Can you drink too much juice?

by Tina Marie
(Owaneco, Illinois)

Q: I have found that I love vegetable juice with some lemon in it. I've replaced breakfast and morning snack with this juice - any combination of greens, turnips, beets, celery, carrots, ginger, peppers, whatever I can find. I usually have about 3 12-16 oz glasses a day. Is this ok? Is there a max amount to drink?

A: Hi Tina Marie! Glad you love veggie juice! Well, yes and no on the "too much juice" question. It is possible to drink too much juice. After all, it's possible to eat too much food, and juice is the same concept. But, I personally don't think it's something to be super concerned about. Listen to your body and your appetite. If your body craves that raw nutrition, it's totally fine to consume a lot.

Many raw foodists consume 3000+ calories a day on fresh fruit and vegetables alone and listen to thier appetite. But if you're eating cooked food, it's a bit different.

The amount that you're juicing (3 glasses a day) is perfectly fine. Juices do have calories though, so just take note of that. I have people tell me all the time that they ocassionally gain weight with juicing because they forget that it has calories too.

When you are juice fasting you can have way more then on a regular diet because you aren't getting calories from food.

It's really great that you're drinking it in the morning, as it's the best time to drink juice becuase your stomach is empty.

But you're good on the 3 glasses, in fact, it's super healthy :)