Is Juicing Recipes for Leaky Gut recommended by research?

When and why did juice become a diet fad?

The start of every New Year is exciting, and one of the common resolutions or to-form habits of most people is to drink a glass of juice every day, and lose weight, be fit and healthy. Well, we really appreciate the efforts of these individuals, but this resolution isn’t fact-based or practical. You need to know why you are drinking juice, how it can benefit your overall health and how to take the right kind of juice at the right time.

While tracing the origin of juice diets, one can find that juice diets were started by celebrities to lose weight and become slim and slender. As the celebrities talked more about juice diets and how they helped shed excess pounds and look great on the screen, the public adopted it wholeheartedly. However, it depends on the kind of juices a person consumes.

In short, we can see that juice diets are still popular as detoxifying diets, and one can seek appropriate benefits from them. But instead of completely relying on juice-based diets, it is better to add some juices to your diet schedule and consume other nutritious and wholesome foods as well. In this way, you will not only seek the benefits of juices but will also nourish your body and not suffer from any nutritional deficiencies.

What are the benefits of juice?

Every coin has two sides, and juices have their own benefits and drawbacks. If you skip all the sugary and canned versions of store-bought juices, then you will find that fruit and vegetable juices are certainly beneficial. Some of the benefits of juices are as follows:

1. You will consume less food – When you drink juices, you will feel more satiated than before. Since fruits contain substantial amounts of water, you will be consuming a good amount of water. As a result, your cravings won’t be intense, and you will find yourself less tempted by delicacies. This will decline your calorie consumption, and your weight will remain intact.
   
   
2. You will find yourself motivated – We cannot figure out what kind of magic fruit juices create, but it motivates you to carry on your weight loss diet or healthy diet routines. As you eat less starch and carbs, you lose more pounds, and that’s what keeps you motivated for the day and the days to come.
   
   
3. It improves your gut – It was observed in a 3-day juice diet study that juices actually protect and improve your gut microbiota and make you feel more pleasant and happy. The effects last for two weeks, and you feel much better than before. Your leaky gut symptoms have healed (if any), and you seek plenty of other health benefits.
   
   
4. They are quick to prepare –You do not have to waste your entire morning thinking about what to cook as a go-to- breakfast. Instead, you can blend a few fruit pieces into the blender and drink down a glass of juice, and feel satiated for the whole morning.
   
   
5. You can choose your favorites – Do you like apples more than bananas? Do you like veggies but in a juice form? Do you want to skip sugar for better health? Do you like to create a blend of multiple fruits and veggies and call it a smoothie? Then, it is obvious to go for juices instead of slicing and popping fruit slices one by one.

What are the effects of juice on gut health?

Juices or short-term juice diets are effective in improving your gut health. Some healthcare experts strongly state that juice diets and juice cleanse are best to reboot your digestive system and overall systems and help gets rid of all the toxins present in your body. Even if some experts protest against juices saying that they contain too much sugar, we can find a few remarkable benefits of juices on gut healing benefits:

1. Improves the digestive processes – When you replace your breakfast or meal with juice, there is an instant rise in the inflammation-fighting bacteria. This step helps you to reduce stomach-related issues such as bloating and gas. You will be lighter, and better, and your digestion process will continue smoothly. On the contrary, when you consume solid and heavy foods such as fried chips and gravies, your digestive system faces a massive burden, and you will be bloated, acidic, and gassy because of the overall inflammation.
   
   
2. Has an impact on the gut flora balance – When you consume too many glasses of juices regularly, the amount of good and healthy bacteria in your gut increases and strikes off the bad bacteria. As a result, your gut flora balance can be maintained perfectly.
   
   
3. The impact of Prebiotics and Probiotics – In recent studies, it has been stated that fruit juices infused with probiotics effectively deliver the desired amount of the said substances to your gut and improve your overall health.  You can make your own juice at home by adding fermented probiotics and prebiotics in them. But if you want to save time, you can find loads of fruit juices infused with prebiotics and probiotics to enhance your health and release digestive enzymes. Though they might be pricey and sugar-based, the juicing process might remove the necessary fibers for them, so you must research the market for more related options. Prebiotics and probiotics are great for maintaining your gut flora; you can learn the difference between probiotics and Prebiotics here, and if you go on a specific fruit juice diet, you can seek several health benefits.

What is appropriate for juicing?

1. Fruits – You can prepare juices out of any fresh fruits, including mangoes, citrus fruits, watermelons, grapes, and many more. Ensure that you discard the seeds and juice them up in a blender with a sufficient quantity of water. Always go for seasonal fruits. Some fruits, such as apples and custard apples, don’t taste good when consumed as juices. So, add a bit of milk and make it a shake. Happy Juicing, guys!
   
   
2. Vegetables – Not all vegetables can be blended into juices. It is because some vegetables, when consumed in a raw form, can cause digestive issues. And hence, it is better if you stick to water-based vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes, beetroot, spinach, and others. Moreover, vegetable juices could be a bit weird to taste, so you need to add sweetening agents for an enhanced taste.
   
