fruit or fruit products, including homemade juices which are a source of concentrated fructose. Instead of juice, he recommends homemade lacto-fermented beverages which aid in healing the gut and also with digestive function such as kombucha, beet kvass, and rejuvelac. Instead of beet juice, we would recommend fermented beet kvass.
Similarly, Dr. William Davis, M.D. advises us to include whole vegetables in our diet, but claims that excess fruit can lead to diabetes. “Fruit has many healthy components, of course, such as fiber, flavonoids, and vitamin C. But it also comes with plenty of sugar. This is especially true of modern cultivated fruit, the sort that has been fertilized, hybridized, gas-treated, etc. for size and sugar content. When you hear conventional advice like “eat plenty of fruits and vegetables,” you should hear instead: “Eat plenty of vegetables. Eat a small quantity of fruit.”
Dr. Joseph Mercola, D.O., concurs that modern fruit is sweeter than what our ancestors would have consumed. “The wild fruits consumed by our ancestors were smaller and resembled most closely what a blueberry is today. Modern cultivated fruits are much larger, which means they have a lot more sweet pulp inside and less skin. The sweet ‘pulp’ or ‘flesh’ of the fruit is where most of the fructose is, whereas the skin holds the antioxidants.”
What about fruit smoothies?
While blenders like the Nutribullet, which can be used to make healthier vegetable smoothies, use less fruit than conventional juicers to produce a glassful, they still create problems. “By crushing your apple rather than simply biting into it, you are effectively making a sugary juice as you release the fructose — a type of sugar which is naturally found in fruit,” says Scott Laidler. Usually fructose is contained within the cells of the apple and broken down slowly as part of the digestive process. While you aren’t creating more sugar by crushing the apple, you are making it much easier for your body to absorb.
Keep in mind that some vegetables, such as carrots and beets, also have high sugar content.
4. Oxalates in Raw Vegetables
Some people either add vegetables to their juicing, or juice vegetables exclusively. Either way, we have concerns about them being consumed raw. Dr. Cowan cautions, on page 19 in his book The Fourfold Path to Healing: “Many vegetables are difficult to digest in their raw state, often because they contain toxins that block thyroid function, interfere with mineral absorption or irritate the digestive tract. Green leafy vegetables and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage belong in this category. Cooking neutralizes these anti-nutrients and makes these vegetables easy to eat. Fermentation also neutralizes these substances, as in cabbage made into sauerkraut. Raw salads can be very beneficial, but if your digestive apparatus is compromised, even these should be avoided.”
Sarah Pope, of The Healthy Home Economist, similarly recommends that we avoid juicing high-oxalate content vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, and green leafy plants. What are oxalates in foods and how can they harm our health? Sarah Pope explains:
Frequent consumption of large quantities of raw, leafy green vegetables as occurs when a person drinks green smoothies can be deceiving at first as a person will probably initially feel great after adopting this habit particularly if he or she is coming off a highly processed, nutrient poor diet. The vegetables used in green smoothies are almost without exception high-oxalate foods. Over time, a high-oxalate diet can contribute to some very serious health problems particularly if you are one of the 20% of people (1 in 5) that have a genetic tendency to produce oxalates or if you suffer from candida or other fungal challenges. In those cases, a high-oxalate diet can deal a devastating blow to your health.
Humans have suffered the effects of oxalate toxicity since ancient times. A 2000 year old mummy from Chile was discovered through x-ray analysis to have an oxalate kidney stone about the size of a golf ball! Oxalates can be deposited almost anywhere in the body and wherever they land, pain or worse is the result. 75-90% of kidney stones are oxalate related with 10-15% of Americans afflicted at some point during their lives. As the star shaped crystalline stones pass from the kidney, they cause pressure and pain in the bladder and urethra and can actually tear up the walls of the urinary tract.
5. Goitrogens in Raw Vegetables
As Chris Kresser L.Ac., a teacher and practitioner of functional medicine explains: “Juicing a lot of raw green vegetables can be problematic for people with thyroid issues because a lot of those green vegetables have goitrogens.”
