How to Buy Juicers in Virginia

We’ve all heard about the benefits of juicing – from healthier skin to increased energy, the fact that it can promote weight loss, strengthen your bones, prevent disease and cleanse and detoxify your body – but what about the dangers of juicing?

With all the hype around celebrities who endorse juicing such as Jennifer Anniston, Salma Hayek (who started her own juicing company), Jared Leto and Gwyneth Paltrow among others, it’s increasingly difficult to piece together the facts around juicing from the fiction.

What’s more, many of the concerns raised about the dangers of juicing address an all-fruit juice diet, a juice fast or even store-bought juice, but most of us just like to combine juicing as part of a healthy diet and get those organic fresh veggies in.

I’ve put together the top 5 dangers of juicing along with some information that addresses these concerns – so you can make an educated decision about what level of juicing is right for you.

1.  High
sugar content and weight gain

“Juice” has been associated with an increased risk of
Type-2 diabetes and even long-term weight gain. But not all juices are created
equal. There’s a big difference between store-bought pasteurised juices (the
heat from the pasteurisation kills the enzymes) and fresh juice you make from
scratch, for example.  These studies are not referring to juicing fresh fruit and veggies, but store bought juices that many times are not juice at all.

Because juice doesn’t have the fiber contained in
whole fruits and vegetables, your body absorbs fructose sugar more easily,
which can cause your blood sugar levels to spike.  The remedy to this is to juice more green juices and use low sugar or no fruit.  Eat or blend your fruit instead.

The fiber is also what makes you feel full – so you
might actually end up taking in more calories than you should, after all, it
takes a lot less effort to down a glass of orange juice than it does to eat 5
oranges!

And if you only juice fruits – the calories and
natural sugars in fruit can add up and you might even gain weight instead of
losing it.

Most vegetables however, contain less calories and
sugar than fruits – so consider juicing some veggies along with your fruit to reduce
the calories and sugars you’ll consume while enhancing the overall nutrient
content.  

Add a quick dose of fiber by chucking some of the
fruit and/or veggie pulp back in your juice. It’ll also keep you full for
longer.

 

2.  Fasting
Flops

Much of the dangers of juicing affect those who do
juice fasts (drinking only juice for extended periods of time – and often only
one type of juice).

Juice fasting
can leave you feeling lighter, happier and more focused, it’s a powerful
detoxer, can lead to weight loss and increased mental clarity. Juice fasts normally
last for between one, two, three, or more days (you can fast up to 10 days or
more), while some people fast one day each week to give their digestive system
a break.

The downside of
juice fasting is that, depending on the person, any pre-existing conditions and
the duration of the fast, there can be some adverse effects. Doctors
advise that those who suffer from diabetes, anaemia, eating disorders,
nutritional deficiencies, kidney problems, hypoglycaemia or undergoing
chemotherapy, and women who are pregnant or nursing, should not juice
fast. However, keep in mind that juice fasts have been around for a very long time and have been used by natural practitioners to help your body cleanse and remove toxins that promote disease.  

Juice fasts often
lack protein and fat (particularly all-fruit ones). Without sufficient protein,
the body can’t build new tissue. Without sufficient fats, your skin and hair
will suffer.  However, keep in mind that your body stores protein and you also get it from greens in juices.

Longer fasts could result in electrolyte
imbalances, and if you’re not getting enough calories over a long time, your
body may start using muscle tissue instead of fat for energy and burning fewer
calories overall. A liquid diet may make you lose weight in the short term, but
could mess up your metabolism.

So, if the dangers of juicing are so severe,
why is juice fasting so popular? I believe, like many others, that it can heal all kinds of
diseases including cancer, while some celebs even credit their younger looks to
juice fasting. It’s these kinds of alluring benefits that ensure juice fasting
remains in the press.

I recommend consulting with your doctor or
natural healthcare practitioner before beginning a juice fast – everyone is different and it’s best to get advice first.  You can even do
supervised fasting at special retreats with doctors on hand to monitor the
situation.

As for protein and fat – well you can blend avocado for those essential fatty acids and lots of greens including kale and
spinach for that extra dose of protein.

You don’t have to go on a juice fast to be
healthy if it worries you. Have a glass of fresh juice (green juice made mostly from veggies with
some fruit to add flavour is best) as a regular part of a healthy diet and you’ll
get all those health benefits. If you’re really keen on juice fasting – make
sure you do it with medical supervision- and know that hundreds of thousands of people have done it with really great results.  If you want more information on juice cleansing, check out our Juice Cleanse Reset package.

 

3.  Food-borne
illness, pesticides and GMO

Raw produce is more nutritious than cooked, because
none of the nutrients in raw produce have been destroyed by heat. Juicing raw
fruits and veggies preserves all their vitamins, minerals, enzymes and natural
goodness.

