Juicing Versus Supplements

by Leisa on May 26, 2015

I love juicing. Fresh juices are my favourite things to drink, and every single day I have about a litre of fresh juice – combinations such as beetroot, celery, lemon, apple and ginger or cucumber, mint, pineapple, kale and lemon. The varieties you can have are only limited by your imagination (and what you have in the fridge!)

Although juices are best when they are made and consumed straight away, I will often juice of an evening and quickly put the juice into airtight glass bottle, and put it straight into the fridge. Whatever loss of nutrients occurs overnight is not something I am concerned about – the benefits of the massive amounts of nutrition still in the juice is what I am after. And if comes to juicing of an evening and storing overnight – or not juicing at all – storing overnight wins every time!

 

When I was studying to be a naturopath many years ago, one thing that really bothered me during the course was the very poor level of education on food as medicine. The course structure gave a nod to food as medicine and from memory there was one semester of this subject, but it was so poorly presented that the students made a lot of complaints and that teacher was sacked after a few lessons. We then had a replacement one who was not much better.

I was horrified. Having studied different aspects of naturopathy for many years prior to gaining my formal qualifications, I was incredibly enthused about the topic of food as medicine – I couldn’t wait to delve in deeper, to be guided by experienced naturopaths who had used these tools in their clinic and fine-tuned the application of food in the process of healing. Boy was I disappointed. Like a lot of the curriculum, this topic was regulated by government guidelines and although we learned quite a lot of detail about nutrition (macro and micronutrients) we really did very little on food as medicine.

What we did study quite in depth though, was supplements. Each supplement company gave out their product list and we spent many a lecture comparing the amount of magnesium in one product to another, or the amount of B vitamins in this brand compared to that one. So that we could best prescribe supplements to our patients when we were in practice. For me, this was not what I went into naturopathy for. I knew that food as medicine provided the foundation for health and that cannot be found in a vitamin pill. Supplements do have their place and I do use them often, however they are not used in the place of wholefood as found in nature. They are short term to correct a deficiency, provide specific nutrients for healing a specific condition, or supplying herbal medicine to a patient who is ill. They are not meant as a day to day ‘quick-fix’ in place of food.

Vegetable juice, tomato, carrot, cucumber and beetroot

This is where juicing comes into its own. Healing comes down to providing the elements that the body needs to heal and repair itself. In a multitude of cases, chronic disease can be linked to two main areas – toxicity and malnutrition. People often do not have  the elements they needs in the quantities required to be able to combat illness. Juice, being a concentrated form of abundant nutrition is a simple, easy and delicious way to provide your body with healing vitamins, minerals, enzymes, chlorophyll, phytonutrients and the pure hydration needed to start the healing process. In a world where digestive issues are a major complaint, juicing allows instant nutrition to be absorbed, even in a compromised digestive system.

Committing to having juice every day is giving your body a powerhouse of nutrition. There are thousands of nutrients in wholefoods, yet only a small selection in a vitamin pill. The best vitamin you could have, is fresh, organic juice, consumed daily, alongside a mainly plant-based, wholefoods diet. Juices help to create the strong foundation upon which good health and vitality are built upon.

 

Leisa

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8 commentsAdd comment

Jody May 26, 2015 at 10:07 pm

This is so true! I saw a naturopath for a while for a skin condition and was given about $200 worth of supplements which did absolutely nothing. Then I found out about juicing and decided to try it, and honestly, the difference was pretty startling. Although it didn’t happen quickly, the longer I did the juicing, the better my skin. I also noticed more energy and I just felt good. I crave it now and feel like I’ve missed something if I don’t have my juice!

tracey May 27, 2015 at 5:29 am

Hi is juicing normal fruit and veg if you cant buy or get organic better than not juicing at all. would i be better just having a good quality green juice powder that is organic.

Suzie May 27, 2015 at 6:47 am

What is the longest amount of time that freshly squeezed juice can be kept in the fridge in an air tight glass jar? What puts me off juicing is the mess and time of cleaning up.

Leisa May 29, 2015 at 1:53 am

Hi Suzie,
Yes, I hear you! The cleaning up is the thing I don’t like as well 🙂 I usually juice enough for two days, but I wouldn’t keep it any longer than that, it will deteriorate fairly quickly. At least this way I juice every second day, not every day – that reduces the cleaning up!
Leis xx

Leisa May 29, 2015 at 1:55 am

Hi Tracey,
Yes, juicing normal fruit and veg is certainly better than not juicing at all!! Just give them a good scrub before juicing, a lot of pesticides are actually caught in the fibre and don’t make their way into the juice. So you are going to still get an amazing amount of nutrients even if it isn’t organic. If you can grow your own organic greens to juice or make a smoothie out of, that would be excellent, but definitely keep going! The organic green powder is good as well, and I usually put some of that in with my smoothies to give them an extra boost.
Leis xxx

Supplements June 12, 2015 at 5:54 am

Really a helpful blog.

Thanks for the sharing a nice blog that will definitely help to the people who really want to fit want to know about food supplement.

Supplements

Lauren Smith August 10, 2015 at 2:40 pm

It’s amazing the power different fruit juices have, whilst suffering with cystitis I found lemon juice helped. It’s something I read about here, it might be useful for others – http://www.sweet-cures.com/how-to-make-your-urine-more-alkaline.htm – where you could look at making juice combinations that have an alkalising effect on the body.

molo August 24, 2019 at 9:10 am

What we need is science, not what you like or love. Is juice better than supplements, I don’t know. Apart from your biased, enthousiast and ecstatic opinions, your article tells me nothing of value.

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