A goitrogen is a substance that suppresses the function of the thyroid gland by inhibiting iodine uptake, and these things are called goitrogens because they tend to cause goiter, which is a swelling of the thyroid gland. Some foods have been shown to be goitrogenic when they’re eaten in excess or if the person’s background intake of iodine is low. These are things like cassava, which is otherwise known as yuca, that’s how I usually talk about it; soy products; millet; sweet potatoes; cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, bok choy; and then most of the dark leafy greens like kale and collard greens.
At relatively low concentrations, if you eat these foods a few times a week, I don’t think it’s a problem, but if you start eating them more regularly and you eat them raw, which we’re going to come back to in a second, goitrogens can actually decrease the uptake of iodine in the thyroid gland from other foods that we eat that contain iodine. Now, this can typically be offset by supplementing with iodine or just eating more iodine-rich foods like sea vegetables or certain species of fish or fish head soup, things like that that are naturally high in iodine, but at higher concentrations, goitrogens interfere with the incorporation of iodine into thyroid hormone itself, and that means that even if there’s enough iodine going into the thyroid gland, it can’t be properly utilized and no amount of supplemental iodine either through food or supplements will be able to overcome that large intake of goitrogens.
Let’s imagine a scenario here where you have someone with hypothyroidism and they’re doing a green smoothie every day, and in that green smoothie they’re putting raw kale or collard greens and a fairly significant amount of those, and they’re doing that because maybe initially they feel good after they drink that, and they’re trying to get the nutrients from kale, and they’ve heard all about the power of green smoothies. What can happen to that person over time is that the goitrogens in the raw kale and collard greens will, as I said, inhibit uptake of iodine and start to make their hypothyroid condition worse, so raw kale green smoothies every day is a really bad idea for somebody with hypothyroidism. I feel like that message has gotten out a little bit recently but not to the extent that it needs to because I have a lot of patients who come and see me who are doing just that and they’re not aware of the potential effects on their thyroid gland.
We don’t anticipate that having broccoli once or twice a week would pose a concern for anyone! We just recommend that you don’t eat it raw; cooking reduces the goitrogenic substances by up to a third, with the except of soy and millet. We don’t recommend modern soy products. It is considered a best practice to avoiding eat several foods off the list below in one day; they have a cumulative effect. The following lists are provided by Paleo Hacks:
Top 11 Goitrogenic Foods
- Bok Choy
- Broccoli
- Brussel sprouts
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Kale
- Kohlrabi
- Mustard and Mustard greens
- Radishes
- Rutabagas
- Soy anything [which we don’t recommend]
- Turnips
Foods with Smaller Amounts of Goitrogens
- Bamboo shoots
- Millet
- Peaches
- Peanuts
- Pears
- Pine Nuts
- Radishes
- Spinach
- Strawberries
- Sweet Potatoes
- Wheat and other gluten-containing grains
6. We need fat to digest vegetables.
A Swedish study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that eating fruits and vegetables didn’t lower the risk of coronary heart disease unless said fruits and vegetables were consumed with high-fat dairy products! Many of the vitamins and micronutrients in food are fat-soluble, which means they cannot be absorbed without the presence of adequate fat. That means that if you eat fruits or vegetables without fat, you’ll absorb only a fraction of the nutrients you would absorb if you ate them with fat. Read more about how fat is necessary to absorb nutrients in fruits and vegetables from Nourished Kitchen. Also, read Want Fat With That? A Surprising Way To Make Vegetables More Nutritious by Tara Parker-Pope.
7. Chewing is part of digestion.
Caitlyn Weeks points out that: “Digestion begins in the mouth when food is mixed with saliva, and some say it starts just from smelling/seeing food. Chewing cues stomach acid production and peristalsis. When someone is only having liquid food they may not send the right signals downstream to start digestion off right. If stomach acid is not released in sufficient amounts food will not get broken down and nutrients won’t be absorbed.”
