Juicing is such a hot topic in food and health right now! If you're like me, you watched the documentary Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead and ran out to immediately buy a juicer. I even attempted a juice detox to cleanse and "reboot". Now, after having the juicer about a year, I have to say that while I enjoy the occasional juice and its benefits, there are certainly some cons too. After being gifted 6 lbs of carrots today (long story!) and 4 cabbages, I decided to make some juice. Here's the good, the bad, the messy and the recipe!
PROS:
1. Floods your body with nutrition
Yes, this is a very quick way to get your nutrition in! You can really get your creative juices flowing (lol) and change up the veggies to suit your body and your dietary needs. ;)
2. Great way to use leftover veggies
Say your garden is overflowing with tomatoes or cucumbers...or maybe you over-calculated the amount of {Insert fruit or veggie here} you needed for a recipe. Or you're going on vacation and need to get rid of all fresh produce. Now you have a use for all of that goodness before it goes bad!
3. Helps with detoxing
A quick dose of vitamins and minerals help the liver detox (flush out toxins) naturally. Juicing is a much safer detox than fasting completely, keeping you hydrated and nourished!
4. Easy to absorb
It doesn't require any real digestion because it lacks fiber and other complex carbohydrates.
5. Creates fantastic compost (seriously.)
The super-fine fiber remnants that are leftover decompose way faster than other veggie scraps, leaving you a rich compost for the garden.
CONS:
1. Expensive
Very. Especially if you go organic with your juice (which is a great idea especially when juicing your vegetables), it can cost a pretty penny. A 4-day cleanse for 2 people cost us somewhere between $120-150!
2. Creates lots of waste
It's pretty sad to see that huge bowl/tub full of waste. ESPECIALLY if you do not compost!
3. Messy clean-up
Imagine juice (beet juice especially) splattering your kitchen walls, counters. Pulp everywhere. A juicer that must be washed by hand. This is not a quick and easy process. It takes about 15 minutes to scrub the juicer down, and another 10 to wash, prep and juice your veggies.
4. Removes fiber and it's benefits
Man cannot live on juice alone! Fiber is what cleans our gut and is the food that our probiotics thrive on. Plus, it moves things along...
5. Tons of SUGAR!
Most people like the taste of sweet, so they end up picking fruits and veggies (but mostly fruits) with a high sugar content. While these drinks are delicious, it's a better idea to use the 80-20 rule (80% vegetables to 20% fruits) in order to keep your drink nutritious and cut back on the sugar. One 16 oz glass of juice (as recommended as a meal replacement) can have 90+ grams of sugar if you're picking (for example) apple-orange-pineapple!
(Look how much FIBER and SCRAPS are left over to make just over 50oz of juice!)
Apple-Carrot-Ginger-Cabbage Juice
Carrots - 6 lbs peeled
Apples - 4
Cabbage - 1 softball sized
Ginger - 3 inch piece
Sea Salt - to taste
Pretty tasty and kind of "zingy" with the cabbage & ginger.
