Juicing has been touted by its proponents as the trendy way to detox the body as well as lose weight. However, not everybody is convinced that juicing is beneficial.
For example, nutrition and fitness coach Mike Sheridan did not mince words when he described juicing fruits and vegetables as stupid in his article for HuffingtonPost.
Unhealthy Weight Loss
Why? He has a problem when people swear that the liquid diet helped them lose weight. He argues that any diet that is calorie restrictive will result in weight reductions. Even not eating will make one lose weight but it does not mean it's the healthy kind of losing weight. For him, the problem with people sticking to a purely liquid juicing diet is that they will lose their lean muscles due to the simple lack of protein in juicing. In the long run, the juicing crowd will lose their metabolism along with the loss of their lean muscles. And most experts would agree that revving up one's metabolism and increase lean muscle mass is the way to go for a sustainable weight management approach.
Whole Fruit is Healthier
Sheridan also explains that people who think that juicing their fruits in addition to regular meals is the best way approach are also wrong. Juicing removes the fiber in fruits that would have helped in controlling blood sugar levels. As a result, fruit juices no matter how natural has a higher glycemic index when compared to whole fruits. And that's not a good thing.
It is not only Sheridan who warns of the hidden dieting traps of juicing. Citing a study done by Harvard, a Wikipedia article points out that consuming fruit juices increased the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. On the other hand, consuming whole fruits significantly reduced the risk.
In addition, Sheridan says that juicing effectively removes the greatest health benefits of fruits and vegetables - fiber and antioxidants - leaving behind a diabetic's nightmare mix of glucose and fructose.
A CNN article by Jacque Wilson agrees to Sheridan's analysis of the juicing trend. Furthermore, it concludes that juicing might help loss some weight in the short term but once the body's metabolism is wrecked by the juicing diet, it gets harder to shed more pounds. And then again, nobody really wants to take a liquid diet for life.
