The number of calories in juicing?
by Cathy
(Pleasant Garden, NC)
My husband and I are trying to juice to be healthier. We have done nothing but juice for 2 days and I have gained weight even though I have been hungry.
Can you give me an idea how many calories are in a glass of blended fruit and vegetables? I have done Weight Watchers for years and always heard that juice has many more calories than the fruits or veggies themselves. Will this keep me from losing weight? Because not only do I want to be healthier, we both want to lose some weight.
Thanks, Cathy
Yegyan says:
Hi Cathy, calories are a complete waste of time when trying to lose weight. Calories are a marketing tool used by marketers to sell product. They have very little to do with weight loss.
You can get identical twins and have one consume 2000 calories a day of fruits and vegetables and the other twin consume 2000 calories a day of beer and donuts. One will get fat, while the other will not. Calories and nutrition and weight loss have very little correlation.
If you would like a full explanation of this you can
contact me directly and I will explain why this idea of calories is not useful when you are trying to lose weight.
With regard to what you heard about juices containing more calories than the actual fruits or veggies: the actual fruit or veggie will have all the fiber and fiber will lower the glycemic response of sugar in the fruit and veggie. Any food you eat that causes a spike in insulin will decrease your health and cause fat storage because insulin will do that with blood sugar that is not used.
For example, carrot juice will cause an insulin spike but carrot itself will not produce as high an insulin spike because of the fiber content. So that is what it really means. It has nothing to do with calories.
Just choose fruits and veggies that have very low sugar levels. That's all you have to do.