Juicing and Weight Watchers
This post about juicing and Weight Watchers has been years in the making and I keep thinking what took me so long?
If you have been hanging around Simple Nourished Living for a while you know I'm a big fan of Weight Watchers. It is the most flexible healthy weight loss plan I've ever come across and I'm all about flexibility and freedom. It works with most any eating philosophy: low carb, vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, kosher, paleo…
But what about Juicing and Weight Watchers?
I'd never really considered Juicing and Weight Watchers until I met Frank at a WW at Work Meeting several years ago. He had been doing WW for nearly a year with minimal success. Then he came to a meeting after having seen the documentary: Fat Sick & Nearly Dead
(Trailer at End of Post). He switched to drinking fresh juice for breakfast and lunch and eating a sensible dinner. The weight began to fall off and he said he felt great.
While it appeared to be working for him, the approach seemed too extreme to me. I'm a big believer in moderation and balance. I've always viewed juicing as extreme. The words "juice fast" "juice detox" and "juice cleanse" create within me a feeling of dread and anxiety. I love food too much to ever imagine giving it up for more than a few hours, never mind days, weeks, or months.
Fresh Homemade Juice
What I've Heard about Juicing and Weight Watchers from other Members
When Weight Watchers transitioned to 0 Points for fruits and most vegetables a few years ago some members struggled with the change. Even some Weight Watchers leaders began gaining weight. This was eventually attributed to eating too much fruit. Here's a great post from Gabe explaining her experience with her green juice while following the WW Plan.
And there has been confusion about how to count/track fruits and vegetables used in smoothies.
With the WW Points Plus system, fruits and most vegetables have 0 points. But fruit and vegetable juices have points. For example, if you eat an orange, or two or three, it costs you nothing from your daily Points budget. But if you drink 8 ounces of orange juice it costs you 3 PointsPlus. If you eat plain carrots they have 0 points plus. But if you add carrots to a recipe in WW Recipe Builder their calories would count in determining the recipe's points plus value.
It can be confusing! How should you count/track the Points for fresh juice?
Weight Watchers and Juicing: My Light Bulb Moment
Then I watched Fat Sick & Nearly Dead. It's powerful. And pretty extreme. Australian, Joe Cross, goes on a 60-day juice cleanse while traveling across America championing the health benefits of juicing as he attempts to shed excess weight and a long list of health problems.
As soon as the movie was over, I found myself on Amazon adding juicers to my Wishlist...
And then Mac bought a Juice Fountain Juicer
and began sharing his creations with me. They were fresh and delicious…
Joe Cross Event in Phoenix
And Joe Cross, the maker of Fat Sick & Nearly Dead came to Phoenix. The healing effects that he and his tribe of loyal followers have experienced are hard to argue with…
And suddenly it dawned on me…
What if I stopped focusing on all the negative perceptions I had about extreme juicing and started focusing on the potential positive benefits of occasional or moderate juicing? (I know, sometimes it takes me a while.)
Joe Cross at Barnes & Noble, Phoenix, AZ
What if juicing is…
- NOT a fast from food, but a way to flood your body with nutrients?
- NOT a detox, but a way to reboot your body?
- NOT a punishment, but a reward - an act of kindness?
- NOT starvation, but extreme nourishment?
- NOT about losing weight, but gaining health?
- NOT about lack, but abundance?
I'm ready to find out for myself!
Fresh Green Juice
Weight Watchers and Juicing My 30 Day Juice Fest
So, I've decided to embark on a healthy exploration of juicing and Weight Watchers to see what I discover. Peter, who is much more experienced with juicing than I am, is going to help.
For the month of August I am planning to begin each day with fresh juice. I'm calling it a Juice Fest, which seems so much happier and healthier than a juice fast. I'm not taking anything away. I'm just going to begin my day with fresh juice and see what effect, if any, it has on me.
I've been doing a little research on juicing and its benefits…
Benefits of Juicing
- An easy way to squeeze more nutrition into your diet leading to a healthier, happier body from the inside out.
- Your skin begins to glow, you gain more energy, you might lose weight or say bye to some of your health ailments.
- Juicing lets you enjoy a wide variety of veggies even though you don’t like eating those same vegetables whole, providing you with a more comprehensive, balanced blend of essential nutrients.
And I'm excited!
Want to join me?
Do you have any thoughts and/or experiences to share about juicing and Weight Watchers? Can they work together?
Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead Movie Trailer...
Resources:
All-About-Juicing
Reboot with Joe
Juicing for Beginners from Three Many Cooks
*PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT Weight Watchers Zero Points fruits and vegetables using the WW Recipe Builder.
