Over on “Good Morning America” today they were talking about the popularity of juicing and how a lot of people are resolving to do that for the new year.
Sounds like a great way to get more fruits and veggies into your diet, right? Well, sort of. There are many downsides. Just this morning I was reading Dr. Robert Lustig’s Fat Chance and I’m at the part where he warns that all that juicing removes the fiber, which is the most important part for a variety of health reasons . (Lustig’s YouTube video — “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” — has been watched more than 4 million times and pretty much rips to shreds all we “think” we know about what is good nutrition.)
But I digress. “GMA” acknowledged that juicing is a very convenient for on-the-go eating. But ABC News nutrition and wellness editor David Zinczenko also warned that too many fruits in a juice will up the sugars and the calories. And bottled all-veggie juices can be loaded with sodium.
Zinczenko brought something up too few of us remember: A juice or smoother is not a beverage to eat along with a meal. Some of those — at 300-plus calories or more — are the equivalent of a light lunch.
He, too, like Lustig, does bring up that eating a piece of fruit or some veggies is healthier and fewer calories than most juices. Some really good oranges are entering the stores these days: have one instead. — Sue Ontiveros