Helen explains how liquefying your food can dramatically increase your calorie intake, so be careful. Try and keep to a maximum of 2 serves of carbs in a nutribullet liquid meal as explain by Helen.
As a direct comparison, green juices solely based on vegetables is much lower in calories but still be careful. Details are below.
The benefits of green juices
Drinking juices has been a long standing occurrence. However, what about the green juices? Why do these stand out a little more? Green juice is rich in chlorophyll, which gives greens their color. (1) It is proposed that chlorophyll in the green juices has a number of benefits. A few of these include:
Blood benefits
According to “Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine,” liquid chlorophyll can increase the quality and quantity of your red blood cells because the compound has a chemical composition very similar to hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a molecule found in your red blood cells responsible for transporting oxygen. While hemoglobin has iron as its center atom, liquid chlorophyll has magnesium as its center atom. Increasing the number and quality of your red blood cells can result in better oxygen transportation. (2)
Antioxidant benefit
Liquid chlorophyll also is a powerful antioxidant. This antioxidant action, according to “”Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine” can lower your risk for developing certain types of cancer. Additionally, the antioxidant properties also can reduce inflammation in your body. (2)
Alkalizing Benefit
One of the most potent benefits of chlorophyll is its alkalizing effect on the body. Because of its chlorophyll content, green juice is one of the most alkalizing foods that we can consume. The benefits of reducing the amount of acid in the body (given that over acidity is an epidemic) cannot be understated. The more acidic the body, the more prone it is to illness and disease. (3)
Detoxification.
Chlorophyll attaches to toxins, especially heavy metals, and removes them safely from the body. Chlorophyll also cleanses the liver by protecting it from cancer-causing cells. (3)
If you wanted to prepare a green juice yourself, the most commonly used green vegetables used:
- Kale
- Spinach
- Collard greens
- Green cabbage
- Broccoli
- Celery
- Lettuce
- Parsley
- Wheatgrass
However to improve the flavour, fruit such as an apple or a lemon are often added to the mix to make green juice a little more tasty. (3)
With respect to weight loss, juices can possibly be problematic as they can be very high in sugars from the naturally occurring sugars within fruit. For example one 250ml of pure fruit juice can contain 118 calories (4). A pure vegetable juice (no added fruit) of 250ml contains 53 calories.
Vegetable juices may offer an easier way to consume the recommended amount of 5 serves of vegetables per day, however depending on the type of juicer, if the fibre is removed from the juice, this could reduce the total amount of fibre consumed a day.
A small glass of vegetables juice with only a very small amount of fruit to sweeten the drink once a day could be of benefit. However be careful of the extra calories if you are seeking weight loss.
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