If you’ve seen the documentary film Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (2010), now available on Netflix, you would’ve seen how the main subjects in the film lose weight and lead healthier lifestyles after going on a 60-day juice fast. The main protagonists — Australian businessman Joe Cross and Phil Staples, a morbidly-obese truck driver whom Cross befriends in Iowa during the making of the film — are on juice fasts monitored by nutritionists and doctors to ensure that their health is in check. By the end of the 60-day period, the men are transformed and their health problems, magically resolved.
This film has been credited with promoting a food trend that has caught on at a global scale: juicing. Its popularity seems to have reached Pakistan as well. Walk into any major department store and you’ll find a section dedicated to fresh juices — often owned by small, independent health food and/or ‘wellness’ companies attached to another enterprise focused on your well-being: gyms.
While establishments offering fresh juices along with desi fast food have been around for some time, they weren’t really associated with being healthy due to the ‘additional’ items on their menu — halwa, puri, paratha rolls, etc, — which are very oily, very indulgent and not exactly good for you. In complete contrast to that are the juice bars popping up in popular malls and major service stations. They offer all of nature’s plant-based goodness, totally fresh and without any additives, made on-the-spot and in a variety of combinations. One cup, depending on the size, is priced anywhere between 200-500 rupees, which to be honest, is how much the ingredients used in it cost anyway. Where value for money is concerned, it’s a good deal.
Juicing fresh vegetables and fruits is all the rage these days. But how good is it really?
But how healthy is juicing anyway? Proponents claim that you can get up to 95 percent of the vitamins and enzymes our bodies need by juicing raw fruits and vegetables. According to the website thefoodnetwork.com, “When you drink juice, highly concentrated vitamins, minerals and enzymes rapidly enter the bloodstream absorbing all of the nutritional benefits of the fruits and vegetables and giving your digestive organs a much-needed rest.”