Latest Trend In Healthy Eating: Cold-Pressed Juices

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - One of the hottest food trends of last year was juicing as a cleanse or to detox.

Now, the new year is bringing a new twist on the juicing craze.

As CBS 2's Kristine Johnson reported, physical therapist Nicolas Bartolotta skips the caffeine and drinks a vegetable juice instead when he's looking for a jolt.

"It makes me feel healthy and physically, I actually get a boost of energy," he told Johnson.

Bartolotta said he solely drinks cold-pressed juices. Once sold as liquid cleanses, cold-pressed juices are now hitting the market as an infusion of fruits and veggies on the go.

"People who might not otherwise sit down to a big, large salad are getting two to three pounds of produce in an easy-to-drink, easy-to-consume, digestible way," Suja Juice co-founder Annie Lawless said.

That produce can include ingredients like kale, cucumber, collared greens and celery. Carrots and apples give the juices some sweetness.

But the juices aren't inexpensive. They can cost up to $10 for a 16-ounce bottle.

Beverage analyst Jonas Feliciano said organic ingredients and the special pasteurization process drive up the price.

"Unlike those other brands which use sort of flash pasteurization or high heat, these juices look to imitate the raw juices that are made at home," he told Johnson.

"Cold-press juicing gently grinds the produce into a bag and then that bag is pressed. So you're retaining the most of the nutrient value as possible," said Lawless.

Still, registered dietitian Andrea Giancoli from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics cautions that the process of juicing removes the fiber from fruits and vegetables.

That means drinking juice won't provide all the digestive benefits you'd get from eating whole fruits and veggies.

"These juices can be a great way to grab something when you're on the run to still have some vegetables and some fruits in your diet. But they shouldn't be what we rely on solely as our intake of fruits and vegetables," said Giancoli.

Experts add that if you do drink these juices on a regular basis, make sure to watch the calories because the fruits and vegetables are in a concentrated form and can add up. The juices also have a short shelf life.

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