   
3. Other ingredients – Of course, you will need a sufficient quantity of water. Mostly, people add sugar to juices to make them taste better, but if you are on a sugar-free diet, you can give it a pass. You can add other naturally sweet ingredients such as dates, jaggery, and stevia for taste. You can add herbs such as basil, Aloe Vera, and celery juice to make it more nutritious or add seasonings such as ginger and lemon to make them easy to digest for your stomach. The digestive juices in your body are enhanced with ingredients like celery juice and ginger.             

What is the difference between smoothies and juices?

The striking difference between a smoothie and a juice is that the former contains dietary fiber. Fiber is an essential component that is beneficial for your gut health. If you do not consume sufficient fiber and merely drink water, it will not help regulate bowel movements, will slow down nutrient absorption, and will make you constipated and grumpy all the time. Let us differentiate between both these beverages.

1. Juice is something liquid that is extracted from a fruit or a vegetable. You do not take the pulp, discard it and retain the watery part of the same. But a smoothie is made by crushing the fruit or veggies or both into a blender with more ingredients such as yogurt, thereby keeping the fiber content intact.
   
   
2. Juice is not thick as it contains a substantial part of water. Whereas a smoothie is thick as it is inclusive of pulp.
   
   
3. Juice is devoid of dietary fiber, which becomes a major differentiating factor. But smoothies contain pulp and hence, dietary fiber.
   
   
4. Juices contain sugar, but smoothies can be made without sugar as it contains the pulpy part of the fruits and vegetables. Juices contribute to weight gain in certain individuals, if not made in the required form.
   
   
5. Juices lead to faster absorption of nutrients, while smoothies slow down the process.
   
   
6. Some juices need to be taken on an empty stomach, while smoothies can be taken anytime.

Juice Recipes for Gut Health

One of the best recipes for healthy gut health is the following:

This juice recipe is easy to do at home. Take a sufficient quantity of apple, carrot, beetroot, fresh ginger, and half a lemon and add to your blender. You can also add cucumbers if you want to make them more water-based. When you are done juicing up, you can add apple cider vinegar on top and drink it. It is like a powerful tonic-cum-delicious juice for gut health and the immune system.

Make a green juice out of half a cup of celery leaves, Aloe Vera, and cucumbers. This celery juice can be made at home with minimal effort, and it can promote gut health.

Some of the video links to excellent pure juice recipes for digestive health and gut benefits are as follows:

1. To facilitate healthy digestion, build strength, and get rid of constipation and irritable bowel syndrome – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zls0K1xa1Ds
2. Heal your gut – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwU40iNf6gM
3. Heal your stomach issues – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECCWtKbrQ08

Is juice a better replacement for a meal?

Our response to this question is certainly not affirmative. Unless a licensed medical professional approves of this, you should not replace your meals with juices. Juices are great if consumed in a prescribed form, such as without any sugar and with the necessary fruits and veggies. But if you replace it with a nutritious meal, it could tamper with your current level of body nutrition.

People join gyms or consult social media celebrities and influencers for juice diets and end up quitting meals and start consuming juices of all kinds. Even if that sounds cool and trendy, it does not fulfill your body’s need for proper nutrition. Your body needs all nutrients, including Omega-3 fatty acids, amino acids, antioxidants, prebiotics, and probiotics. Juices can provide you with a certain level of nutrition, but not as wholesome food does. Hence, it is better to accompany your existing diet with juices and not replace meals with juices.

In short, enrich your diet with juices and not make it your diet instead. Drink green juice along with healthy meals.

Is juice a better alternative to supplements?

Well, the answer could be affirmative or not, depending on the health condition of a person. Let us take the example of a young and healthy individual. He doesn’t need additional supplements since he is in his youth and does not suffer from any health issues. If he consumes a glass of sugarless juice every day, he will be seeking benefits from it. He can surely replace a supplement with juice, no worries. Unless he suffers from nutritional deficiencies, to rely on supplementation.

But now, take the example of a child or a person having mild or severe health issues. Or those in their late 40s or 50s who suffer from weakness or less stamina and endurance. These individuals should consume a multivitamin or a natural prebiotic and probiotic supplement that helps them with their illnesses, find out the 10 Best Gut Health Supplements from here. Children should, of course, indulge in a highly nutritious diet as they can chew and eat all solid foods. If a person suffers from any minor illness, they should work on it by taking a relevant supplement. We don’t deny the importance of juices, but they should not depend only on juices to get out of the ailment. They should not replace a calcium supplement with a glass of orange juice to seek stronger bones and immunity.

Hence, our suggestion is to back up your diet with juices and smoothies and a supplement to fight against the nasty health problem you may be currently suffering from.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the fact that juices are great for gut health is true, and a few studies are available in this regard, you can also learn about more Gut Health Foods right here. However, one needs to administer the kind of juice diet they are opting for on a daily basis. You should avoid relying only on juices for gut health but try to add other nutritious foods to your schedule to improve your overall gut microbiome.