Benefit or harm, vegetables or fruits: the whole truth about freshly squeezed juices

Freshly squeezed juice is a favorite summer drink for many. True, someone calls it a useful elixir that strengthens the immune system and saturates with vitamins, while for someone fresh fruit drinks are a real cheat meal, because they contain too much sugar. Where is the truth - understood Blueprint.

Vegetables and fruits are the basis of a healthy diet. They are high in vitamins and minerals, and contain zinc, folic acid and fiber. Fresh, boiled, stewed, they help fight strokes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and even some types of cancer. It seems logical that by turning them into juice, we change only the form, but not the content, and they still remain healthy. Not really.

By squeezing all the juices out of fruits and vegetables, we get rid of the peel, seeds, core - dietary fiber, which is extremely important for the digestive system.

It is fiber that helps you get satiated faster and feel full longer, reduces cholesterol and blood sugar, promotes proper intestinal motility and accelerates the elimination of toxins from the body. The digestion of liquids is much faster than the digestion of solid foods. By eating the whole fruit, we kick-start the natural digestive process. Drinking juice, we go around the complex process, and the satiety mechanism is not activated.

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Another complaint about fruit juices is the high amount of sugar. It is unlikely that you eat five oranges at a time, but drink it easily. Approximately so many fruits are needed for a glass of juice, where almost all energy (112 calories) will come from sugar. According to Drew Kanoli, an athlete and one of the main adherents of juicing, most people drink juices incorrectly.

“They use too much fruit. Let's take the popular recipe for cucumbers, kale, lemons, apples and carrots. The start is great, but the apples and carrots spoil everything. Fiber-free fruit juice is an ultra-concentrated sugar charge that instantly raises blood sugar levels, which leads to the production of insulin, ”says the expert.

Drew Canoli talks about the difference between fructose and glucose. “After consuming fructose, the liver accounts for 100% of the metabolic load, while glucose only 20%. Every cell in the body, including the brain, uses glucose, so most of it is "burned" immediately after consumption.

In contrast, fructose is converted to free fatty acids, which, when accumulated, can lead to insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and type XNUMX diabetes. Fructose metabolism can lead to the formation of large amounts of uric acid, which leads to high blood pressure and causes gout. Glucose suppresses the hunger hormone ghrelin and stimulates leptin, which suppresses appetite, while fructose does not affect ghrelin. These are the main reasons why the best time for fruit juice is after an intense workout or when you are hungry, provided that you don't eat anything else sweet. "

However, it's not all bad.

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Juices can be fully rehabilitated if you follow three rules:

• Add fats to your drink: chia seeds, olive oil, ghee, coconut, or even butter.
• Drink juices that improve your workout performance. For example, beetroot, according to research, has a positive effect on the endurance of cyclists.
• Add protein to the juice: powdered amino acids or hydrolyzed collagen. Also, use more vegetables, alkalize the juice with lemon or lime, and most importantly - do not overuse: one glass a day is enough.

These rules may seem a little complicated. This is juice - what will be bad from it? Nevertheless, nutritionists advise to wisely include this drink in the diet.

“Freshly squeezed juices, even diluted, cannot be classified as a product of daily consumption: they are rather an exception from a healthy diet, a dessert,” says Natalia Gerasimova. “However, when you add various components to juices - bran, fiber, algae, herbs - you can get healthy and tasty smoothies. They are assimilated slowly, rich in antioxidants, dietary fiber, which allows us to expand the range of juices' use.

The main thing is not to overdo it: one glass a day is enough.

If cake is the most useful after the extraction process, what good is left in the juice?

Of course, any product is most useful in its natural form. However, in the juice parted with fiber, vitamins, trace elements, other active substances of fruits, as well as a large amount of water, remain. It is the last component that juices are valuable. After all, not everyone likes to drink clean water. In addition, the juice still contains electrolytes necessary to maintain the constancy of the internal environment of the body: magnesium, potassium, calcium.

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Which is healthier: vegetable juices or fruit juices?

The benefits of specific foods are difficult to consider in isolation from a specific individual. However, it is quite possible to assess their safety. In contrast to fruits, vegetables contain more water, and the concentration of active substances, including sugar, is significantly lower. Vegetable juices are often used in dietary nutrition as medicinal and cleansing agents.

Definitely vegetable from various greens, root vegetables, pumpkins are healthier than fruit. They have fewer simple sugars, many minerals that are more resistant to oxygen. Fruit juices contain enough fructose (this simple sugar also contributes to the formation of fat reserves), and the vitamins that they are rich in are oxidized rather quickly upon contact with oxygen. In principle, you need to drink freshly squeezed juices within 10-15 minutes after preparation.

