Should I Juice If I Am On A Low-Carb Diet?

Juicing is promoted as a quick way to get all the nutrients from fruits and vegetables when you don't have enough time to chow down on large quantities of produce. Depending on your carb restrictions, dietary goals and juice recipes, juicing could be compatible with a low-carb diet. Very-low-carb diets don't leave much room for juice, but you may spend some of your carb allotment on vegetable juice if you're on a moderately low-carb plan.

Juice made mostly with fruit should be avoided when you're watching your carb intake, though; it leaves you with a straight shot of carbohydrates and no fiber to slow digestion and absorption of the sugars. Low-carb diets vary in their restriction of carbohydrates. A moderately low-carb diet calls for you to limit carbs to 100 to 150 grams per day. An extremely low-carb diet limits you to 50 grams or fewer of carbs per day. You're limited to mostly animal proteins, healthy fats and watery, fibrous vegetables.

Any juice, no matter how fresh and nutritious, will likely cause you to overshoot your carb restrictions for the day. What's the Matter With Juicing? Fruit is good for you and lower in carbs than starchy baked goods, but it still contains a fair number of carbohydrates per serving. The carbs in fruit come from its sugar and fiber content. Fiber isn't digestible, so you subtract it from a food's total carbohydrate count when you're computing grams on a low-carb diet.

That gives you net carbs, the digestible carbs that impact your blood sugar and that matter on a low-carb plan. When you juice, however, you extract this fiber and leave only the sugar and water from the produce. Vegetable juices are less of a concern because they contain significantly less sugar than fruits, but fruit -- as well as beet and carrot juice -- can be too sugar-heavy to include in a low-carb diet. A 4-ounce glass of fresh orange juice contains 12 grams of net carbs. Other fruit juices are comparably high in net carbs.

You get 14 grams of net carbs in 4 ounces of apple juice and 16 grams in 4 ounces of pineapple juice. Mixed fruit and vegetable juices usually contain about 15 grams of net carbs per 4 ounces. If you stick to an all-vegetable juice, you'll get a lower carb count.

A juice made with romaine, parsley, ginger root, celery and fresh basil offers just 5 grams of net carbs per 4 ounces, for example. Add a carrot, small Granny Smith apple and beet to the mix and you double the net carb count. How you spend your carbs makes a difference on a low-carb diet. Considering juices go down quickly and do little to squelch your hunger, you might be better off spending your net carb grams on whole foods.

With whole produce, for example, you get all the fiber, plus the process of chewing is usually more satisfying. A medium, whole apple contains about 10 grams of net carbs, compared to the 28 grams of net carbs in 1 cup of the juice. You also get far more vitamins, such as A and C, in the whole fruit. Even if you're on a moderately low-carb plan, foods such as whole grains and starchy vegetables may offer more nutrients than a concentrated glass of juice with an equal amount of carbs. Juicing too often can be an issue for people with certain health conditions, including kidney disease or diabetes. Lose Weight. Feel Great! AGE lbs. WEIGHT ft. NewsArticle","headline":"Should I Juice if I Am on a Low-Carb Diet?

Thanks for appreciating and voting. A great hub, so informative. I didn't realize there were so many health benefits. What a lot of work you put into this hub and it shows. AuthorRajan Singh Jolly 5 years ago from From Mumbai, presently in Jalandhar,INDIA. Kush go to model town. You will get fresh coconuts there. AuthorRajan Singh Jolly 6 years ago from From Mumbai, presently in Jalandhar,INDIA. Welcome back, Harsha. I appreciate your feedback. Today, I got a new shampoo made out of coconut oil. There are no limits for the benefits of coconut.

Now I understand why coconut tree is called 'Kalpataru'. AuthorRajan Singh Jolly 6 years ago from From Mumbai, presently in Jalandhar,INDIA. I'm glad you liked the hub. Thanks for reading, liking, appreciating and sharing the hub. Wow Rajan, this is such a great hub! And those fresh coconut meat just makes me hungry. One of the treat I enjoy on hot days is the fresh juice along with the meat. Voted up and shared as well.

AuthorRajan Singh Jolly 6 years ago from From Mumbai, presently in Jalandhar,INDIA. Glad you liked, Anusujith. Thanks for reading and sharing. Voted up and shared. AuthorRajan Singh Jolly 6 years ago from From Mumbai, presently in Jalandhar,INDIA. Thanks dinkan, for reading, appreciating, putting a link to this hub and sharing also.

I appreciate it a lot. This is a wonder hub about coconut. Thanks for adding my link. I attached a link of this hub to mine too. I really appreciate your work and shared with my followers. Good luck my friend. AuthorRajan Singh Jolly 6 years ago from From Mumbai, presently in Jalandhar,INDIA.

Victoria, this is so nice to hear. Yes coconut oil helps in many cases of allergies, rashes and inflammations too. Plus it has so many health benefits and though it has over 90% saturated fat it is a healthy cooking oil. In fact the healthiest. Thanks, for your feedback. It will be an inspiration to many.

Such great research here. I'm been giving my dog coconut oil to improve his sensitive skin allergies. It seems to be helping. It looks like I need to start using it myself! Great information here. Thanks so much. AuthorRajan Singh Jolly 6 years ago from From Mumbai, presently in Jalandhar,INDIA. Thanks for stopping by Emil.

I'm glad you found it informational. I knew coconuts were good for you, but I didn't know all the specific facts, thank you for sharing! AuthorRajan Singh Jolly 6 years ago from From Mumbai, presently in Jalandhar,INDIA. Peter, consuming EVCO or VCO will definitely lower your sugar levels. Of course coconut water is an excellent natural rehydrator. And the oil also works well for a massage. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate the read and comments. AuthorRajan Singh Jolly 6 years ago from From Mumbai, presently in Jalandhar,INDIA.

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