The film “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” changed Lauren Culbreth’s life.
The documentary shows Joe Cross’ journey to regain his health by trading junk food for juicing – using an appliance to extract the juice from fruits and vegetables – for two months.
“It was every meal, every day,” she said. “He started losing weight. His health problems disappeared. It shows how he affected another man’s life.”
The Bowling Green woman decided to try juicing, although not nearly to the extreme that Cross did. She has been juicing for a year and has seen benefits without fasting.
“I’ve lost more than 30 pounds, and I exercise,” she said. “It’s really a good cleanse. If you’re going to do a juice fast, consult a physician.”
Culbreth led a class at the Warren County Public Library’s Bob Kirby Branch recently to share what she has learned. Julie Speer, a library assistant at the branch, is also an avid juicer and helped with the class.
“I got a juicer in September for my birthday,” she said. “I love the bright, beautiful colors.”
Culbreth prefers to use her juicer because bottled drinks are full of artificial sugar, but only makes enough to drink that day and the next because it can go bad faster than bottled juice and tastes better fresh.
“You get all the vitamins and minerals as soon as you drink it,” she said.
Culbreth suggested a mix of fruits and vegetables, but less fruit because of the sugar content. She also warned people to be ready for digestive changes.
“It might mess with your system a little bit,” she said. “It may cause your body to go through a healing process, especially if you eat a lot of junk food.”
Linda Howsen, registered dietitian with The Medical Center Medical Nutrition Therapy Program, cautions against juicing. Several well-known medical resources such as the Mayo Clinic and WebMD also don’t support it, she said.
“It’s not something I would necessarily advocate. It’s a kind of fad,” she said. “There’s no benefit to juicing that eating fruits and vegetables won’t give you.”
The idea that people are getting enzymes because they are drinking “live food” is false, Howsen said.
“The enzymes in a plant are only effective for the plant. They don’t work in your own body,” she said. “They’re taken apart and digested. Our body makes all the enzymes it needs unless there’s a medical problem.”
While juicing may help those who won’t eat fruits and vegetables except in liquid form, they will be missing fiber. It can be found in the pulp, but many people throw it away, Howsen said.
“The pulp is something many of the juicers don’t use. It’s very important,” she said. “There are many nutrients in the skin. They can use it in soup broth, muffins and fruit bread.”
Juicing doesn’t cleanse or remove toxins as claimed, Howsen said.
“The liver and kidneys take care of that,” she said.
There is also a calorie issue, Howsen said. Fruit juice can pack in the calories, especially if you use a lot of fruit.
“A 16-ounce drink can be 250 calories. If you chew a piece of fruit, it will fill you up,” she said.
Howsen said it’s better for people to eat whole foods, such as eating apples instead of applesauce, Howsen said.
“I’m not sure you’re going to process juice the same way as a whole food because it has been processed,” she said.
Cathy Prebe has wanted to try juicing ever since her daughter saw an iridologist, a person who determines health by studying the eye.
“He said she’s not absorbing her food,” the Bowling Green woman said.
When Prebe heard about the class, she thought it would be a good way to help her daughter and herself.
“I don’t eat a lot of vegetables, so this would be a good way to eat more vegetables,” she said. “I needed to really chew the food. I definitely will try it.”
John Foti of Bowling Green said he has juiced, but not for a long time.
“It’s a lot of work,” he said.
Culbreth agreed.
“The hardest part of juicing is the cleanup,” she said, looking at her juicer after she did a demonstration. “There’s a lot of cleanup.”
