Juicing is indeed a both natural and healthy practice, but that doesn’t mean that it is without its issues. There are some common mistakes people often practice, but most are easily overcome by just being cautious and knowing about them.
1. Replacing Healthy Eating Habits
One common mistake lies in seeing juicing as your one and only source of minerals and nutrients. While it is true that it is a great way of getting into regularly eating fruits and vegetables, you shouldn’t stop eating regular fruits and vegetables. The rule of thumb is to always eat two fruits and three to four vegetables a day – also remember eating different types, preferably of different colors as the color reveals what type of nutrients they include.
In short, juicing contains a great amount of healthy ingredients that many people don’t put in their food, but this alone is not a replacement for food. Sometimes juicers can think that they’re fine to eat healthy in general and grab a hamburger with soda, proclaiming to eat healthy as they also drink juice. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way – it won’t take away the bad calories, it’s more of a tasty replacement for some of them.
2. Ignoring the Left Overs
There are literally hundreds of different juicer on the market, and they all perform differently not only in price range but also concerning what they actually do. One thing that almost all of them do is to ignore certain parts of the fruit or vegetable – what they do really is extract the juice, thus leaving both the pulp and the skin behind. The skin contains a number of unique vitamins and minerals and the pulp is extremely rich in fibres.
One idea could be to include the pulp, or to use both or either pulp and skin in something else – many juicers will take the pulp and skin and use it in a soup or a broth.
3. Not Watching Out for Risks Posed by Bacteria
We like to think of juicing as a mega healthy alternative, but of course all foods risk causing a real health scare. As opposed to the one you buy at a grocery store, the juice you make at home isn’t pasteurized, causing it to risk attracting bacteria if it’s not treated properly or consumed quickly enough. Always wash your hands and the ingredients before preparing a juice, and don’t wait too long to consume it. Some recommend drinking it within a week, but I’d say that’s waiting too long – try to not prepare more than you can drink in that day.
Indeed there are risks with juicing – another one is in changing your diet radically. Always check with your physician before starting a new diet and, as always, be careful.
Leave a Reply