8. Where is the scientific evidence that drinking fruits and vegetables is healthier than chewing them?
Jasmine Garnsworthy explains that: “Some juice cleanse fans claim that juicing is better for your cleanse than eating whole fruits and vegetables because it’s easier for your body to absorb nutrients, and your digestive system can take a breather from working on fiber. However, there’s really no strong scientific evidence to support the idea that extracted juices are somehow better for you than eating the whole vegetable itself.
9. We detox naturally eating whole foods.
Nutritionist and author Keri Glassman warns against long-term juicing, labeling it as extreme and dangerous, and explaining that they also lead to bad eating habits: “Long-term juice cleansing can lead to deficiencies as well as to yo-yo dieting, which itself can lead to a whole host of problems.” In her article Drop That Juice—Here’s How You Should Really Be Cleansing, Jasmine Garnsworthy writes:
“The best cleanses don’t follow an all-liquid diet, include any weight loss pills or powders and are not meant to be followed for a long period of time,” says Glassman. “Steer clear of a cleanse that requires you to invest a lot of money or requires really extreme practices.”
Oh, and you know your kidneys, skin, and urinary system? Well, all of those things do a pretty brilliant job of detoxing your body just fine, without the help of some crazy, liquid-only diet. “What many people don’t realize is that your body is a natural cleansing system built to detox all the time, if you treat it right,” explains Glassman.
Instead, she recommends eating an organic, whole food–based diet for about four days if you want to break unhealthy habits and reset your mind and body. Afterwards, you can expect to feel less bloated, more energetic, and could drop around two to six pounds.
“The best way to stay cleansed is to consistently eat organic greens and lots of other veggies, and carefully portioned organic fruit and healthy fats,” says Glassman. “[Have] plenty of water, and take out all packaged and processed foods.”
If you do feel compelled to cleanse, take a look at The Nourishing Cleanse by Amanda Love, which we recommend.
10. Damage to Teeth Enamel
Even dentists are concerned about this latest health trend. They’re seeing more cases of acid erosion — the softening and loss of tooth enamel caused by the acid in soft drinks — than ever before. As enamel is the material that protects teeth, softening it can lead to decay, fillings and crumbling molars. Frighteningly, surveys have shown that up to 30 per cent of 12-year-olds exhibit some signs of it. “Juice from fruits has a high acid content and can damage the enamel of your teeth in exactly the same way that a fizzy drink does,’ says Dr Uchenna Okoye, of London Smiling dental practice. ‘If you’re going to drink juices, always use a straw. Never brush your teeth straight after drinking, as the teeth are weakened by the exposure to acid.” Read more about dental health concerns in this article Kale? Juice? Trouble Ahead by Jennifer Berman.
What if I still feel compelled to juice?
Here are some guidelines from Jeanmarie Todd, food blogger:
- Use a 3:1 ratio of vegetables to fruits.
- Always prepare and drink juices fresh. [As soon as you juice fresh produce, you’re breaking open the cell walls and activating the nutrients – the vitamins, enzymes, minerals, phytonutrients, chlorophyll, etc. – found in the produce.A number of these nutrients are time-sensitive. The process that causes apples to go brown so quickly is called as oxidation, or exposure to oxygen. Juice is even more vulnerable to oxidation being that every part of the fruit or vegetable is being exposed to air. Oxidation reduces the enzymes and vitamins in the fruit and/or vegetable juices. Even when there’s no visible color alteration in the juice, as we see in apples, the same process of oxidation occurs.]
- Cook cruciferous vegetables rather than juicing them – spinach, kale, broccoli, bok choy, kohlrabi, cabbages, collard greens, mustard greens, radish, turnips and Brussels sprouts.
- Consume any homemade juices with a meal or with traditional fats including coconut oil, olive oil, raw cream or sour cream, raw eggs, and avocados. When consuming these as part of a meal or balanced with traditional fats and protein, optimal nutrient absorption can occur and prevent uneven blood sugar and an insulin spike in the body.
