Question on Juicing

[Guest guest]

I've never gotten into juicing because there are

many health books that say that eating the whole fruit

is better than juicing it; that you lose a lot of

nutrients by juicing. I don't want to start yet another

Holy war on this issue, but I would appreciate seeing

some comments on this issue since I love drinking

fresh juice and I guess I am looking for a reason to

buy a good juicer and have it. Thanks.

[Guest guest]

There's no reason you can't have juice AND fresh

fruits and veggies. I've always thought that you get

essentially the same nutrients with juice as in whole

fruits/veg, minus only the fiber. Most of us don't eat enough

fruits and veggies; if you can get more in you via

juice, go for it. I have used my juicer to compensate

for overzealous gardening. Keeps carrots, etc from

getting wasted, and the extra fiber goes right back in

the compost. (Zucchini juice, anyone?)

[Guest guest]

Humans should not need juicers and eating whole

foods should be enough. But in this crazy world nothing

is as it should be. My diet is not that great

anymore and I'm not sure I even know what I should eat.

But if I was going to eat a great big salad every day

or every meal it would take a lot of time to prepare

and a lot of time to eat. It would take a long time

to eat the amount of carrots in a 12 or 16 ounce

glass. It may be best to think of juice as a medicine or

a supplement. If your diet is not ideal (whatever

that could be) then it may be good to supplement it

with some fresh raw juice. It may not be as good as

just eating lots of fresh vegetable and fruits, but it

may be better than not drinking it. It may also be a

better supplement than vitamin pills. Some nutrition is

lost in the juicing process. This varies among

different types of juicers. The sooner the juice is

consumed, the better. Not good to juice in advance and

store it. Also, much nutrition is lost by peeling the

vegetables. Better to use clean organic stuff and just scrub

it a bit. But this loss may be made up for by the

amount consumed. Also, pure juices can be too strong and

concentrated. I usually mix juices with water. It can also be

useful to have a juicer to use for juice fasting. Easier

than fasting on just water. Haven't fasted for awhile

but used to experiment with it. Dick Gregory fasted

on juices for years. He does lots of long fasts on

just water. Sometimes runs long distances afterwards

to prove he is still healthy.<br><br>Juicing is just

a convenient way to gets lots of nutrition in a

short amount of time. I agree that it shouldn't be

needed, but it can be a good thing. Until some recent

laziness, I have made a glass of carrot juice every morning

for almost 20 years. I'm pretty sure that has been

healthy for me and I'm also pretty sure that I wasn't

about to eat 30 or 40 little carrot sticks every

morning.<br>Its got to be better than drinking coffee, tea, cokes

and most of the stuff most people drink everyday. I

really wish I had been eating great salads every day,

but that just isn't happening. Not that much trouble

to make the juice though. Maybe I will get back to

that. I used to use spinach, grate up some carrots,

beets, squash, add sprouts and maybe some dressing with

olive oil and lemon juice. And it seems to be just as

easy to eat fruits as to juice them.<br><br>If you

just want to drink some juice now and then, you can

always just get some at a health food restaurant or

juice bar. Also, you can find good deals on used

juicers. Look on bulletin boards in health food stores.

Champions and Acmes last forever. You can even get

replacement parts for them.

[Guest guest]

namaste-<br>Don't juice fruit ever. Too much

sugar, too much waste. Blend if you must.<br>Juice half

carrot (best base), and greens, greens, greens. Juice

garden veggies & stems. Juice when you have too much

veggies you have to get rid of.<br>I eat lots of whole

fruit, & juice when I'm in the mood. I have an Acme

juicer & a glass blender, and that suits me fine.

[Guest guest]

I am a gastroenterologist with a strong interest

in nutrition. You are absulutely right about the

whole fruit being much better than the juice. There is

a machine called the Vita-Mixer which leaves the

pulp in, so one can get pretty much all the fruit or

vegetable in a juice form. That sounds ok to me.