Juiced Up -- But How Healthy Is The Fare At Juice Bars?

TO TEST A THEORY, I recently toured some local juice bars.

"I'm feeling a bit run down," I said each time to the person behind the counter, "and I think I might be getting a cold. What do you recommend?"

At Juice Plant in Wallingford, the man suggested a one-ounce shot of wheat grass "to clean you out" and a Ginger Zinger Juice Smoothie (carrots, oranges, ginger, sherbet) with a "High Powered C with Rosehips Super Booster."

At Bellevue Square's Juba, the woman made me a St. Vincent Smoother (tangerine and mango nectars, nonfat frozen yogurt, nonfat milk, ice) with a vitamin C "Health Booth Extra."

At Lou's Live Juices atop Queen Anne Hill, the server recommended the "Cold-Flu-Blah Zapper" (carrot, apple, garlic, ginger honey, vitamin C, rose hips and echinacea).

Is the juice bar our latest purveyor of cure-alls, or merely a stopover for relatively nutritious treats? Do these drinks really improve our well-being, or are we simply justifying a sweet snack under the guise of healthfulness?

Traditionally, juice bars sold beverages made on the spot by juicing whole, fresh vegetables and fruit. Now some use pre-cut fruit and ready made juices and nectars. Some are primarily smoothie bars, adding frozen yogurt to juices for a lower-fat, pseudo-milkshake. Most offer additives with supposed health benefits: ginseng, protein powder, spirulina, brewer's yeast, bee pollen.

It's even possible to get only the essence of some herbs and other additives, in the form of "tonics." At The Herbalist in the Ravenna neighborhood, customers mix sparkling water with blended tonics based o Chinese medicine.

For a touchstone on many subjects outside conventional medicine, I still refer to Dr. Andrew Weil, the Tucson, Ariz., M.D., well known for his recent PBS television specials on health and healing. Weil supports the use of tonics to help neutralize harmful influences in the body or increase the efficiency of our healing systems.

A tonic, then, can take many forms: Raw garlic added to a soup or salad, to help control hypertension or reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke. Candied ginger to help with indigestion or motion sickness. Capsules of astragalus, an herb shown to enhance the function of the immune system.

But on his Web site (http://www.drweil.com) Weil calls the pumping up of smoothies with some supplements "ginseng madness." He questions whether research supports claims behind spirulina and bee pollen. And though he believes in some benefits of ginseng, he warns that it can have side effects, and might be more reliable as a standardized extract from a health-food store.

I suspect many people order juice drinks while hoping beyond reason that something low in fat and supposedly healthful doesn't count toward one's total daily calories. Most juice bars don't post the nutritional content of their drinks, but one that did, the aptly named Juice Excuse formerly at Gold's Gym in Bellevue, offered many drinks with 300 to 400 calories, and a couple with more than 1,000. That nonfat St. Vincent's I had at Juba is listed at 115 calories for an 8-ounce serving - but the smallest adult size is the 16-ounce "tall."

Juice drinks may be better for us than diet soda or coffee or martinis. They can be tasty, refreshing, perhaps health-promoting and a tad expensive (often $3 to $4). But they shouldn't substitute for balanced eating. Many lack the beneficial fiber of the whole vegetable or fruit. As a dietician once told me: "Eat the fruit, drink the water."

I didn't notice much of a difference after drinking the juice concoctions I ordered recently. Which is understandable, since I actually wasn't rundown and getting a cold.

On another trip to Lou's, though, I tried one of the most popular drinks there, the Re-Vitalizer (black teas, orange juice, ginger honey, Siberian ginseng, vitamin C, mate and ginkgo), to "energize `gray matter,' wake up and turn on the `mental lights.' " A half-hour later I felt more sleepy than energized.

I confess: I can't blame the Re-Vitalizer.

I think it was the Snickerdoodle.

Molly Martin is assistant editor of Pacific Magazine. Gary Settle is Pacific's picture editor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NOTEBOOK

More food nutrients

For more ideas on wellness and what we eat, "Healing Foods," by Miriam Polunin ($24.95, DK Publishing) is a new book that offers a clear rundown of many foods' health benefits, key nutritional values and therapeutic properties -plus some tempting recipes (including Shrimp in Green Tea, Nut & Cherry Pilaf, Baked Ginger Bananas) devised to include as many healthful ingredients as possible.

Knee pain

Chronic knee pain or disability from osteoarthritis? You may be able to reduce that pain enough to postpone or even eliminate knee-replacement surgery, according to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association. A study of 439 people over age 60 with osteoarthritis found that aerobic exercisers (three times a week, 30 to 45 minutes) reported 12 percent less knee pain after 18 months, and resistance exercisers (strength training) reported an 8 percent decrease, both translating into improvements in walking, climbing stairs and getting in and out of cars.

Double duty

I'm partial to taping TV shows for viewing while on home exercise machines (treadmill, stationary bicycle). Anything with a plot will do, and if I fast-forward through commercials, a one-hour program spans a 40-minute workout. Another idea from a senior citizen in Bellevue: Books on tape. She's "read" many good books while putting in mileage on her treadmill, checking them out for free from the public library.