Juicing has become a popular alternative for weight loss, which is basically a healthy one. Yet, no matter how good something is, doing it in extremes can make it bad. This is the reason why lots of controversy surrounds whether juicing is good for weight loss or not. Truth is, juicing comes with several pros and cons. People say juicing works for them while some dietitians say it’s not a good idea. Let’s find out why.

Juicing is the process of extracting juice from a variety of fruits and veggies. Unlike smoothies, which retains fiber, juicers remove this pulpy stuff. To boost weight loss, dieters add a shot of apple cider vinegar to their juice.

This juice diet is known in other names like a juice fast, juice cleanse, and juice detox. Most juice dieters abstain from eating other foods except for the juice for a maximum of three days. Others who take solid foods or calorie-filled foods along with the juice take juice diet for seven or more days.

Dietitians say that there’s no question to juice diet’s effectivity to weight loss since you’re only consuming fewer calories with no fats. But only in the short run. Fruit juices are especially healthy, but they also have their downsides. Here are a few facts about juicing.

Juicing Benefits

Juicing can provide you with these benefits:

It helps you detoxify

Fruits and vegetables contain tons of antioxidants, which help eliminate toxins and free radicals out of the body.

It gives you a boost of confidence

By taking the first steps to weight loss through juicing, you’ll feel much better.

It provides you with micronutrients

Juicing your own fresh fruits and veggies gives you a rich source of micronutrients, especially when you don’t normally eat a variety of whole fruits and vegetables. You also have the freedom to add other produce that you want to consume in higher amounts which you could not otherwise have as whole food. Juice can provide you a healthy sip.

It helps you adjust to smaller food portions

Shedding calories and reducing food intake for a few days can significantly help you to adjust to smaller food portion sizes.

It helps improve gut health

Since juicing helps you eliminate toxins, your gut gets ample benefits from the cleanse. As a result, you’ll feel much better and have an improved sense of wellbeing that could extend up to two weeks after the cleanse.

It helps absorb nutrients easily

Digestion is much easier since the insoluble fiber has been removed through juicing. The body is also better able at absorbing the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that the juice contains.

It helps reduce produce waste

Juicing can salvage vegetables that are past their fresh states. Instead of throwing away a shriveled carrot or a wrinkled cucumber, you can still make something out of it by tossing it in your juicer. You’re not only throwing things but keeping yourself healthy as well.

Juicing Downsides

These are the downsides of juicing:

It deprives you of the nutrition you get from eating whole fruits and vegetables

Eating whole plant-based foods provides you with the same antioxidants you get from juices. Besides, there’s no need to detoxify yourself when you’re eating the right foods. The livers and kidneys are in charge of cleansing your body. As long as these organs function optimally, you don’t need to stick to a diet that doesn’t provide all your body’s nutritional needs.

It only helps you lose excess water and not excess fats

Your body will shed water when you drink juice and consume less starch. Seeing immediate results may encourage you to extend your weight loss plan.

It makes you gain back weight

After a restrictive juice diet, you’re bound to gain the weight back. As soon as you resume eating normally, you will regain your weight. Juicing also does not provide you the satiety you get from eating a full meal. Consequently, you tend to eat more to satisfy your food cravings, which can lead to more weight gain.

It’s not realistic or sustainable

Since juice diets are effective only in the short term, they’re not an effective way to sustainable weight loss.

It denies you of other nutrients

Though a juice diet allows you to consume more produce, it still deprives you of important nutrients like vitamin B 12, protein, fiber, and fat, which give you a feeling of satiety. You tend to feel hungrier when you rely on juice alone and may increase your food cravings. Missing out on other essential nutrients increases your chances of deficiencies, which can pose serious health risks to your body.

It makes you lose muscle mass

Again, juice doesn’t contain the protein necessary for building muscle mass. If you lose weight without eating proteins, you’re likely to lose muscle mass.

It slows down your metabolism

With less muscle mass, your body will burn fewer calories. Once your body gets the message that you’re low on energy, it will go on survival mode. It will conserve more energy by slowing down your metabolism.

It can alter your gut microbiome

Your gut needs proteins, which support the production of good bacteria. Without proteins, your gut microbiome gets altered, leading to other unhealthy bodily changes.

It increases your stress levels

Depriving yourself of food can be stressful. When stress sets in, you tend to overeat or binge eat, which can make you feel much worse.

It contains too much sugar

Though your juice consists of different varieties of fruits and vegetables, it doesn’t take away the possibility of too much sugar consumption. Fruits are rich in sugars. If you’re not careful, you may overlook the sugar content of your juice ingredients. Overconsumption of sugar can increase your risk of insulin resistance that could lead to obesity or diabetes.

Juicing is great but only to the extent of providing you with a variety of vitamins and minerals, you would not otherwise get from one full meal. You may include juicing in your weight loss journey but not as a meal replacement. Make it as an add-on to your diets such as a midday snack or a healthy sip when you want to drink something sweet.