The Juice Hype!?

Hey guys! Hope you are having a great new year so far!

A part of why I started blogging was so that I could talk to some of you about some popular, controversial 'diet' topics and give you my opinion on it. I find that diet trends can often conceal the truth and be misleading. Therefore, today I want to discuss with you about the juice hype.

So let's get straight to the point; is fresh juice healthy?

To this my answer will be yes and no.

'Healthy' is a relative term. Hardly any foods that exist are100%; they have their pros and cons. And this applies to fruit juices too. However, as part of marketing, the 'juice hype' (as I like to call it) largely masks the down sides. Therefore the recurring problem I see is that this gives an excuse to many people for consuming a ton of juice. And like any other foods/drinks, by consuming lots of it, you are loading your body with its 'cons'.

So what are the pros and the cons? Well I'm sure you are aware from the many adverts and magazine spreads that the pros are:

a) The vitamins

b) The minerals

c) Convenient way of consuming fruits and vegs

So what are the adverts not telling you?

First off, juices are LOADED with sugar. I know it is natural sugar, but guys, sugar means sugar. In high concentrations, any type is lethal. By squeezing out the juice from a fruit, you are extracting sugar from a larger thing and concentrating it in a much smaller volume. Therefore, by the time you make a small glass of juice, you have the same sugar content as about 3 of that fruit. In fact, the sugar content of fresh juices are not so different than to soft drinks. What is even worse is that many times, juices they sell in bottles or cans contain additional sugars. All this sugar can lead to problems such as obesity to tooth decay.

The other main point is that, by juicing you are getting rid of the valuable fibres in the fruits and vegs. The dietary fibre is one of the main things that make them so healthy. Therefore, drinking juice doesn't actually serve as a substitute for the real thing.

The bottom line is: try to have the real thing. Eating more vegs and fruits is healthier.

But I guess my real point isn't necessarily if you should or should not have juice. I just want you to be more aware of what you are consuming. Juices DO have their benefits and (I know) they are convenient and tasty. But give it some thought before you consume it, and don't blindly stick to what the adverts want you to think.

Until next time!