26/02/2017
YOU NO LONGER NEED 5 PORTIONS OF FRUIT & VEG A DAY...........
YOU NEED 10!
BUT YOU CAN’T GET THEM FROM JUICE!!!
Fruit and Vegetables have once again hit the headlines this week, this time courtesy of Imperial Collage London (ICL).
The latest research suggests that by consuming 800g of fruit and vegetables daily (roughly 10 portions a day), it could prevent up to 7.8 million premature deaths worldwide every year. The lovely scientists at ICL are quick to point out that the current guideline of 5-A-Day is good, but when you ramp that to 10-A-Day, you really raise the disease prevention game!
In their studies, it showed that by doubling the current recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables, it reduced the risk of heart disease by 24%; the risk of strokes by 33%; the risk of cardiovascular disease by 28%; the risk of total cancer by 13%, and an overall reduction in premature deaths by a massive 31%.
It wasn’t a small study either, it involved over 2 million people so it definitely holds some weight behind it.
Whilst it’s good news, it’s hardly a revelation. I feel it’s safe to say we all know that if we increase our intake of fruits and vegetables, the chances of disease go down. Having said that, it’s always good to have it scientifically backed up and may nudge a few more people in the right direction.
The problem is, along with the news that we all need to increase our intake of fruits and vegetables, comes the news that fruit and vegetable juice doesn’t really count!
Well, I say 'doesn’t count', but that’s not strictly true. What they actually say is that,
“…no matter how many different fruits and vegetables you juice, it only counts as one portion…”
Nope I am not joking. This is the current message from the top dieticians in Government in the UK. Their argument is, that by juicing you remove the fibre, so therefore you remove a lot of the nutrients along with it and therefore it can’t count as a full portion.
This appears logical, if you know nothing about nutrition, but if you do, you know how ridiculous that assumption is. This is why it’s even more bonkers coming from qualified government dieticians!
FIBRE DOESN’T FEED THE BODY!
IT IS ONLY THE JUICE WITHIN THE FIBRE THAT FEEDS YOU!
Fibre cannot pe*****te through the intestinal wall, therefore you don’t lose any of the nutrients – THEY ARE IN THE JUICE. This means that when you juice a carrot, for example, you are getting 100% of the vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. In other words, you get 100% of the nutrients on offer in that carrot. The fibre merely 'acts like a broom’ to help sweep the colon and get things moving. It’s worth pointing out that FRESHLY extracted juice still has soluble fibre, which also helps to act as an ‘intestinal broom’. So why dieticians and government guidelines say that ‘no matter how many different fruits and vegetables you consume in juice form, it only ever counts as 1 portion' is beyond me.
What they are saying is that if you juiced a WHOLE carrot, a WHOLE apple, a WHOLE cucumber, a WHOLE pear, loads of spinach, kale, celery, beetroot, broccoli and zucchini – in other words 10 fruits and vegetables – it still only counts as one potion. This is crazy on every level, but even more so when you know that the fibre, which they claim you lose, doesn’t even feed the body! When you get the freshly extracted juice of all of those fruits and vegetables into your system you are getting ALL of the nutrients and thus all 10 portions.
What I find even more extraordinary, is why on the back of this new study they don’t change their ridiculous stance on how many portions juice counts as? Eating 10 portions a day, even for the biggest ‘goodie two shoes’ in the world, is quite an unrealistic target. However, getting ten portions of fruit and veg into you by juicing, is SO much easier. Not only is it easier, but it could be argued, in some cases, it’s even better than eating it (and certainly tastier!) Freshly extracted juice is often more bio-available (meaning more of the nutrients get to where they’re needed), especially for people who have digestive issues.
So, my message is clear. This new study is great news, but only for people who do in fact do what it takes to get 10 portions of different coloured fruit and vegetables inside them DAILY. This, as I have already mentioned, is difficult for most people to do if they are expected to eat it all (uncooked!) Eat what you can clearly, but if you can’t eat it – drink it.
Ignore the ‘juice only counts as one portion’ rubbish and use your common sense. Get as many fruits and vegetables inside as you can. It really is a case of the more the merrier in this instance and it’s much easier to get a plethora of these amazing foods inside you by juicing them!
Right, enough from me on this subject, over to you lovely juicy peeps to comment and debate.
Oh, here's a lovely juice recipe with quite a few 'portions' in it, it's from my 5:2 Juice Diet system:
http://www.juicemaster.com/5-2-juice-diet
May The Juice Be With You!
Jason