Can you lose weight on juices?

The fruit juice diet is a popular way to lose weight. Getting fast carbohydrates in large quantities, its adherents do not feel hungry. However, the consequences of such a diet can be dire. Sugar from juices stimulates the production of insulin and the synthesis of autologous fat. It turns out that such a diet does not lead to the loss of excess fat, but, on the contrary, to its accumulation. As such, weight loss occurs due to the depletion of protein stores, mainly from muscle mass. If such dietary experiments are repeated often and for a long time, then the risk of developing metabolic disorders and diabetes mellitus increases.

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Which is better - juice or smoothie?

Of course, a smoothie (a drink made from fruits, vegetables, berries mixed in a blender, often with additional ingredients such as nuts, honey, milk, spices) is more useful than juice. This is due to the presence of fiber in it, which inhibits the absorption of simple sugars found in fruits and vegetables. This means that blood glucose rises gradually. Insulin is also produced smoothly, the pancreas in this case works without strain.

Juices, if we are talking about fruit juices, are rich in simple carbohydrates, which can cause a sharp jump in blood glucose. If you like to pamper yourself with a sweet tooth, these jumps on a regular basis significantly increase your risk of developing diabetes. The question for smoothies is that due to the heating of the blender blades, the useful mass is oxidized and a number of nutrients are destroyed faster. The solution may be a professional blender, but, however, it costs decently.

To whom and how can freshly squeezed juices be harmful?

Freshly squeezed juices are contraindicated for young children, people with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, overweight and obesity, allergy sufferers. Fruit juices are rich in organic acids, which in high concentrations can irritate mucous membranes. In particular, they can cause gastritis, heartburn. And the high level of sugars from fruit juices causes hypersecretion of the pancreas, which can lead to a variety of digestive disorders - from bloating to severe pain.

However, you cannot get carried away with vegetable juices. Tomatoes, from which tomato juice is made, contain toxic compounds in scanty quantities. With frequent use of tomato juice, there is a risk of getting poisoned. In addition, salt is often added to the finished tomato juice, which limits the intake of this product for hypertensive patients.

Can you drink juice on an empty stomach?

This is quite risky due to the effect on the dynamics of the digestive system and delicate mucosa. A safer way is to consume juices after meals or as a light snack between meals.

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Are there any foods that shouldn't be juiced

You should not combine very sweet fruits in one juice, for example, bananas, grapes, mangoes. In this case, in one glass we get a high-calorie drink with a lot of sugars and questionable benefits. It happens that fruit juices are combined with milk, which is also fundamentally wrong. Fruit acids in combination with milk proteins hinder digestion, provoke problems with the gastrointestinal tract.

Can you choose a good juice among packaged juices?

From the point of view of maintaining a figure, only freshly squeezed juices are useful. Because packaged juices consist of juice concentrate diluted with water and contain a large amount of sugar. And because of the preservatives in the store analogue there will be significantly less vitamins and microelements than in the one prepared by yourself, and the calories are ten times higher - by 150-200 calories for an average portion of 250 ml. Allegedly, natural expensive juices in glass are no better than cheap analogs. There is no point in overpaying for a dubious difference.

List of the most useful mixes:

1. Carrot + Ginger + Apple. Strengthens the immune system and contributes to the loss of extra pounds.
2. Apple + Cucumber + Celery. Reduces rice cancer, lowers blood cholesterol and helps with headaches.
3. Tomato + Carrot + Apple. Improves skin color and eliminates bad breath.
4. Carrot + Apple + Bell pepper. Thanks to its high fiber content, this blend helps promote digestion and leaves skin looking radiant.
5. Orange + Ginger + Cucumber. Reduces temperature and saturates the body with moisture.
6. Pineapple + Apple + Watermelon. It removes excess salts, is good for the liver and kidneys.
7. Apple + Cucumber + Kiwi. Improves skin tone and hydration.
8. Pear + Banana. Provides the body with potassium, useful for the heart and blood vessels.
9. Carrot + Apple + Pear + Mango. Reduces blood pressure, removes toxins and has a warming effect.
10. Grapefruit + Orange + Mandarin + Lime + Pomegranate. Due to the high content of vitamin C, it strengthens the immune system.
11. Celery + Pineapple + Ginger + Carrot. This refreshing drink is capable of burning fat.
12. Apple + Oranges + Berries. Rich in antioxidants, replenishes vitamin C deficiency in the body.

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