Is Juicing Safe? What You Need To Know…

Choosing a Healthy Life

For most of my adult life, I’ve been curious about what makes for a healthy lifestyle and what hinders it.  Suffice it to say, I have not always lived a healthy life, but now that I’m in my sixties, I likely live healthier than most women my age.

I don’t say that to pass judgment or make me right and others wrong. It comes from having lived with incredibly poor health habits that included a lot of drinking. So much in fact, I became allergic to alcohol. It made me break out in a lot of falling down and periods of memory loss. Okay, I was a blackout drinker. (I haven’t had a drink in 33 years and don’t miss it a bit).

The older I get, the more I realize there are certain things we can do that give us energy… or take it away.

Juicing Is My Go-To Strategy

Something that gives me tons of energy is juicing. What I love about juicing is how power-packed the drink is with vitamins and nutrients.

What I don’t like is how messy it is to juice. When I say messy, I’m referring to the preparation of the juice drink.

The clean up is somewhat a pain in the butt, yet, worth it for a short period of time. To save time, I juice enough for two big drinks. That way, I don’t have double the work on the cleaning time.

Who’s Juicing Good For?

Juicing can be healthy for just about anyone. However, if you currently have health challenges, be sure to consult your health professional before making a huge change in your diet.

Juicing is a great way to supplement your eating rather than replace it. So rather than go from a totally garbage diet to one where all you do is juice, add in a fresh juice drink once or twice a day. You are likely to immediately feel and see results.

Every few months I do a detox/cleanse in order to give my digestive track a rest.  By adding in juicing, it’s like a detox on steroids.

Is it Safe?

Relatively speaking, yes it is. However, as has been mentioned several times in this post, don’t make this a black and white process. Incorporate some juicing into your regime rather than going from one extreme to another. If your usual meal consists of fries, two cheeseburgers and a chocolate shake from the big MacDee’s, well, it won’t likely be as easy to make a change as for someone who already eats pretty healthy.

However, it’s not impossible. I used to be one of those that would have an afternoon snack of the fries, cheeseburgers and shake. Yep! That’s one reason I became 50 pounds overweight. I worked hard for that weight. LOL

Seriously though. If you want to make a safe transition, then it is possible.

What Are The Greatest Benefits?

According to BestJuicer.com, “juicing is essentially nature’s greatest and best tasting form of medicine, as Hippocrates believed. And the gentleman had a very good point indeed. From strong bones, great skin to cancer prevention: juicing is a one-stop solution to getting the body onto a healthier track.”

Other benefits are feeling lighter, giving your system a break, the need to put very little thought into preparing a couple of meals each day, and all the amazing nutrients being pumped into your body.

Can I Lose Weight While Juicing?

Chances are you will drop some weight if you replace one or two meals with fresh juice. However, be sure not to add in sugar for flavoring. The fruits and vegetables (especially the fruits) have plenty of natural sugar. So beware, you could get way too much sugar if you have a juicing regime packed with fruits and high sugar veggies like carrots.

There’s a chance you will get too few calories if you are juicing. According to many sources, consuming less than 1200 calories daily, especially for more than a few days, is not a safe or healthy way to lose weight. Ensure that whatever juicing diet or plan you choose, that you‘re able to consume adequate calories daily.

The fact is, weight loss tends to become more difficult as we age.

Juicing is a way to jump-start what you’re doing.

For a short period of time, juicing can kick start weight loss.

Is Organic Best?

In a word, YES! If you are in a position to afford organic, you will find this to be much more beneficial than non-organic. Organic farming use methods that minimize the use of toxins while building soil quality and protecting water quality.

Additionally, buying organic supports chemical and pesticide-free practices that are healthier for our farmers and for our planet.

In many cases, buying organic supports local farmers. And organic can taste a lot better than non-organic.

Do I Need a Juicer?

Although not absolutely necessary, juicers do a great job. However, there are the very inexpensive, churn and burn juicers. And then there are the more expensive brands that tend to last longer.

I currently use Breville RM-BJE510XL 900-Watt Variable-Speed Juice Extractor.

I’ve had it longer than other, less expensive brands like Jack LaLanne. In the time I’ve had the Breville, I would have gone through two or three of the Jack LaLanne juicers.

If you have a blender, you can start with that. Or a Bullet would work.
  
  

Less Expensive Options

If you already have a blender, that will work fine for a short term juice. Don’t avoid doing a juice simply because you don’t have a juicer. Make due with what you have. When, and if you decide to get a juicer, I do recommend investing in whatever is affordable.

Bottom-line

The bottom-line is this; juicing definitely has benefits. However, it can be a challenge if you’re not in the mindset to stick with it. Rather than do a long, drawn out juice, do one for a couple of days. See how that goes and if you are so inclined, do a longer one the next time.

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