Juicing is all the rage – in fact, it is a 3.4 billion dollar industry. That means that a lot of people out there are drinking juice – and they are drinking juice because it is an excellent way to absorb a large amount of vitamins and phytonutrients. But it is also an excellent way to absorb a ton of sugar into your bloodstream fast, which if you have acne, is exactly what you do not want to do!
Let me explain. There are three things we need to talk about: sugar, fiber, and juice detoxes. (If you would rather watch this than read it, the video is below!)
Sugar:
The number one thing you need to do if you have acne is to balance your blood sugar. Every time you eat anything that’s high in sugar it’s going to spike your blood sugar levels, which means there’s going to be more glucose in your blood. The glucose signals the release of insulin and insulin triggers the production of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and that directly increases oil production in your skin. So, increasing your blood sugar is going to lead directly to more acne. Cutting back on sugar and learning how to balance your blood sugar is the number one thing you can do. This means juice is actually one of your worst enemies when it comes to fighting acne.
A serving of fresh-pressed juice can contain anywhere from 22 – 50 grams of sugar. A can of coca-cola contains 37 grams of sugar. Some of these juices that people are consuming actually have more sugar in them than a can of Coke! That amount of sugar is harmful for everybody, of course, but if you have acne it means you’re aggravating your skin every time you have a juice.
Fiber:
When you juice a fruit or vegetable you basically remove all of the fiber. Fiber is what allows food to digest slowly, giving nutrients time to be absorbed properly. Without fiber, many nutrients are not digested at all! And some vitamins, such as vitamin A, cannot be absorbed without fat and/or fiber. So some of the vitamins and phytonutrients in juice are simply flushed right out of the body (ie. All the vitamin A in carrot ands spinach juice will not be absorped!).
Juice Detoxes:
Many of my acne patients try everything to clear their skin – and many of them have tried a juice detox. Bad idea – for everyone! Juice detoxes are going to make your skin worse and potentially make your whole body more toxic. During any type of detox, toxins are going to be mobilized out of the cell to the liver, where they will be processed. The liver then secretes the toxins in a bile mixture into the small intestine. When these toxins are excreted into the small intestine fiber will carry these toxins out of your body, where they can be flushed away. But if you’re doing a juice detox, when the toxin/bile mixture is secreted into your small intestine, there’s no fiber to carry the toxins out of your body. Instead, these toxins are reabsorbed into your body. The truth is that Juice detoxes can actually make you more toxic and at the same time increase your blood sugar levels, your insulin, and your acne.
The Solution
Smoothies are amazing. Simply put all the fruit and vegetables into a blender and all the fiber is retained. Therefore smoothies help you feel full longer, increase the absorption of nutrients, slow the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream, and helps mobilize and excrete toxins from the body. Smoothies are the way to go. Stay tuned for some amazing smoothie recipes!
Love,
Dr. Stacey
