Juicing Is Not a Health Practice - Eat your fruits and vegetables; don't drink them.

Most people believe that juicing fruits and vegetables is a beneficial health practice. Juicing machines are very popular, and even sold on TV. Dozens of juicing books have been written like

Juicing Bible, Gerson Therapy Juicing, and Chris Beat Cancer. This is not a health practice at all for several good reasons. Obviously, juice is not a whole food, since half of the fruit or vegetable is thrown in the trash. There goes the fiber, too. Taking fiber out of your food, when we are so fiber deficient to start with, is obviously irrational. We don't eat enough fiber in our food. We should eat our fruits and vegetables, and not drink them. The juicer ads say, "use the whole fruit" and “use the whole vegetable”, but juicing removes everything but the juice. We are meant to CHEW OUR FOOD, not drink it. You must chew your food to digest it properly, not drink  it. This is why we were given 32 teeth.

We were at a natural health show where one booth had an expensive and very efficient juicer. The lady was juicing carrots, and every half hour she had to dump a big nutrient rich pan of carrot pulp in the trash. People were only getting half of the nutrition in those organic carrots, while the rest went in the garbage. Watching her throw away all those good nutrients was really a strong visual revelation about juicing. That's right- one pound of fruits or vegetables equals a mere eight ounces of juice.

Juicing fruits leads to sugar overload. There is just as much sugar in fruit juice as there is in soda pop, and sometimes more (like mango, pineapple, and other juices). Sugar is sugar is sugar. Fruits contain simple sugars, especially fructose and sucrose. That's right- the same exact sugars you find in white sugar and high fructose corn syrup. No difference whatsoever. The very same fructose and sucrose that cause diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome, high insulin levels, insulin resistance, and high blood sugar levels. Fruit juice has as much sugar as soda pop, and you should not drink any fruit juice regularly because of this. Read the Sugar is Sugar article in our library.

Do you know one big reason juicing is so popular? People are simply too lazy to chew those fruits and vegetables. It's so much easier just to drink a glass of juice than to chew up and swallow all that food. Also, it is much easier to juice vegetables than it is to chop them up and cook them. It's even easier to buy a bottle of juice. You see people on TV selling juicers, and touting the supposed 'benefits" of juicing. Baloney!

You have no dietary need for fruit whatsoever. That's right, you don't need any fruit in your diet at all for maximum nutrition. Please read the article, Fruits Have Almost No Nutrition at www. youngagain.org.  The term “fruits and vegetables" has been severely overused. Fruits basically are very, very deficient in vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. Fruit is basically just water, sugar, and some fiber. Fruits have less nutrition by far than any other food group. Please read the chapter on fruit in my book Macrobiotics for Everyone. You will see a chart of common fruits that proves just how little nutrition is in any fruit. You may find a little vitamin A or C, and some soluble fiber, and that’s about it. If you do choose to eat fruit regularly, it should be limited to about 10% of your diet. Anymore than that is going to give you a sugar overload. Eat temperate fruits, and not tropical ones like bananas and mangoes. Tropical foods are meant for tropical peoples living in tropical lands. Nature has a plan for us to follow.

We all know Americans don't eat enough green and yellow vegetables. Trying to drink your vegetables rather than eat them doesn't work. We are supposed to CHEW our food thoroughly for maximum digestion. If you drink your vegetables they don't digest well, as they are not mixed with the enzymes in your saliva. Most vegetable juices don't taste good, while cooked vegetables are delicious. Asians overall are the best vegetable cooks in the world. Are you really going to drink green bean juice?, broccoli juice?, cabbage juice?, squash juice?, kale juice?, spinach juice?, onion juice? celery juice?

Many claims are made to sell these juicing machines. The real point is to sell juicing machines by making false health claims. It’s all about money, not health. "Detoxify your body", is one of them. How are you going to remove toxins from your body by drinking a lot of sugary fruit juices? “Prevent fatigue and have more energy”. Eat less calories (not less food) and exercise if you want more energy.  “Enhance your immune system". How is your immunity going to get stronger by drinking a lot of fruit juice? “Lose weight". Another Magic Weight Loss System. You can EAT- not drink- all you want and lose weight by eating whole grains, beans, vegetables, fruits, soups, salads- and seafood if you don't want to be a vegetarian. "Better Health" is another. claim. If you want better health it won't be from buying some overpriced juicer. Eat natural foods, take proven supplements, exercise, fast one day a week, balance your natural hormones,  stop taking prescription drugs, and stop those bad habits like coffee, smoking, and alcohol. Read the article Seven Steps to Natural Health.

Juicing is not a health practice folks; it's a way to sell expensive juicing machines.