- Prepare and consume lacto-fermented vegetable juices including sauerkraut juice or kvass such as beet or other vegetable combinations.
- Avoid raw juices as an exclusive way to obtain nutrients.
- Instead of a juice extractor, consider a Vita-Mix or Bosch which will allow you to prepare a blended veggie smoothie and retain fiber found in these foods.
We would add, avoid pasteurized juice. In conclusion: we recommend that if you are going to juice, that you do so at home, with low-oxalate vegetables, low or no fruit content, blended with traditional fats, as part of a well-balanced diet including other traditional foods. We also recommend you do so under the guidance of a qualified healthcare practitioner.
Acknowledgement
I want to appreciate Raine Saunders of Heal Your Gut With Food who did some preliminary research and writing on this topic that contributed to the article I wrote! We are co-creating educational materials for Nourishing Ourselves.
Update
I published a subsequent article on what Dr. Weston A. Price Wrote About juice.
Nourishing Our Children 
52 Responses to 10 Reasons We Don’t Recommend Juicing
Great article. A better way to start the new year is the 21 Day Sugar Detox.
Fantastic article. Anyone interested in juicing should read this article. I think the juicing guidance at the end of the article is spot on. That being said, I am a fan of short-term juicing or sporadic juicing, and I myself use a NutriBullet for such purposes. I also use Pines powdered wheat grass as my green vegetable in such. The bottom line is that juicing should not supplant your consumption of raw and cooked vegetables, except for short-term fasting purposes. And avoid store bought juices. This article says it all. Well done!
Explains SO many of the issues I have been diagnosed with!! Great advice!
[…] a follow up to my article 10 Reasons We Don’t Recommend Juicing, some have wondered if the traditional people Dr. Weston A. Price wrote about consumed juice. I […]
Is it OK to use Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions recipe for a fermented juice, such as orangina?
Absolutely explains SO many of the DIAGNOSED “issues” I’ve been having!! Perhaps, I am pre-disposed to some genetically, but this article really aligns with my long term juicing experience! Very very interesting…
I vitamix my greens and drink one pint daily and have for years with zero detriment to my health. My weight is healthy and consistent and my skin and teeth perfect (or so I’m told). I wish everyone would figure out what works for their health and not what someone else tells them will work.
As for “the healthy home economist” ever since her salivating over Donald Trump I don’t trust a word she says-but that’s me
Jenny, I only sincerely wish you continued good health. The concern about oxalates is written about by many others besides The Healthy Home Economist:
http://chriskresser.com/the-afternoon-sugar-crash-green-smoothies-and-liver-detoxification/
http://chriskresser.com/do-raw-vegetables-hurt-your-thyroid-health/
http://realfoodforager.com/oxalate-4-reasons-to-avoid-it/
http://alwayswellwithin.com/2010/04/27/high-oxalate-foods-can-trigger-pain-and-inflammation/
http://empoweredsustenance.com/oxalates-the-grain-free-diet-trap/
http://lowoxalateinfo.com/top-six-reasons-why-some-people-accumulate-high-levels-of-oxalate/
I could go on and on. It is only one of the concerns we have about juicing but, of course it may or may not be a concern for a particular individual. Even some can smoke cigarettes, which I think are fairly universally accepting as risky, without apparent health issues.
Did you really just compare juicing and smoking cigarettes?
No, what I am saying is that there are people who smoke cigarettes who do so without any apparent health issues. So there will invariably be people who juice may not show any apparent health issues either. The fact that there will be examples of people who engage in a practice or habits without apparent health issues doesn’t prove that it is a healthy practice.
A very informative and comprehensive article, Sandrine! I’m going to pass it along to family members who juice.
Thank you, Karen!
Also, think of it like this: you can drink 5 pounds of vegetables in 1 juice. How long world it take you to eat those? RAW?
We would suggest that we aren’t indented to drink our food in such a way that it exceeds what we would naturally consume chewing. If one wouldn’t eat 5 points of vegetables, we wouldn’t recommend they drink it.
