Every year around March — once I’ve realized that January and February were a complete wash and I didn’t accomplish one thing on my list of resolutions — I get anxious. We’re months into the new year and I’m still just as tired, fat, and grumpy as I was before I dutifully wrote down a list of things I would change and promised that this would be the year that I stop eating pizza every night (cheese is bad for you now, anyway) and start juicing up a storm. Except, well, it turns out that juicing is bad for you now, too. Thank god I waited.
You heard that, right? Juicing, the go-to of every one of your health-conscious friends who’s changed their life, fallen in love, and promises to live forever, is over. It’s out. And it’s not just grouchy old me talking about why it’s bad…this time we’ve got scientific proof.
According to a new study published in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, juicing your vegetables isn’t actually doing anything for you and could be more harmful than helpful when it comes to maintaining your health (and your figure). Despite popular claims to the contrary — and I’m certain someone out there is angrily rolling their eyes at this post right now — it turns out that there’s no actual evidence that juicing will change your life. Well, actually, it may, but not in a good way.
From Popular Science:
Juicing was called out for its tendency to sneak extra sugar—and calories—into your diet. When you juice a fruit, you remove the healthful fiber contained therein. You’re basically just drinking sugar water with some vitamins in it. You’d be better off eating a few carrots and apples than drinking a whole grocery cart worth of fruits and veggies in one sitting.
Are you shaken? I am! It’s like everything we’ve been taught to believe about health has been wrong! It’s like when I used to guzzle Vitamin Water thinking it would make me happier and healthier and ended up just gaining five pounds instead (because it’s delicious, but also loaded with calories).
In a conversation with ABC, Dr. Keith Ayoob of the Albert Einstein School of Medicine (not affiliated with the study) reminded anyone who’s juicing that you’ve got something even more powerful than a $600 blender already working for you, and it’s been inside you all this time! It’s your gut, and while it can’t process all those carrots and beets as quickly as a cold press can, it can do it just as efficiently if you just give your digestive system a chance. “Let your teeth and digestive tract do what it’s supposed to do. And the fiber in fruits and vegetables is critical to a healthy diet.”
That means that if you’re on some kind of detox right now, you can stop immediately. Don’t go crazy at lunch, but if you’re worried about the amounts of fruit and vegetables you’re getting and how many “toxins” you’re squeezing out of your body, you should maybe eat a salad or munch on a carrot while you’re watching TV. It’s going to be much more beneficial in the end.
That’s not the end of the study’s war on “fad diets,” though. The researchers also called out the myth that coconut oil and palm oil are good for you, suggested you eat fewer eggs, and reminded everyone that diets that feature fried foods and lots of oils aren’t doing your heart any favors. Should you continue eating gluten-free even if you don’t have celiac? It’s not going to hurt you, but it probably won’t do much either. Instead, you should worry less about whether there’s wheat in your food and focus on eating more blueberries, nuts, and green leafy vegetables. And no, you can’t juice the kale.
