Inspired Wellness

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Juice or soda...equal evils?


I posted a tip earlier today and received a few questions regarding it.

***Sham's Rapid Fitness tip- Juices and smoothies can contain just as much sugar as sodas if not more, make sure its made with whole fruit not juice.****

To dig a little deeper I just looked up the nutrition facts of a 16oz. jamba juice berry medley shake and it has close to 50g of sugar per serving, I just looked up a 16oz. pepsi and it has 53g of sugar. 100% orange juice 16oz has 43g of sugar.

Grams of Sugar-
16oz. jamba juice 50g
16oz. pepsi 53g
16oz. 100% o.j 43g
2 Large Oranges 23g

A calorie is a calorie whether it comes from juice or soda your body handles it the same. Meaning if you have 500 extra calories from soda or jamba juice your body will gain a pound of fat a week. Juices are basically sugar water with a little bit of vitamins. However, if you take a high quality multivitamin there is no need for you to get that little bit of extra vitamin C from the juice which may pack an additional 200 calories with it. When the vitamins contain zero calories.

When people buy juice, or juice their own fruits or veggies, the actual juice part is just sugar and water. The healthy nutrient dense fiber portion of the fruit or veggie is all in the pulp and that is the part people throw away, that is the part you DO NOT get even when you drink 100% fruit juice.

You will receive more value eating the fresh fruit or vegetable whole. Instead of using a juicer I recommend using a blender. That way you mix the whole fruit or vegetable and you get all of the health benefits. Plus the whole fruit actually makes you feel fuller with less sugar and calories!! Take a look at the example below what will fill you up more, 2 cups of o.j which has 43g of sugar and almost 200 calories or 2 whole oranges which only has 23g of sugar and less than 100 calories...

Try this out to jump start your morning!

Strawberries
Blueberries
Tomato
Carrots

Put the all in a blender with a little bit of water and BAM!! A nutritious breakfast full of cancer fighting antioxidants, fresh healthy enzymes, lower in sugar than the juice version and will have you feeling satisfied and energetic!

also check out this article from health.com
http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/07/29/fruit-juice-worse-than-soda/

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