After making the transition to a plant-based diet, it's only natural to want to rush out and buy an expensive juicer to make our own juice. However, before you start searching on Amazon for the best kind, watch this six minute video clip from Jeff Novick's "Fast Food - Shopping School" dvd.
Jeff explains how fruit juice is not a natural state of the whole fruit, but actually a highly processed, refined food that should be used very sparingly, as a condiment for extra flavor. A whole fruit contains fiber, is low in calorie-density, and high in satiety, whereas fruit juice has had its fiber and many nutrients removed, is calorie-dense, and is low in satiety. Jeff refers to juice as "liquid calories" that can quickly add unwanted pounds and elevate blood sugar levels as well as triglycerides.
Walking down the fruit juice aisle, Jeff compares the sugar content to a can of cola, demonstrating how the fruit juice has more sugar and calories than the can of cola. Generally speaking, fruit juices are not an essential part of a whole-food, plant-based diet. Those who are young, trim, and don't have any disease risk factors, the occasional use of fruit juice can add flavoring to meals if used wisely and not consumed in large amounts as a beverage. As always, it's best to eat whole, intact, "food as grown," with the least amount of processing.
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(3) Why is Calorie Density Important?
(4) How our Stomach Receptors Help us Lose Weight
(5) Juicing Removes More Than Just the Fiber
(6) Why Caldwell Esselstyn MD doesn't recommend juicing/smoothies
(7) Are Smoothies Good or Bad?
(9) Fiber's Role in Preventing Breast Cancer
(10) The Scoop on Poop