[banananutmuffin]

Despite years as a vegetarian and my current primal diet, I just have never developed a love for vegetables (or fruit, but I'm ok with living without fruit). Although I do try to eat a green vegetable with every meal (typically either romaine lettuce, spinach or broccoli), I always feel like I just don't get enough veggies. I sometimes branch out into kale chips or roasted Brussels sprouts, but veggies just don't come naturally to me (and require more effort in the kitchen than I like to make). Combine this with my practice of IFing, which means fewer meals in general for me, and I feel like I am hardly eating veggies at all.

I've been dabbling in the idea of drinking an organic V-8 type bottled juice with my dinner as a way of adding "vegetables" into my diet. But does it really count?

On one hand, I know that the fiber has been removed, the juice is pasteurized, etc. On the other hand, some things like lycopene are more readily available after being cooked (and V-8 is mostly tomatoes anyway)! I know they contain a lot of sodium, too, but honestly that doesn't concern me.

(I did buy a juicer with the intention of making my own homemade V-8 juice... but what can I say? I am lazy lazy lazy in the kitchen. Although I make an apple/spinach combo juice my kids love!)

So what do you think? Are bottled veggie juices evil? Good? Better than nothing?

[Exhale15]

Some bottled 'green' juices have lots of sugar because fruit juice is added. Check the labels. Why not stick to green smoothies?

[twinieten]

Try as I might, I don't get enough veggies every day. Or fruit, for that matter. I usually have a salad at lunch and something for dinner, but there are days when my only vegetables comes from a can with "V8" on the label. It's there, it's easy, travels well and has a long shelf life.

I vote for "better than nothing". You have to go with what works, and for now, that's what works for me.

[LockItUp]

There's a greens powder as well as a reds powder! I've gotten them at Sprouts.

[ennay]

If you can handle sodium, wth. Better than nothing. V-8 - and really all tomato juices - has a TON of sodium.

[Arctic Mama]

Bad. Juicing, in general, whether commercial or at home, is a lot of calories devoid of much of the structure and fiber that makes them satiating. If it is the difference between getting no vegetables and some, maybe a drink a day is fine, but I really recommend against drinking calories in general, and juices in particular.

[karaheissman]

The secret to choosing a healthy fruit juice is to carefully read the label. Manufacturers use specific language, as required by law, to describe the juice. But it's easy to be fooled—if you don't know the code.

These are the labels you should watch for when searching for the ideal healthy fruit juice:

contains "100% fruit juice"
contains no additives
is not from concentrate
includes puree or pulp
is "USDA organic"

The most important is that the juice is "100% fruit juice." Avoid sweeteners; fruit doesn't need them. Healthy fruit juice is entirely fruit juice.

On the other hand, the following additives have no place in a healthy fruit juice:

Artificial sweeteners
Acesulfame potassium
Aspartame
Neotame
Saccharin
Sucralose
Colors and dyes

Always read the ingredients list. There is where you will see unexpected ingredients.