Is Juicing the Right Fit for Your Lifestyle?

Whether it’s to detox, diet, boost energy or kick-start a healthy lifestyle, juicing is all the rage.

The Juicing Craze

Busy running Boyd’s Flowers in Wilmington, owner Jackie Cinaglia was living on Starbucks coffee and neglecting her diet. The stress took its toll. She developed “leaky gut” syndrome, a condition primarily recognized by nonconventional physicians. In theory, leaky gut refers to a damaged intestinal lining that can’t properly filter nutrients. Symptoms include bloating, gas and cramps, fatigue, joint paint and skin rashes.

Cinaglia had also lost weight on a “drastic” SlimFast diet. “I did it for 120 days. I was stripping my body of nutrients,” she says.

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Seeking a healthier lifestyle, she started juicing. Forget about squeezing orange juice into a glass. In today’s parlance, juicing refers to drinks made with vegetables and fruits that might include kale, apples, cucumbers, pears, beets, celery, ginger, oranges and lemons.

Instead of coffee, Cinaglia now starts her day with a drink containing organic produce, which is delivered nearly every week to Boyd’s Flowers, a stop on a Lancaster Community Supported Agriculture program.

Cinaglia is in good company. Juicing is jazzing up kitchen appliance sales as people seek to easily add vegetables and fruits to their daily routine. Some fans also juice to detox, diet, boost their energy or jumpstart a healthy eating program. In part, credit the success of Joe Cross’ film “Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead” and his book “The Reboot with Joe Juice Diet.”

While juicing has become a popular trend—a Google search landed 2.72 million results—it’s hardly new. Fitness guru Jack LaLanne had a juice bar in his first gym when it opened in 1936, and he touted his Jack LaLanne PowerJuicer in infomercials until he died at the age of 96. Dimitra Kotanides, who owns Dimitra Yoga in Lewes, was raised on juices.

Unlike the wheatgrass juice of old, today’s concoctions have an advantage: They taste good. But are they good for you? 

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Yes and, possibly, no. “There are a lot of positives and negatives,” says Jennifer Barr, a registered dietitian who worked at the Eugene du Pont Preventive Medicine & Rehabilitation Institute for nearly 15 years.

Juicing Packs a Punch
 

The Fiber Factor
 

Quality and Quanity
 

Juicing Tips & Tricks
 

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How To Juice
 

Recipes to Try
 

 

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