Juicing: Friend or Just Another Diet Craze?

Recently, juicing has gained a ton of popularity. It seems that everyone has become a "juicer" making green liquid concoctions.
So, as I sit here sipping on my apple-celery-ginger-cucumber-kale juice, I can't help wondering if this is a new health cure or simply another diet craze?

Research has shown the benefits of juicing are numerous:
-weight-loss
-helps you absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables
-allows you to consume many vegetables in a short period of time
-adds more vegetables to your diet through juices to disguise the taste
-gives more energy
And to many avid juicers the list goes on...this article from a holistic website explores the benefits of juicing in detail.
It seems like even the Mona Lisa is juicing:

That picture actually made me laugh out loud. 

Now-a-days, there are even different levels of juicers: beginner, the intermediate, and advanced. You can see the difference between the levels by the color of the juices. Red and yellow juices signify beginning juicers because they are more fruit-heavy to disguise the vegetable taste. Light green juices for intermediate juices who add a little more vegetable ingredients. And finally, dark green for the deep-green-heavy-vegetable-filled juices of the advanced juicers.  

Yet there are some articles like this Mayo Clinic article which show both positive and negative aspects of juicing. One negative aspect in particular is the lack of fiber found in the meat of vegetables and fruits that we miss while juicing. This fiber helps fill up our bellies and leaves us fully satiated for longer. 

Some avid juicers go on juice cleanses lasting from one to five days. I dabbled in the idea of detoxifying my body with a three-day juice cleanse. Upon nearly clawing my boyfriend to death because he purchased a Subway chicken sandwich in front me, I realized it was time for me to eat some solid food. My "three-day juice cleanse" lasted 3/4 of one day until around 6 p.m. 

yummmm...

The next day my acupuncturist confirmed my suspicion that juice cleanses were not the right kind of cleanse for my particular body-type. 

That does not mean that the juice cleanse is not a great and healthy detox for certain people! It appears that the juice-craze is not just another diet craze and does have great health benefits. But a balance must be found for each person. 

Personally, I do think that these green juices are a healthy snack. They're especially the perfect thing to fill your body with post yoga or any workout. I think that there are incredible health benefits to these juices because we can fill them with many vegetables which we may not usually find time to eat. So, try a juice, here are 23 of the most popular juicing recipes. 

But don't forget about eating vegetables and fruits during the day, even if you're great with drinking these green juices. The fibers in whole fruits and vegetables are necessities in a balance diet. And who knows? A balance between solid and liquid nutrition just might save you from manslaughter upon watching your significant other eat a delectable treat :)