I have juiced before, but found that it always caused me to have very loose stools and diarrhea afterward. It is also quite expensive, and I have found other ways to get my vegetables traditionally which keep my bowel movements normal and regular.
You’ve referenced Dr. Mercola and his warnings related to fructose. But he is a huge advocate of green juicing. Thoughts?
Green juice is great. Just go easy on the fruit
My thought is that we agree with some of Dr. Mercola’s recommendations and not others. There are other recommendations he makes that aren’t in alignment with our perspective, and many that he makes that are. I personally like to focus on principles and not personalities. Ideas and not individuals. Others who were quoted may have other articles that I wouldn’t quote from!
Thanks
This article is very much in line with my experience, and with the advice of master Chinese physician who saved my life when I was having debilitating respiratory allergic reactions to everything I ate – raw foods do not suit my system; too much fruit and juicing worst of all. I thrive on warm, soupy foods, plenty of cooked vegetables – and love to supplement that with a green smoothie here and there. Did well on the Clean Program, which included one cooked high-quality main meal each day.
This article completely and throughly articulates why I don’t juice, and haven’t for years-despite the fact that I have “the best” juicer available in my kitchen!
This is absolutely true. Chewing (and also smelling and even seeing luscious food) kicks off a cascade of events and secretions that make digestion happen. And stripping the fiber out of fruits and vegetables is just counter-productive. Fiber feeds your gut bacteria and slows sugar absorption.
Great article, well researched and thoroughly logical! It’s hardly likely that dedicated juicers will be open-minded enough to re-think what they are doing. Even if it makes them feel good in the short run, they will fail to draw the link between their practice and the issues that will result. Our ancestors didn’t have the electrical appliances needed to juice, and it doesn’t stand to reason that they were missing out on a valuable means to good health because of that. Mother Nature doesn’t work that way.
Huh, surprised to read that this is your overall position. Juicing is absolutely fantastic. When my sister was going through chemo it was a lifesaver. A nice ginger and green juice with a bit of apple settled her right out. After a hard workout I go a green juice with turmeric. When our foster kids arrive in various states of malnutrition, juicing and smoothies get them on their way to trying and experimenting with fruits and vegetables. Try juicing with a child. I think you’ll change your position. How else can you get beet or dandelion greens into a little one? Seriously, involving them in the washing and prepping or the veggies and fruit and allowing them to press the plunger down and create their own concoction is so much fun.
Is juicing the only way – of course not but it’s got so many amazing applications. Try it a bit more.
Dr. Thomas Cownan, MD, of The Fourfold Path to Healing – “Because children have a relative paucity of the enzyme that converts B-carotene into vitamin A, children younger than five years generally do not do well with vegetables. I tell all my parents not to worry about their children not liking vegetables, as this is normal in this stage of life. In fact, because they are slow in this enzymatic conversion, perhaps it is best left to the cow to do this conversion and for the child to eat butter and cream. This is actually probably more as nature intended it anyway.” That is not to say that we should not feed children vegetables or continue to introduce them but, rather not to worry if they don’t want to eat them.
I understand you are convinced of the benefits of juicing and I sincerely wish you well. We simply don’t share your perspective, for the many reasons stated above.
Elizabeth, turmeric is great. According to my reading, it is better absorbed when cooked, and also with the addition of black pepper (for the piperade). It may taste great in your juice (I use it in lacto-fermented drinks sometimes), but you stand a better chance of absorbing the curcumin if it’s cooked.
:) Golden paste. Love it.
My intuition already told me no need for juicing.
Great post, very interesting, points out a lot of common sense that we may overlook.
I’m more concerned about people juicing for total meal replacement, and for extended periods of time. Also, there are problems with oxalates and goitrogens in the dark leafy greens and cruciferous family of vegetables, and high sugar content (and increased absorbability without fiber or fat) of some of the vegetables and the fruits. Those who juice conventional produce instead of un-sprayed “organic” are also concentrating pesticides in their juice!
