Juicing?

M's Topic: Your opinion on juicing. Are you for it? Have you ever tried it?

Here's the deal on this one. I wasn't sure what M was talking about when she gave me this topic, so I needed a little clarification.

"Like putting vegetables in a juicer to drink them instead of eating them?"

"Yep."

Here are my views on that.

I'm currently a speech language pathology graduate student. SLPs provide a wide variety of therapies, including dysphagia, or swallowing, therapy. So, if people have difficulty eating certain consistencies, we teach them strategies so that they can eat those consistencies. Or we determine which consistencies are safe for them to eat if the strategies are not appropriate for them. In other words, a large part of the scope of practice includes helping people eat from as many consistencies (thin, nectar thick, honey thick liquids, puree, mechanical soft, soft, and regular solids) as possible to have a full quality of life.

Therefore, I think people who limit their nutrition to JUICE are insane! No matter the length of time, be it one day, one week, or forever. We were born with the capability to develop teeth, for a reason. Our bodies need more than just the nutrition remaining in the juiced fruits/vegetables/what have you. We need protein and fiber, which will be lacking after juicing. Protein helps us maintain muscle and keeps our metabolism going, and we all know how important fiber is! Our metabolism will be compromised AND we'll be our weaker selves!

Ultimately, a juicing diet will lead to fatigue, blood sugar spikes, dizziness and headaches, and our appetites won't be satisfied. If we can't satisfy our appetites, we won't even stick to the diet anyway.

What's the point?? It just seems like misery to me.

I say no to juicing!!