Can You Lose Weight By Drinking Fresh Juices?

A healthy weight-loss plan involves regular physical activity and controlling calorie intake. It's not unusual to focus more on cutting solid calories from food intake than liquid calories from beverages. However, reducing liquid calorie intake --- especially from sugar-sweetened beverages --- may be even more important than cutting solid calories when it comes to losing weight.

Alternative to Fattening Beverages

Sugary sodas are leading contributors to weight gain and obesity in America. Milk is a rich source of protein, calcium and other nutrients, but it's also high in fat, which is why low-fat options are recommended for weight loss. However, if you don't like the watered-down taste of low-fat and fat-free milk, you'll be less likely to drink it. Fresh juices in their natural state --- with pulp and skin and no added sugar --- provide a tasty, lower-calorie alternative to whole milk and sodas.

Juice Nutrients Boost Weight Loss

Besides being lower in calories than milk or sugary sodas, fruit juices also contain some nutrients that can enhance weight loss. For instance, citrus juices contain ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, which increases the liver's ability to metabolize fat, according to Ann Louise Gittleman, a certified nutrition specialist and author of "The Fast Track One-Day Detox Diet." A lack of vitamin C has also been linked to overweight and obesity in a Mexican study published in "The FASEB Journal" in April 2009.

Also, in a rat-model study published in the "Journal of Nutrition" in 2007, U.S. researchers found that an amino acid in watermelon juice can help fight obesity. The juice contains L-citrulline, which increases production of another amino acid, L-arginine. Watermelon juice helped prevent fat growth and lowered serum levels of glucose; excess glucose can contribute to weight gain.

Liquid Calories Vs. Solid Calories

The debate continues about whether liquid calories have the same satiating, or filling, effect as solid calories from food. In a review article published in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" in March 2007, researchers Adam Drewnowski and France Bellisle found that many of the studies indicating that liquid calories were not as effective in suppressing appetite as solid calories were inconclusive. Your best option to make fresh juices more filling is to keep the pulp and, in some cases, the skin, in the final juice blend. Pulp and skin are rich in appetite-suppressing fiber.

Considerations

Do not supplement entire meals with fresh juices, and whenever possible, eat fruits rather than drinking them as juice. If you do drink juice, remember to add the calories into your total daily intake. Also, consider buying organic fruits and vegetables to make fresh juices at home. Detoxification advocates have long held that toxins can inhibit weight loss by interfering with metabolic processes in the body. A study published in the journal "Obesity" in June 2010 backs up their theory. The team of Belgian researchers found that the pollutants organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls can contribute to obesity.