Juicers Really Aren’t That Great for You

You've probably been flipping around on your television late at night or in the wee hours and caught one of the many infomercials, advertising the benefits and extolling the virtues of juicers. Somehow when a celebrity is selling a juicer, it's somehow slightly better for you! Some of the claims are a little over the top in that juicing can cure cancer and other maladies. If that were actually the truth, well cancer wouldn't be such rampant problem nor such a big business.

Truth be known, there is strong evidence that eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can cut your risk of heart attack as well as many types of cancer. However there is no compelling research that shows that drinking juice over eating the actual fruits and veggies has extra benefits. In fact, the part that is a big black mark for juicers in my book is that juicing removes the valuable fiber from your fruits and veggies and as we all know, fiber is paramount to helping fight colon cancer and many other types of cancer. Additionally, fiber helps lower cholesterol, prevent gall bladder disease and of course, that common scourge of a low-fiber diet - constipation.

Calorie-wise juicing isn't a winner either. An 8-ounce glass of orange juice averages 110-calories while a whole,delicious orange has only 65 calories and has that famous fiber to boot which will make you feel more full.

So if you've been struggling on your weight loss or weight maintenance plan and you've been juicing - watch those calories - you may be adding more than you think.