Juicing: Is It for You?




What is “juicing”?

Pros and cons of juicing






Is juicing for you?

  • Sandra Shelby


  • Vivee


  • john

    juicing saved my life !

  • Tahititoutou

    I am surprised that a person pretending to be a dietitian writes such an article (I am trying to remain polite), First of mall, of course it makes no sense for diabeticsto drink fruit juices : they have a high content of fructose or glucose and contain very little fiber to help dampen the glycemia spike. Most fruits should be eaten, not juiced. And most fruits should no be eaten by diabetics.

    The picture changes totally if we speak of juicing leafy greens and some veggies. Most herbs (such as wheatgrass) and leafy greens have cells that have a really hard membrane (actually 17 membranes) and the nutrients are in the fluids inside the cell. Contrary to fruits (which have soft, fragile membranes), chewing raw leaves and veggies will give a very low yield. You can compare by yourself by chewing an orange, then a leaf of kale, chard or parsley. …Unless you are equipped like a cow with very powerful jaws, potent stomach acids and a return mechanism allowing you to re-chew your food 3 or 4 times. Cows developed such a system precisely because they feed on herbs.

    Most blenders are also useless to open the membrane and make the cellular fluids available to you, unless they are powerful enough to blast the cell open by sheer force (blenders like the Vitamix (2 HP), the Blendtec (2.5 HP) or the
    Waring Commercial Xtreme series (3.5 HP)). However, the powerful agitation and the air vortex can cause serious oxydation of the”juice”. On the other hand, fast, centrifugal juicers, the low-cost variety as well as high cost professionnal units such as Breville, are not advisable neither, because their high speed and heat oxydize the juices. Slow, high pressure triturating (such as twingear juicers) or masticating (such as single auger juicers) actually can open the cells ans extract the inner contents. Of course, saying that this hurts the cells is an understatement and
    the juices MUST be consumed as soon as possible, or immediately stored in vacuum.

    I am not a nutritionist nor a dietitian, but I can definitively claim that, in my case, after a serious study of the subject, I used my juicer (a twingear Greenstar Elite) to control my type 2 diabetes. For test purposes, and the the consent of my MD, I stopped taking Metformin and used juices that have two properties : 1° glucophage (they reduce the sugar content of the blood) and 2° they promote the permeability of the cells to insulin (or, if you prefer, they reduce insulino-resistance). I kept thrice-daily glycemia readings in an Excel spreadsheet and in graph form. Stopping Metformin first had the effect of raising my readings from 6.5 to 20 (milli-mole per liter) (the “normal” (non diabetic) readings are between 4 and 6.) But then the juices took effect and my readings fell back to 7.0. But most of all,
    my friends emitted comments like I seemed to have much more energy, I looked much more healthy. This is no surprise to me since Metformin is only a glucophage while some juice (such as fenugreek, califlower, parsley, some types of tomatoes etc.) actually “reopen” the access of blood sugar into the cells by reducing insulino-resistance. High glycemic readings are an EFFECT ; insulino-resistance is the cause. Removing the cause also removes the effect… After two months and seeing the graphs, my MD cancelled the Metformin prescription.

    So sorry Amy, I can only disagree with your text. Except on one pojnt : there is no real use in juicing fruits. Especially for diabetics!!!