If you liked Juicing and Weight Watchers you might also like:
Why I love Weight Watchers Simply Filling
23 Ways to Get More Fruits and Vegetables into Your Life
Deborah Madison's Tips for Eating More Fruits and Vegetables
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donna
Yes! I want to join you! Do you have specific recipes you'll be using?
I've been on Simply Filling for 11 weeks.
Martha McKinnon
Hi Donna, Great. Glad to have you with us!! Yes, we are planning to post the recipes each day for the month. I'll have another post providing more details later this week!
donna
Looking forward to a shopping list!
Elaine
I am so looking forward to this experiment. My thoughts on juicing are exactly as yours were. In addition, I do enjoy chewing food. I had exactly the same issues with zero point fruit when I rejoined WW , although I like the concept of encouraging more consumption of fruits and veggies instead of processed foods. An aside: I wonder when/if WW will ditch the zero point count for fruits and chalk it up to an experiment that failed.
Martha McKinnon
Hi Elaine, Thanks for your thoughtful comment! I think 0 points fruits is still a great idea that may just need to be refined somehow to help people understand that zero is not the same as FREE! I've found that I can eat 2 or 3 fruits without counting them, but more than that and I need to track. It's going to vary from person to person 🙂
Kathleen
Hello Martha,
I just came across your article on juicing and WW and was wondering where to find the blog to follow your results, I guess I am not so savvy on this blogging!
Regards
Kathleen Cutsey
Martha McKinnon
Hi Kathleen:
Here's my post summarizing our 30 days of juicing: https://simple-nourished-living.com/30-days-juicing-weight-watchers-wrap-up/
Heres' my post with all the juices we made: https://simple-nourished-living.com/juice-fest-2014-30-days-juicing-weight-watchers/
Hope it helps!
Jenna
I haven't used my juicer in awhile and now I want to take it out again. I love that your site has Weight Watcher recipes on it too!
FitTiff
When I juice my own greens I count it as zero. When I drink Evolution Fresh juice, I put it into the points calculator. Random, I know. Juicing works great for me as long as I don't add too much sugary fruit as I have reactive hypoglycemia. Meanwhile, I work back to my goal weight and Lifetime....
Martha McKinnon
Thanks, FitTiff. This is helpful. The more time you spend with other WW members comparing notes, the more you realize how much variability there is in the way we all count and track our Points 🙂
Rachael
Hello McKinnon. Your juice recipe is very nice. I am searching for juices which can help in reducing my weight problem rapidly. I think after reading this great post my search is over.
Martha McKinnon
Hi Rachael,
Hope this helps!
Rachel Shirley
I have just stumbled across your article and now (a few months down the line) I'm wondering how you got on? I'm just about to go back to good old WW, and love juicing for the health benefits so I'm really curious to know how it worked for any of you? Especially weight loss wise!
Martha McKinnon
Hi Rachel,
Since I'm now in maintenance mode, I wasn't really trying to lose weight. And during our juicing experiment, I just drank juice once a day, we didn't juice fast or do anything extreme. Here's a post we did at the end of our 30 days that summarizes our thoughts - https://simple-nourished-living.com/30-days-juicing-weight-watchers-wrap-up/
Congratulations on your decision to go back to Weight Watchers. I think it's one of the best ways to learn how to eat better, lose weight and keep it off 🙂
Dee
Hello! I came across your site after Google-in Weight Watchers juicing. I recently joined we...I would like to incorporate juicing. Where can I read your summary of the results. I am lost and confused about counting points for juicing.
Dee
Martha McKinnon
Hi Dee,
Here's a link to our wrap up post: https://simple-nourished-living.com/30-days-juicing-weight-watchers-wrap-up/
According to Weight Watchers current guidelines you are supposed to count the points from juice. For example, when you look up "carrot juice" in the tracker 1 cup has 4 SP. Hope this helps.
Ruth Dinn
I'm new at weight watchers and I love juicing. Can I do both and how do I count the points? I don't put much fruit in because it raises my sugar level. Should I replace 2 meals with juicing?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Ruth,
The cool thing about Weight Watchers is that they provide you your SmartPoints budget, but how you use it is up to you. The program provides a framework, but then encourages every one to customize the plan to meet their needs and let their weight loss, hunger and personal goals be their guide. That's why you can be a meat eater or a vegan or gluten free, etc. and still follow Weight Watchers. It's one of the reasons I believe in the Program so much.
Under the current WW program, we are instructed that most fruits and veg are 0 points but juices have points values. So, you'll want to determine the amount of fruit/vegetable juice you are drinking, look up the values in your tracker or program guide and count them accordingly.
Hope this helps.