As we mentioned before, sugary beverages can contribute to weight gain due to their high sugar content. Consuming too many carbs (which orange juice is) may also increase your blood glucose levels, which could be causing your body to store more fat as glucose.
Conversely, you should try to limit how much milk you drink because of the added calcium it contains. Too much dairy intake may cause bone loss in some individuals.
Some people are sensitive to milk or have digestive issues that prevent them from drinking enough milk to meet their nutritional needs. Because of this, they may develop low mineral density or even lose bone mass. This can happen very quickly and occur to anyone!
Fortunately, there are ways to enjoy our daily drinks without adding extra calories or chemicals that don’t belong in our bodies. And while most people agree that water is essential for health, you don’t need the fancy bottled waters with lots of minerals.
This article will talk about some easy tips to help you reduce your beverage calorie intake and choose healthier alternatives.
Processed orange juice
Many people agree that processed juices are not as good for you as fresh ones. This is due to the high amount of sugar they contain. Liquid glucose, or simple sugars, are used to flavor these drinks and therefore students often do not feel that they taste good.
There are several types of processed orangesjuices. Some are mixed with water and pulped fruits which remove some of the natural fibers and vitamins from the fruit. These may be purified or natural and no added sweeteners, but they can have artificial colors or flavors put in to make them more appealing.
Another type is reconstituted dried oranges or grapefruit powder that is mixed with liquid and then squeezed. Finally, frozen concentrated juice is thawed and diluted with water.
All of these processingsugar content before being drunk. The average one-cup (250 ml) glass of OJ has about 2 tablespoons(25 g) of sucralose, an artificially colored and flavored chemical that acts like glucose and so students show little effect when drinking it.
However, a two-ounce (50 ml) bottle of Tropicana Pure Premium Freeze Dried Oranges and Grapefruits has 6 teaspoons(20 g) of sucralose! That’s over half a cupful of sugar!!!!!!
Tropicana also markets their products as having half the calories of regular bottled OJs because they say they use less pulp.
Nutrients in orange juice
As mentioned earlier, one glass of fresh squeezed orange juice is considered to be one ounce. One cup equals 2 ounces so make sure you know what size glass you have been drinking from!
Many people agree that it is best to drink our daily vitamin requirements while we are young because these vitamins will help us grow. More mature adults can also benefit from oranges as they contain important minerals suchas calcium and Vitamin D.
However, there is very little nutritional value in most brands of “fresh” orange juice. It is usually made from concentrate and contains around 5-10% (by volume) fruit content. The rest is sugar!
As discussed before, too much added sugar isn’t good for your health and may even contribute to obesity. Unfortunately, most commercial juice products are way too high in sugar. A normal amount of sugar would be about 4 tablespoons or 20 grams per half-cup serving. Most commercially available juices have at least 8–12 cups per bottle!
It is extremely difficult to find 100% natural orange juice in stores but if you do, give it a try. An easy way to determine whether it is worth it is to look online or in other areas of the store to see if there are any coupons or discount codes being advertised.
What about natural orange juice?
While not as popular, some people prefer drinking only natural juices or liquids. These are sometimes called “natural” or “organic” beverages because they use organic products to create them.
Natural oranges can contain sugar — just like any other kind of fruit! The difference is that the added sugars are usually labeled as something such as coconut milk, grape juice, or apple juice.
These types of liquid foods typically have 4–8 percent glucose (sugar) content. According to Harvard Health, this amount of glucose doesn’t affect blood sugar levels much. It may even help reduce body weight slightly.
But what if we told you that there’s a way to make an extra serving totally free?! That would be pretty sweet, right? And while it might sound weird at first, we’ve got your back. Here’s how to make the best oatmeal with no sugar added orange juice.
Juice cleanses
While some people feel that only drinking purified water is enough, others believe that nothing but liquid foods is needed to ensure better health.
These are sometimes referred to as juice cleansing or alkaline-based diets. Some of these juices are made with fruits or vegetables as their main ingredient, which can be confusing for most consumers.
Some of these beverages contain large amounts of sugar, making it hard to distinguish whether the effects of the drink are due to this added sweetener or if it is the fruit content. By adding extra sugar to your diet, you could be eating more calories than you need!
This article will discuss why oranges are the best choice when it comes to replacing sugary drinks like soda or juice.
Will I get a sugar spike?
As mentioned earlier, most people agree that drinking water is your best bet if you are trying to lose weight. However, some suggest adding one teaspoon of lemon juice per glass of water to help promote digestion and reduce stomach acid which can slow down body processes. While this may be helpful for someone who has a very high food intake or no exercise, it cannot be said for those in fast-food culture where most meals include lots of processed foods and little else.
If you do decide to add something extra to your drink, make sure to check the back label to see what kind of sugar content the product contains! Unfortunately, not all brands disclose how much glucose (or sucrose) their products contain.
Some say that by including such an abundance of liquid, your body will naturally regulate its thirst and choose to consume less water, so look out for these statements! This would only happen if they were clearly labeled as such, however.
Juice vs. water
Did you know that most people are drinking more than eight ounces of juice every day? Eight glasses per person is almost one bottle!
That’s not very healthy, especially if your goal is to lose weight or maintain your current weight.
If you want to drink some juices, just be sure to make it with no added sugar. You can always add water to help things taste better, but there should be nothing else in the liquid except for the vitamins and minerals already present in oranges.
Another option is to use less pulp — try using whole fruits instead. And if you do choose to drink fruit juices, limit yourself to two cups per day (eight ounces at once).
Should I get an off-the-shelf juice or make my own?
Choosing whether to buy pre-made orange juice or make your own is a personal choice. If you are very health conscious, then buying one of the ready made juices may be your best option as they have been processed and packaged in a factory that follows strict guidelines for ingredient purity and quality.
The oranges used to create these products must come from clean agri-food production facilities that use natural pesticides to prevent bugs from contaminating the fruit, and none of the ingredients can contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs). They also cannot include sulfites, which are food additives that some people are allergic to.
Sulfites give dried fruits like apricots and berries their bright color and texture, but too much of them can cause an adverse reaction in some individuals. Although small amounts of sulfite are needed to stabilize raw foods like fresh produce, ingesting too many of them can impair digestion and potentially harm your health.
By making our own freshly squeezed juices at home, we can avoid eating any additives during the process. We also have control over what vitamins and minerals we add to our drinks, so it is a better way to guarantee that our body receives enough of those nutrients than if we were drinking someone else’s prepared product.
Juice recipes
Many people believe that just because something is called juice, it must be made of only water and sugar. This is not true!
Many beverages contain additional ingredients like milk, sweeteners, or even additives to color the liquid. These additions are typically not found in “true” juices.
Processed sugars are often used as a color agent for drinks including OJ. Because these sugars are already dissolved, they do not require boiling to mix into the drink. Therefore, some say they are less important to watch than plain old sucrose (table sugar).
This isn’t necessarily wrong, but depending on which nutrients you are seeking, it may not be the best source of them. The reason I bring this up is due to the fact that most commercially available oranges have high amounts of processed sugar!
(Note: Some whole fruits such as apples and carrots also contain small quantities of glucose.
