Juicing: Friend or Foe?

When I start working with a new client, we go over their current lifestyle, including what they eat in a typical day. I find that some of my clients start their day off with a blended juice, either freshly made in their home or at their local juicing shop. Some are looking to lose weight, clear up acne, balance hormones, increase energy and libido, and detox. Juicing in the morning is a better choice compared to instant oatmeal, frozen waffles, or a bowl of sugar-laden cereal when compared to the Standard American Diet, but is it optimal?

Pros of Juicing (from a juicer’s perspective)

Easy to make or grab-n-go

Tastes good (sweet)

Increases energy & mood

Loaded with antioxidants (but, are they?)

Helps with weight loss

Let’s breakdown these “pros”:

 Convenience Factor: Yes, grabbing juices at your local shop on the way to work is convenient and a better choice than that sugar-laden muffin, but that doesn’t mean it’s an optimal choice. Even if you are making your own organic juices at home, that still doesn’t mean it’s the best option. If you’re like me and suffer from hypothyroid disease, then drinking juices loaded with raw spinach and kale are likely to suppress your thyroid function due to the goitrogens. Goitrogens are compounds that interfere with your thyroid’s ability to produce hormones that your body needs. They may also block iodine from entering into your thyroid gland, inhibiting your thyroid to function properly. When your thyroid doesn’t function optimally, there will be a cascade of negative consequences, such as hair loss/thinning, weight gain, brain fog, hormonal imbalance and fatigue.

Tastes Good: Of course, juices taste good, they’re loaded with natural sugars. We have these two very important hormones in our body that manage our hunger and satiety signals called leptin(satiety) and ghrelin (hunger). When we chew our food, we stimulate leptin and that sends the message to our brain that we are full. When we drink our calories, we miss that signal as our body doesn’t respond the same way to liquid calories. Drinking our calories may stop that hunger feeling short-term, but it doesn’t make us feel satiated the way chewing whole foods does. Those of you who are drinking juices in the morning to help you with weight loss, may actually feel hungrier throughout the day because you’re only consuming sugar and zero protein or fat which is the magic equation to reach satiety and suppress daily cravings.

Increases Energy & Mood: Anytime you leave the Standard American Diet behind in exchange for a diet based on natural, whole foods, you will feel better. And, that’s important when starting a new health journey. Some of my clients report feelings of increased energy, mood and lightness (less bloating) when they drink their juices in the morning. However, these feelings of energy surges are short-lived. Eating a diet full of proteins and healthy fats will have a greater effect on stabilizing your blood glucose levels for longer, which will in turn, mitigate sugar crashes that people feel from eating diets high in sugar. Even though your juice is from natural fruit, most do not include the fiber, which would slow down the absorption of all of that sugar, keeping your blood sugar levels more stable. Furthermore, some people have genetic variations that may make it very difficult for your body to metabolize fructose.

Antioxidant Rich: Yes, fruits and veggies are full of phytonutrients that have anti-oxidant effects. But they also contain anti-nutrients. Anti-nutrients are compounds that bind to certain minerals inhibiting them from getting into our cells and doing their magic. That juice comes with a price. The goitrogens I mentioned above are an example. Oxalates, a common anti-nutrient, are found in green leafy vegetables and beets and bind to calcium, making it hard for calcium to be absorbed. For those of you that have any MTHFR genetic variation, dark leafy greens are full of bio-available folate, but should always be cooked before consuming to cut the anti-nutrients down by half.

Weight Loss: Many people use juicing as a meal replacement and detox protocol in order to lose weight. This is a really bad idea. We know that carbohydrates are not essential to life. Protein and fat are the only two macronutrients necessary to sustain life. Replacing a meal here and there with a juice probably won’t cause too much harm, but when I hear my clients say that they always start their day with a juice and nothing else, well, that’s worrisome. As I said earlier, juices will not satiate you long term because there’s nothing in there to signal your brain that your full. The likelihood of you feeling hungry again, sooner than later, may trigger some people to eat more throughout the day. Your body needs protein and fat for every cell in your body to function optimally, to build lean muscle mass (our longevity organ), to make hormones, neurotransmitters, and to support brain and heart health. On another note, many people cannot eat a lot of fiber due to gastrointestinal issues, such as SIBO, IBD, IBS and Crohn’s disease. In this case, freshly made organic juices, without fibrous greens like kale and spinach, may be one way to get in some phytonutrients. Just make sure it’s a small glass and part of a complete meal that includes protein and healthy fats.

I encourage you to be your own health detective and get to know what works for your body through trial and error, keeping notes, having annual bloodwork taken, possibly adding in genetics and micronutrient tests to really hone in on your bio-individual health equation.

This blog is not to be used as medical advice or for making any lifestyle changes to treat any medical condition in either yourself or others. Consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having.