But raw fruit and vegetables can be contaminated with
disease-causing micro-organisms and pesticides – leading to food-borne illness.

Store-bought fruit juices that stay on the shelves for
a long time are pasteurized to kill these dangerous organisms (which simultaneously
also kills all the beneficial enzymes) whereas the fresh, raw juice you make at
home or buy at juice bars can become a breeding ground for bacteria.

The raw produce you use may also contain pesticides
or be genetically-modified, which involves the addition of foreign genes (that
would not occur nature) to improve taste, yield or disease resistance. Scarily
enough, the long-term health consequences of eating GMO’s or high levels of
pesticides are still relatively unknown.

The solution? Drink fresh, juice made from organic, raw fruit and vegetables and
keep any left-overs in a sealed container in the fridge. Personally I try and drink
all my juice within a day of making it just to be on the safe side.  This danger is the same with regular food you eat every day.  Organic, clean and non-contaminated food should always be at the top of your list.

 

5.  Dental
issues

As we’ve already
established, fruit juice naturally contains sugar (and store-bought juices
contain even more added sugar). In fact, a fruit juice can contain more sugar
than a soda.  This sugar is not equal.  Soda has corn syrup and white sugar.  That is not exactly the same as fruit sugar.

This sugar is
consumed by the bacteria in the mouth and converted to an acid that can wear
away tooth enamel and lead to cavities. Dental plaque is the build-up of this
bacteria on the tooth surface.

However, studies
attempting to prove the link between fruit juice and tooth decay are by no
means conclusive.

A far-reaching
study by the American Dental Association found no link between juice and tooth
decay among pre-schoolers who drank 100% fruit juice. So, the jury is still out
on this one and the safest best is to practice good dental care.

Make sure you
drink your juice through a straw and brush and floss your teeth regularly.

Some dentists
recommend waiting half an hour after your juice to begin brushing because your
enamel will be less likely to wear away (acid softens our enamel so much that
if we brush right away we can literally brush away some of our teeth).

Drinking juice
quickly is also better than sipping at it slowly over the day. After your
juice, drink some water to help neutralise any acid that may remain in your
mouth.  I also like to use a glass straw.

Adding some
fiber back into your juice can help increase saliva flow, which is a natural
defence against cavities – washing away food particles and neutralising the
acids from attacking your teeth.

Fluoride may lessen
the effects of fruit juice on teeth (though studies about the harmful effects
of fluoride also exist) so brushing with fluoride toothpaste may be helpful.

Fruit juice has so
many benefits that offset the dangers of juicing, so ensure that your commitment to
greater health is not foiled by practicing good dental hygiene and visiting your
dentist for regular check-ups.

 

5.    Potential
health problems

Nearly every health authority recommends that we get six to
eight servings of fruit and vegetables a day – and nearly every one of us
doesn’t even get close to that! Juicing is a way to virtually guarantee that
you’ll reach those targets.

However, one of the main dangers of juicing is that it can lead
to potential health issues – particularly for those who are currently taking
medication or who have certain pre-existing conditions.

For instance, the high levels of potassium and minerals from
excessive juice consumption can build up to dangerous levels in the blood for
those with kidney disease. And the high levels of antioxidants and low protein content
of juice can potentially be dangerous for those undergoing chemotherapy.

The Vitamin K content of greens including kale, spinach,
collards, chard, parsley and mustard greens can interact negatively with those
on blood thinning medication such as warfarin (lowering its anti-clogging
abilities).

Grapefruit juice can be dangerous for those on
cholesterol-lowering drugs (blocking absorption).

Oxalic acid (found in parsley, spinach, bananas, beetroot,
chard and star fruit) binds with calcium to form oxalate crystals that can cause
irritation of the kidneys (and even kidney stones), irritate the mouth and
intestinal tract and block absorption of iron and calcium.

Gout, osteoporosis, kidney disorders and rheumatic arthritis
can be aggravated by oxalic acid. Always drink plenty of water to prevent the
formation of oxalate crystals.

Others should avoid juicing cruciferous vegetables (cabbage,
collards, bok choy, kale and broccoli) because they are goitrogenic, meaning
they can suppress thyroid function if eaten raw.

These vegetables may also cause gas, bloating and stomach
upset – so those suffering from these issues may benefit more from eating them
cooked or steamed (which deactivates the goitrogens).

Meanwhile sorbitol, a natural occurring sugar in some fruits
(peaches, pears, cherries, apples and prunes) can cause stomach issues and diarrhoea.

It really does
sound quite scary. But even with these top 5 dangers of juicing, the nutrients
obtained by juicing outweigh the risks.

Juicing helps your body absorb and
metabolize the many vitamins and minerals that fight disease and support
greater health.

While people
with certain medical conditions need to be aware of the risks of juicing
certain foods, juicing is an easy way to maintain health and prevent disease as
part of a healthy diet.

Juicing basics > Dangers of juicing