A good run down of the problems with too much juicing, though it does seem to be part of some effective cancer protocols. Sometimes older folks have trouble with chewing, so blenderizing salads may be helpful. When I have blenderized vegetables in the past I always add a bit of apple cider vinegar and some good olive oil to the mix, so the fat is right there with the veggies. I was into juicing and blenderizing at one point and have a good juicer and high powered blender, but haven’t used either one lately for juicing.
Great post! I just shared it with my dd and her boyfriend who have started juicing.
This article contains reasons why I don’t recommend juicing on any sort of regular basis.
Not a fan of juicing at all. Chew and digest!
I agree with much of what you’ve written, and have found that a great solution for me is high vegetable content juices that I heat and drink like warm soup with my (fat-containing) meals. My body likes those much better than the raw.
A question: I’ve searched long and hard for some research on the impacts of fermenting fruit juices: How does that impact the sugar levels? I’ve been making tonics with 50/50 fruit juice and water, fermented with a variety of different starters (whey, kombucha, ginger bug, etc). I drink 4-5 oz with a meal to get the good micro-critters. It is still a fair amount of juice though (even diluted). What do you think the sugar impacts would be?
Thanks very much,
Sarah
It would depend on how long you let it ferment, since the bacteria gradually consume the sugars. After fermenting for 2 week plus my kombucha is hardly sweet at all, so I add some stevia to sweeten it. Think sweet apple cider ultimately turning to apple cider vinegar. I have a friend who lets her kombucha ferment for only a week or so, because it tastes better, but I’m sure there is still plenty of sugar.
I agree with Chris. In my case, I don’t like kombucha with a even a hint of sugar. Our tongues reveal to us if there is sugar, in the form of sweetness, in what we are eating and drinking. In my experience, our experience of what tastes sweet can change. Now I find that even a banana is very sweet to my palette, but didn’t find it so when I consumed much more sweet flavors. I think that depending on how long you ferment your beverages, the sugar content can reach zero.
Every body is different and requires different ways to receive nutrients. We must find what works for each of us. I go with what my naturpath and alternative Dr says and it’s been fantastic. Juicing, smoothies not every day but regularly. Very low fruit content. Vegan and gluten free. I lost 30 lbs and feel great. I respect your opinion but look at the results. Everything in my body is now balanced and working properly.
I’ve known people who juiced to restore Health, successfully. I’ve juiced with nothing but benefits. This, to me, does not have to be an all or nothing situation. Juice some, eat some. Moderation works . I too, go by results. Not everything is for everybody. Do what you feel is right for you, educate yourself, don’t listen to everyone, it will make you crazy.
I have juice fasted many times. I have felt good while doing this; lots of energy, weight loss, body odor and morning breath go away. However I can’t say much for my teeth at all. Now I have had 5 kids and I know that affects them as well as all the morning sickness. My teeth diffenitly have acid damage bad. I also have mild thyroid issues as well as a lump in my throat and enlarged lymph nodes. My lymph nodes are constantly big not just when sick and they have never gone done when juice fasting. But I did a 14 day raw milk fast once and they went down so much I couldn’t feel/find them. They did come back when I started eating so I’m sure there is something I need to eliminate. Just thought I’d share my personal experience.
The GAPS diet recommends juicing to cleanse and avoid fiber on very inflamed digestive systems, specially GAPS milkshakes blended juices with sour cream and/or avocado, we add kefir to the mix :) we have been doing this and enjoyed it for five years practically every day. Our digestive systems have recovered, toxicity has definetely gone down and we don’t have any of the issues you mentioned in this article.
Our juicing mainly consists of celery, beetroot, carrots and apples. All organic.
I understand you feel well served by juicing. I was on GAPS for an about 1.5 years and only did very small amounts of carrot juice, very short term, on the Introduction phase. I didn’t drink juice beyond that, nor did the GAPS practitioner I was working with recommend it for many of the reasons listed above. I did use grapefruit juice only as part of a flush. I just consulted with another Certiified GAPS practitioner who teaches classes on the protocol, Monica Corrado of Simply Being Well, and she said 5 years is beyond what would be considered the therapeutic use of juice intended to cleanse. She said, “Juice is meant to be a cleanser, not to be done daily, but rather seasonally or on the Introduction Diet. She said it isn’t intended to be done daily for 5 years, at least as directed by the GAPS protocol.”
