Can vegetable juice replace vegetables? The short answer is yes but it is not advisable. Vegetable juice can be an easy way to increase the amount of vegetables in your diet, but it should not be used routinely to replace vegetables as a whole. Whether it’s raw, cooked, fresh, frozen or canned, every type of vegetable counts. Vegetable juice also counts.

Some people believe that juicing is better than eating entire fruits and vegetables, because your body can absorb nutrients faster and it gives the digestive system a break from digesting food. If you try juicing, only make as much juice as you can drink at once; in freshly squeezed juice, harmful bacteria can grow fast.

Drinking juices can of course provide high levels of nutrients and antioxidants to your body. The best way to keep the body hydrated is to fuel it with fresh vegetable juice for breakfast in the morning and before dinner in the evening. Your body should stay hydrated so you’ll feel healthy and rejuvenated.

Vegetable juices are lower in sugar and therefore calories, when compared with fruit juices.

Trying canned or bottled vegetable juice as a supplement for vegetables has three issues.

• Many are high in added sodium
• They contain only a little fiber
• Finally, veggies such as leafy greens, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes provide a greater variety of vitamins, minerals, and other beneficial substances than the juice—and they are much more filling.

While V8 juice and the like contain purees of all kinds of vegetables, they should not take the place of vegetable eating. In the pasteurising process, nutrients are lost, and much of the fibre is retained in pulp form. V8 also contains certain nutritionally questionable additives.

Juicing provides you the fresh produce nutrients, but eliminates pulp and fibre needed to keep your colon in good working order, decrease the risk of heart disease, and lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels. The whole fruit contains vitamin and fiber with far less calories than a juice bottle.

As for vegetable juices, there is a lot of variety. They’re very delicious and fun to have. They don’t make you feel thirsty for a very long time. They raise your energy levels and make you feel outstanding.

Homemade juices and smoothies are usually cheaper than buying them in stores Juices do not produce as much fibre like all foods, but consuming new, fresh fruits and vegetables is recommended where possible.

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines suggest you eat 2 1⁄2 cups of vegetables a day for a 2,000-calorie diet, a target few of us achieve. Drinking vegetable juice is an easy and delicious way of helping to narrow the gap between the recommended amount of vegetables and the amount actually eaten.