'Juice Trend': The good, the bad, and the ugly truth
What trendy juices actually have to offer you.
The Good
The 'juice trend' is booming or should I say beaming. Pretty colors, trendy packaging, and lots of choices to choose from, yet, is this trend actually giving you what you want?
Juices contain nutrients and vitamins our bodies can benefit from. However, there are things that are important to understand when choosing these pretty juices. Read on to see the The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Truth behind the 'juice trend'.
Disclaimer: This post is wordy, but it has very important information that I tried to make easier to swallow ;)
The Bad
Juice drinks are mostly made of carbohydrates (fruit + veggies) and will turn to glucose (blood sugar) after it enters your body.
What happens: When you sip on a juice it goes into your stomach where it is easily digested since the fiber from these fruits and vegetables is taken out through the juicing process. The juice then breaks down into glucose, which is blood sugar. This blood sugar is then deposited in the liver until the liver is full, then some into your muscles, and whatever does not fit is deposited as fat in your body. FAT?! Yes, fat.
So whatever your liver+ does not have room for your body will end up storing the rest of the blood sugar as fat in your body. Do not go overboard drinking these or any other juice drinks because they are basically sugar bombs.
Honestly, you might as well drink the rosé.
Your body needs balanced meals to turn off hunger hormones and efficiently fuel your body. Juice drinks are not meal replacements because 1. they have no fiber left in them after the juicing process, and 2. obviously no protein or healthy fat to slow down the digestion process and fuel your muscles.
These fat, fiber, and protein lacking drinks will also spike your energy in high peaks, which means you will eventually crash. You want your body to go through slow rolling hills throughout the day (made possible by adding fat, fiber, and protein to each meal) NOT a jerky roller coaster ride.
Having slower rolling hills will keep you full (less snacking), sustain your energy for longer periods of time (less crashing), and help you to make healthier choices so you are not starving/thinking/obsessing over food all day.
The Ugly Truth
This is the kicker. When your body drinks these juices the carbohydrates turn to glucose in your body and then after lots of science and chemical reactions your body eventually craves more sugar after that one juice. WHAT? So fulfilling your sweet juice craving will only give you more unhealthy cravings?? Yup.
What happens: After consuming foods high in carbohydrates (juices, fruit, bread, grains) to reiterate: the food is broken down to glucose, which is blood sugar.
Let's use an example of eating a piece of toast with 14 g of carbohydrates and 2 g of fiber (subtract the fiber from the total carbs because fiber is a type of carb that your body cannot digest, so it will not affect blood sugar levels). So now you have 12g of carbohydrates.
Now imagine a little emoji toast breaking down in your stomach to 12 separate emoji toasts. *Super Mario Bros theme song*
Since these 12 emoji toasts are now glucose (blood sugar) they move into your blood stream. Now picture 12 emoji toasts floating around in your blood.
This is the point where you feel a burst of energy.
Sound the alarms! Your body sends out an alarm because it senses too much sugar in the blood stream. (This is just one piece of toast we are taking about; imagine your body reacting to a cupcake, three glasses of wine, or a huge plate of fruit salad.)
The alarms trigger the pancreas to produce insulin to combat the sugar in the blood. The pancreas sends out multiple little ferryboats with a tractor claw on top. These ferryboats sail the bloodstream looking for the emoji toasts (blood sugar), which they grab with the claw and bring to one of three places: liver, the muscles, or they deposit the blood sugar as fat in the body. The liver and the muscles only have so much space to fill, so many of the emoji toasts are deposited as fat.
Yay, ALL the emoji toasts/blood sugars are collected and moved by the insulin ferry boats. BUT WAIT! The blood stream is now filled with the insulin ferryboats with claws frantically searching for sugar. If there is no more sugar in the blood for the insulin ferryboats to grab up your body will crave MORE carbohydrates/sugar.
This is the point where you feel the crash of energy and start searching for snacks.
WHAT?
So if I drink a juice I will crave more juice and/or sugar after.
Not only that, but it may be depositing as fat in my body, which is the opposite of what I thought I was doing to my body?
So if you are thinking you are making a good choice by drinking a juice instead of eating lunch, think again (and re-read the last paragraph of 'The Bad'), and be careful consuming too many. I am not saying do not drink fancy juices, but be aware of what they are doing to your body and especially if you are replacing meals with them or drinking more than a couple per week.
There is a GOOD time to consume juices!
If you have trouble working out on an empty stomach in the morning, or need a little pick me up before a workout after you get off work (4/5 pm) that is the best time to drink this or any pressed juice.
Instead of focusing on breaking down a meal while you are working out, you drink the carbohydrates (without the added fiber) and your body gets the glucose straight to the bloodstream quicker to give you a boost of energy to get you started on a workout.
So with all that said, just be aware of your sugar intake and make healthy decisions. Also, here is my favorite juice recipe for clear skin.
Clear Skin Green Juice:
Whenever I am feeling a little lack-luster in my skin I squeeze up this bad boy to get my glow back!
½ cup Cilantro
1/2 Green Apple
2 stalks Celery
1/2 Cucumber
4 leaves Romaine Lettuce
1/2 Lemon (juiced)
Coconut water if needed for taste
Squeeze & enjoy!
A lot of the above information has been taught to me by Kelly Leveque in conjunction with other research I have done on the body and optimal carbohydrate intake. If you dig it check her out, she's amazing! I love the podcasts she has guest starred on as well as her book, Body Love.
What are your thoughts on the 'Juice Trend'?
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