Keep in mind that Dr. McBride makes some recommendations that we don’t. She “allows for” chocolate and the Weston A. Price Foundation doesn’t recommend it. https://nourishingourchildren.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/avoid-chocolate/
Everyone is free to choose for themselves, of course!
Thank you Sandrine I appreciate your good intentions but I learnt that what a Certified GAPS Practitioner may recommend is not necessarily the same as what Dr McBride would. If you could indicate to me a reference where Dr McBride believes that a daily glass of GAPS milkshake would be detrimental after a fixed amount of time I would appreciate it. I understand Dr McBride does not believe on fixed times or fixed measurements applied universally. And as far as I understand she recommends juicing not as a drastic cleansing tool but rather a very gentle one that not only cleanses but also improves health. I would be very surprise she would put a time limit on it.
I trust Dr McBride hugely, during the last 5 years I have proved everything she says to be true, she just happens to be always right! this has not been the case with any other health guru. Maybe you should ask HER directly about juicing and ask her challenging questions and LISTEN to what she has to say.
LOVE my daily juices and green smoothies! I do rotate my greens to get the complete spectrum of healthy phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals. I have to laugh at pretty much all of the 10 reasons against juicing because at the outset, they sound like dangers. But the truth is, they are taken to the extreme! How many people does anyone honestly know of who is fat and sick from eating and drinking TOO many fruits and veg?? And I am talking FRESH juices, not store bought. There is a possibility that someone with leaky gut could be made ill from too many oxalates, but the chances are still slim. My first question to anyone who says a fresh homemade green juice or green smoothie without junk ingredients made them sick is: Have you taken out grains, dairy, sugar in all forms? Have you gone through an elimination diet to see what foods your body likes or dislikes? Let’s take a look at the entirety of your daily food intake for a week and pinpoint the culprits. If you have leaky gut, it could be anything. I know. GAPS saved my life 5 years ago and now daily juicing and daily green smoothie are part of what keeps me feeling great and it’s what I recommend to all of my clients. MOST people do not eat near enough fruits, veg and greens, so I feel confident that my recommendations are appropriate and healthy.
[…] chocolate, and some eat it nontheless while continuing to be associated with our cause. We don’t recommend juicing, and some passionately defend its merits, and have left the fold of our organization. If there […]
[…] 10 reasons we don’t recommend fruit juice, even if it is organic, and even if it is fresh squeezed […]
Love it! I agree, no juicing. Teaching our kids to eat real, whole foods and to include those healthy fats with vegetables.
I am also PRO Green smoothie! Iv been doing them everyday for about 3 years now with a well balanced organic cooked dinner in the evening! Never felt better!
Respectfully disagree.
Juicing helped lower my extremely high blood pressure after baby number 4.
It was 170/100. Obviously i couldn’t go out and excersise as i was still healing from giving birth.
I was eating a WAP diet and didn’t want to take drugs to lower my BP.
So i juiced celery (a powerful anti-inflammatory). Boom. 3 tall glasses later, my BP was down.
Now I’m not trying to change your stance. Course not. But one should be aware that juicing has it’s place. Fruits and vegetables are powerful medicine and I’ll never be sorry i turned to juicing to heal my body
Thank you. I have learned a lot in this article and it sounds close to the principles of a ketogenic diet. One thing I don’t agree with is the use of coconut oil. In light of the current caution on the ingestion of coconut oil, is this still something you would recommend?
No need to worry. The government report was completely bogus, and it has been debunked by many reports already. Coconut oil is still one of the very best oils you can consume.
Although these are some of the main reasons that juicing is not good for health. Juices are not harmful but not complete food that you cannot relay only on juice for the whole day.