Juicy reasons to enjoy a liquid lunch

Juicing diets, when you stick to blended fruit and vegetables with coconut milk, nuts and seeds for added protein and fat, are hugely popular. Fancy a chlorella, carrot and kiwi smoothie for breakfast? Someone with a sparkling smile you will rustle it for you while you wait. How about some celery, spirulina and kale juice with a twist of lime for lunch? There’s an online company that sells this stuff by the litre to doctors who love their daily dose of pure chlorophyll. Whether you want to detox or lose a few unwanted pounds, green juice is being hailed as a miracle food that can boost your energy, make your hair shine and your skin glow.

So far, so sensible. After all, what could be wrong with sticking to a diet of healthy fruit and vegetables? And because everything is liquidised into a smooth goo, you don’t even have to chew.

Fruit and vegetables contain plenty of essential vitamins and minerals. Juicing often uses algae like chlorella to boost protein levels. Chuck in some avocados and you have long chain fatty acids which nourish your large medical brain. Spinach and kale are often important ingredients of green juice because they are rich sources of iron. Lemon water and manuka honey, which is often suggested as part of a weight-loss juicing diet, will give you Vitamin C and boost your struggling immune system. Spirulina contains rich vegetable protein so you can say goodbye to those rare steaks forever. That will improve your bowel health too. ‘Fruit juice can contains many of the nutrients found in the whole fruit so depending on the fruit, the juice will often provide vitamin C, folate, potassium and some B vitamins,’ says Felicity Lyons, a dietitian and spokeswoman for the British Dietetic Association. ‘Pure fruit juices may also contain healthy chemicals and compounds found in the skin and more fibrous part of the fruit, such as flavonoids and carotenoids which contribute to good health.’