How to Lose Weight or Build Muscle with Juicing

Hi, it’s Jenny again. Last week we talked about parasites and detoxing your body with juicing. This week we will talk about how you can lose weight and even build muscle with juicing. It’s all about the combinations of fruits and vegetables and super foods that you choose to add to your juicing regimen.

First of all losing weight is a lot easier to do when juicing. It doesn’t matter if you add a glass of juice prior to each meal, or go on a juice fast. You will lose weight when you add juicing to your diet. There are many reasons for this but the main reason is that the reason we are hungry all the time has to do with the quality of food that we are consuming.

If the food you eat has little to no nutritional value you may be full for a short time, but your hunger will ramp up again in just a couple of hours. That’s why you can eat a Big Mac, fries and a coke which contains copious amounts of calories but little nutritional value. Your body is not getting what it needs to be fulfilled. Therefore, your body signals hunger again so that you are forced to eat more.

If you fill your body with the nutrients that your body is actually craving, you’ll naturally start eating less and crave even more healthy foods. You truly can eat an unlimited amount of raw fresh fruits and veggies along with unlimited amounts of freshly made raw juices and lose weight. You never have to feel hungry or deprived.

Now, the problem is that the food you’re currently eating is addictive. It contains flavonoids and other additives that can create an addiction of sorts. So, it is likely that at first you will experience some withdrawal symptoms like headaches. Just like with any addiction, it’s important to substitute a healthy alternative to the addictive substance; in this case with raw juice. Any time you are hungry or simply craving something, drink a fresh raw juice, or if you prefer, eat raw veggies or fruit between juices.

Certain juices and combinations of juices aid in weight loss more readily than others due to their anti-inflammation properties. Using herbs, spices, vegetables, and fruits in good tasting combinations that encourage a release of inflammation will aid in weight loss.

Let’s take a look at a few.

Celery Juice — Juice the leaves as well as the stalk when you make celery juice. High in vitamin A and good sources of potassium, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, iron and other essential amino acids. Celery juice is great for restoring hydration to the body after a workout.

Grapefruit Juice — Full of vitamin C which will protect you against colds, it also has calcium, folic acid, and potassium. When you juice a grapefruit, do not juice the peel but do leave the white skin. It has cancer fighting agents that your body needs. While bitter, grapefruit is very alkalizing to the body. It is also said to have a fat-burning enzyme. Caution: Some drugs should not be taken with grapefruit juice so talk to your doctor before doing so.

Spinach Juice — Think of spinach as an additive to your other juices, especially juices with citrus. It is quite strong and most people cannot tolerate it by itself. Add different amounts of spinach to your juice recipes until you find a level that is high enough to get the benefits but low enough that you still enjoy the flavor. Start with about 2 cups of spinach and work your way up from there. The health benefits of spinach juice are amazing. It’s an excellent source of chlorophyll and iron which are building blocks for healthy blood.

Cucumber Juice — Extremely low in calories and rich in fluids, as well as a natural anti-inflammatory. Adding a cucumber to your other juices can increase the volume dramatically. Cucumber juice helps to normalize bowel movements, and can help lower blood cholesterol.

Carrot Juice — An entire ounce of carrot juice only has 10 calories and is filled with important vitamins and minerals essential for good health. It’s high in calcium, vitamin A, potassium, and vitamin C. Carotene is a natural anti-oxidant. Many people add in a few ounces of carrot juice each day to aid in weight loss, cure acne, anemia, and atherosclerosis. If you suffer from constipation mix some carrot juice and spinach juice to help end that problem fast.

Cabbage Juice — At first thought you may be thinking that cabbage juice is gross. But nothing could be further from the truth. There are many different varieties of cabbage and it is recommended that you partake in all the colors as often as possible. It’s low in calories, and contains a multitude of vitamins and minerals such as vitamin K which is essential to keeping your bones strong.

Parsley Juice — You don’t need much of this super food to make a huge difference. Try adding a little parsley juice to different juices that you make to get the benefits of chlorophyll, iron, and vitamin B12. It can also act as a nice little chaser to freshen your breath and help eliminate body odor.

Beet Juice — This amazing root, aside from adding amazing color to your juices, can reduce high blood pressure which can afford you a tremendous health boost when trying to lose weight. Most people cannot tolerate beet juice alone, so add it to other juices to provide a beautiful color and up the health benefits.

Pineapple Juice — The fruit of a pineapple contains the enzyme bromelain which assists with the digestion of protein and essential building block of muscle tissue.

Try adding some dandelion, ginger, and turmeric to your juices for an added punch and super food boost. Choose a green, a fruit, and a veggie to juice together and then add in some herbs, and spices to give the juice a little boost of flavor. Be careful with the ginger, it adds quite a punch. Turmeric does not add as much flavor so you can be more generous taking advantage of the anti-inflammation properties. Other than citrus and non-organic produce, you do not need to peel your fruit or veggies before adding to your juicer.

Now Jenny, you say, I don’t need to lose that much weight, but I do want to build more muscle. Won’t juicing destroy my muscles due to the lack of protein?

Absolutely not! The truth is, all juices have the building blocks to help you build more muscle. In truth, fruits and veggies in either their juice or whole form contain on average more usable protein than foods we normally consider to be protein rich like steak. If you’re still not sure you can always add protein to your juice in the form of protein isolate powder made from hemp, brown rice, or yellow pea protein.

To build muscle tissue you simply need to consume the protein molecules, along with vitamin and minerals to build muscle mass which is contained in most raw fruit and vegetable juices. You also need to participate in weight bearing exercises designed to build muscle mass.

If you are thin you’ll need to ensure that you get enough calories, if you are overweight you’ll need to consume less calories in order to lose weight so that those new muscles show through. Juicing can be a way to add in calories rather than subtract calories if you add juicing to your regimen.

Next week we’ll talk more about the healing properties of fruits and veggies in general. If you want to improve your health and mental clarity don’t miss next week’s blog post.