The Truth About Juice Cleansing and Blood Sugar
If you've ever mentioned doing a juice cleanse to a friend, you've probably heard the pushback: "But isn't juice just liquid sugar? Or Won't that spike my blood sugar?"
It's become public thought that juice cleansing is unhealthy, primarily because of concerns about blood sugar spikes.
Why Juice Got a Bad Rap (And Why It Doesn't Deserve It)
But here's the thing, the research tells a much different story.
The processed, sugar-added beverages lining grocery store shelves are the culprit.
100% fruit and vegetable juices contain vitamins, minerals, and secondary compounds with proven biological activities like polyphenols and carotenoids. The key word here is "100%" we're talking about real, freshly made juice, like we make at The Juicy Life.
Except for fiber, fruit and vegetable juices can contain similar nutrient levels as their whole fruit and vegetable counterparts, across all indexes. When you juice fresh vegetables and fruits, you're extracting a concentrated source of nutrition that your body can absorb quickly.
Most studies warning about juice's blood sugar impact don't distinguish between freshly made vegetable-based juices and commercial fruit juice beverages. They're lumping your homemade green juice with store-bought apple juice that's been sitting on a shelf for months.*
The Game-Changer
You don't have to choose between the benefits of juicing and blood sugar control.
You can still get all the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants from juice while minimizing any glycemic impact by making strategic additions.
Smart Ways to Balance Your Juice
Add Healthy Fats: Adding a teaspoon of plant-based oil like walnut, flax, or avocado to your juice can help with blood sugar management. Olive oil promotes the secretion of incretins, which are hormones that help regulate blood sugar.
Include Protein: Add protein powder or similar supplements to your juice, or grab a handful of seeds or nuts. Adding protein sources, may help mitigate the rise in blood sugar. Protein promotes incretin secretion, which helps your body manage glucose more effectively. This keeps you feeling satisfied and prevents blood sugar crashes.
Don't Skip the Fiber: Dietary fiber slows down how quickly sugar enters your bloodstream.
Try This Also!: Add chia seeds, flaxseed, or even blend in some avocado. You can also add the pulp back into your juice after juicing to retain more fiber.
The Vitamin and Mineral Powerhouse You're Actually Getting
When done right, juice cleansing provides an incredible nutrient boost:
Vegetable juices provide a concentrated source of essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Many vegetables contain vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin E, which play crucial roles in maintaining skin health, supporting the immune system, and fighting cellular damage.
Juices are excellent sources of antioxidants and phytonutrients, which help protect your body from disease and inflammation. When you focus on vegetable-based juices with limited fruit content, you're getting all this nutrition with no downsides.
The Vegetable Advantage
Vegetables contain significantly lower sugar levels compared to fruits, making them a fantastic choice for maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. When you build your juice cleanse around vegetables like we do: leafy greens, cucumber, celery, carrots, beets, you're getting maximum nutrition with minimal glycemic impact.
Vegetable juice doesn't just avoid spiking blood sugar, it can actually help regulate it.
How To Implement This Information:
Focus on Vegetables: Make at least 70-80% of your juice from vegetables. Add a small amount of fruit like green apple or lemon for flavor.
Add Fat or Protein: A teaspoon of flax oil, a scoop of protein powder, or a handful of nuts alongside your juice makes a world of difference for blood sugar stability.
Keep Some Fiber: Add chia seeds, ground flaxseed, or save some pulp from your juicer to mix back in.
Sip Slowly: How you consume juice matters, drinking slowly over time causes less of a metabolic response than gulping it quickly.
Stay Short-Term: Stick to cleanses of one to three days, as longer cleanses have no proven additional benefits.
The Bottom Line
Juice cleansing has gotten a bad reputation based on oversimplified claims about blood sugar spikes. The reality is far different. When you focus on vegetable-based juices and strategically add fats, proteins, or fiber, you can enjoy all the benefits, such as: concentrated vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytonutrients… all while keeping your blood sugar stable.
The key isn't avoiding juice. It's about being smart about how you make it and what you pair with it.
Visit thejuicylife.com for the best in the business
Studies referenced:
Rossi, I., Mignogna, C., Del Rio, D., & Mena, P. (2023). Health effects of 100% fruit and vegetable juices: Evidence from human subject intervention studies. Nutrition Research Reviews, 37(1), 194-238. https://doi.org/10.1017/S095442242300015X
Scheffers, F. R., et al. (2020). Pure fruit juice and fruit consumption are not associated with type 2 diabetes risk after adjustment for overall dietary quality. European Journal of Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-020-02215-4