I love juicing. I bought my first juicer 6 years ago and I have been addicted since the day I took my first swig of freshly-pressed deliciousness! Juicing, when done properly, can be a wonderful tool to boost the nutritional profile of our diets, promote the natural detox abilities of our organs, and flood our bodies with epic amounts of antioxidants, such as chlorophyll, and tons of vitamins, minerals and enzymes. Do you drink green juice first thing in the morning instead of coffee to give you an instant alkalizing energy boost? Or do you add it to a protein smoothie for a powerhouse breakfast on the go? Maybe, you’ve taken it to another level and participated in a medically-supervised juice cleanse as part of an overall detox plan.  However you juice, it has certainly become a trendy habit that can be health enhancing. That said, there are also ways that people use juice improperly, or ‘juice abuse’, as I like to say.

Are You Guilty of Juice Abuse?

Top ways people ‘juice abuse’:

…By always juicing only fruits and forgetting to include veggies. Kris Carr, in her book, Crazy Sexy Diet, gives a great rule of thumb – think of a 3:1 ratio when it comes to making your juice; three veggies to one piece of fruit. Juicing only fruit is a sure fire way to send your blood sugar through the roof! But when juicing 75% veggies and then 25% fruit, the raise in blood sugar is slight in comparison. Optimally, you would juice mainly veggies, a bit of fruit and then add in some protein via hemp seeds or a protein powder to add more staying power and really help to minimize any blood sugar spike.

…By juice fasting when you shouldn’t be or by doing so unsupervised. Juicing, when done as part of a juice fast, can be a powerful way to enhance the natural detoxification processes of the body. The documentary ‘Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead’, illustrates this. However, this does not mean that everyone can or should participate in a juice fast – especially for a prolonged period of time. When it comes to juice fasts, it’s too easy to do them wrong and hurt yourself, so always check with your health care practitioner before starting. Some people should definitely avoid juice fasting: if your current health is frail, you are underweight, have an eating disorder, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or if you are being treated for a chronic disease, unless instructed otherwise by a medical professional. Also, children should never juice fast.

…By viewing juicing as a quick and easy way to drop large amounts of weight in a short period of time. Using juicing to replace meals and severely decrease calories in an effort to loose weight can get you into some major health trouble. Starving yourself is not a healthful way to loose weight as it will actually slow down your metabolism as your body tries to conserve energy, making it harder in the long run to loose any extra pounds. Eating clean, whole foods in moderation and exercising are the healthiest ways to loose weight. Period.

…By using juice to make up for a crappy diet. Let’s just put it out there that no amount of green juice excuses or makes up for a horrible diet. There are people who believe they can ‘off set’ their gnarly noshing habits by having a glass of veggie juice after feasting on burgers and fries all day. Juicing is just a part of an overall lifestyle to optimize your health. I want to encourage you to care about what you put in your mouth and also care about your overall lifestyle.

In conclusion, juicing is an effective, nutrition boosting, detoxifying tool and when done properly along with getting plenty of other nutritionally dense food, plenty of rest, laughter, fresh air, exercise and love – it is an amazing way to maximize alkalinity, boost your nutrient intake and keep inflammation at minimum. Sounds good to me! Drink up!