When it comes to nutrition, nothing can replace fruits. But the next best product is natural juices from these fruits, which should be consumed in moderation. Since the list of juices and their derivatives is constantly growing and your purchasing abilities are expanding, you need to choose juices wisely.

Are all juices equally beneficial and nutritious?

Natural orange juice is rich in vitamin C, folic acid, potassium and flavonoids, which are natural healers, as well as vitamins. Flavonoids are powerful antioxidants and are involved in improving immunity, fight against various diseases and prevent aging of the body. Juices with a deeper color (for example, pink versus white grapefruit juice) tend to have more carotenoids and other antioxidants. But even less nutrient-rich apple juice and bright grape juice contain potentially beneficial flavonoids. Juices with pulp contain a lot of fiber and pectin, which can also be useful.

How many calories in juices?

Calorie content in fruit juices range from 34 kcal per 100 grams. product (grapefruit juice), 46 kcal (apple), 48 kcal (pineapple), 56 kcal (pomegranate), 60 kcal (orange), 63-70 kcal (grape). In vegetable juices, calories are significantly less, so in tomato juice there are only 18 kcal per 100 grams. product. Fruit juices are more high in calories than fruits, since their sugar content is much higher. The sugar content in juices is slightly less than, for example, in cola or other known soda. This should be remembered if you are dieting and trying to lose weight. Also, the sugar in the juices is dangerous because it instantly enters the liver and blood, and can trigger type II diabetes. Limit yourself to one glass per day, be sure to dilute and do not buy too sweet juices.

Nectars are a mixture of one or more concentrated juices with water and large amounts of sugar (usually high in fructose), high-calorie, unhealthy, processed foods. The proportion of fruit juice should be at least 25-50% and should not be part of the chemical preservatives.

Juice drinks are a mixture of natural juices with water, sugar and citric acid. In juice-containing beverages, the juice content should not be less than 10%, and in vegetable beverages - not less than 40%. Natural or artificial flavors, colors or preservatives can be added to these drinks. When buying juices, carefully review the ingredients list to make sure that no sweeteners are added.

Manufacturers often add cheap juices to expensive ones. And sharp juices, such as pomegranate juice or cranberry juice, are also often diluted with sweet juices. Juice is still considered 100% fruit juice, but it may contain not only the juice indicated on the label. This is done with blueberry juice or cherry juice (which are expensive), often diluting them with cheaper grape or apple juice.

Should I buy fortified juices?

You should not overpay for juices with the addition of vitamin E and C, B vitamins, and herbs because There is no evidence that they will protect the heart, enhance immunity, or bring any health benefits.

Is unpasteurized juice safe?

Unpasteurized juices carry the risk of bacterial contamination. There is a possibility of foodborne illness. Unpasteurized, bottled juice must have a warning sign, method of use and storage periods.

We all understand the benefits of fruit and vegetable juices, but it is necessary to remember that it is best for the body to drink natural, and better fresh, 100% juices without adding sugar and preservatives. However, it should be recalled that the uncontrolled use of juices can lead to an allergic reaction, exacerbation of chronic diseases and even diabetes.

What should you know about fresh juices and smoothies to get the most out of them and avoid possible harm?

  Juice Benefits

  The benefits of juices - a concentrated content of vitamins and minerals.

It is difficult to eat a lot of fruit. But one or two glasses of juice contain vitamins and minerals from several fruits, and you can drink them easily and with pleasure.

  The benefits of juices are the best absorption of vitamins and minerals.

Even if you eat the same amount of fruit that is spent on juicing, vitamins and minerals from the juice will still be absorbed better, simply because the liquid is easier to digest than solid foods. Vitamins and minerals from smoothies are absorbed somewhat worse than from juices, but, all the same, significantly better than from solid foods.

Comparing juices with vitamins and minerals in pills is pointless. Even the best complexes, which take into account the compatibility of vitamins and minerals, are not able to compete with the complexes created by nature itself. Drinking juices is definitely more useful than taking vitamins in pills.

  The benefits of juices are green smoothies (adding greens to juices).

In freshly squeezed juices and smoothies, you can add different types of greens. For example:

• Greenery:  dill, parsley, cilantro (coriander), spinach, sorrel, celery, mint, oregano (marjoram), rosemary, stevia (an excellent natural sugar substitute), sage.
• Seedlings and young sprouts:  wheat, lentils, buckwheat, beans, flax, etc.
• Root leaves:  beets, horseradish, carrots.
• Wild herbs:  nettle, dandelion, burdock, quinoa.

Greens contain many useful substances that are few or none at all in fruits (for example, essential amino acids, chlorophyll). Not many people will enjoy chewing a bunch of fresh parsley or dill, but they are happy to drink juice or a smoothie, to which has been added greens chopped in a blender or green juice. And in fact, and in another form of greens perfectly absorbed by the body.

It is important to alternate different types of greens, on the one hand, to provide the body with the most diverse set of useful substances, and on the other hand, to avoid excessive consumption of any substances.

  The benefits of juices - the improvement of intestinal microflora.

Unlike fresh vegetables and fruits, juices don't have much fiber (cellulose). Fiber in the body is not absorbed, but it is a diet of symbiotic bacteria living in the intestine. At the same time, putrefactive bacteria cannot feed on cellulose. Therefore, foods rich in fiber, help to shift the balance towards the prevalence of beneficial microorganisms over pathogens.

Our health depends on the composition of the intestinal microflora, in many respects. Beneficial bacteria provide us with many important trace elements. Harmful microorganisms poison our body with toxins secreted by them. Therefore, it is difficult to overestimate the importance of maintaining a healthy symbiotic microflora.

There is a theory that juices in which fiber is completely absent are inferior in favor of juices with pulp, as well as various smoothies. But is it? Not always.

Therefore, anyone with a significant place in their diet, boiled and fried food and, especially, animal products (meat, eggs, milk and dairy products), should prefer smoothies and juices with pulp.

Also, do not add sugar to juices - they feed on putrefactive bacteria. If the vegetable juice does not seem sweet enough, you can add any sweet fruit, stevia leaves (natural sweetener), maple syrup, agave syrup or honey (if you consume it).

  The benefits of juices - cleansing the body.

Fresh juices contribute to the cleansing of the body already due to the fact that the digestive system is much less stressed than solid food. The energy that usually goes to the digestion of food can be directed by the body to the cleansing and regenerative processes. The brightest results are given by full transition to liquid food for the period from several days to several months. But regular fasting days on juices also give excellent results. Even replacing one meal a day with juice has a significant effect on well-being.

Some juices have a cleansing effect on certain organs. For example, cleansing the liver uses juices from apple, lemon, beet, radish. Juice from radish, beet, cabbage, apple and carrot is especially effective for cleaning slags. Black radish and lemon juices are used to clean the joints.

One of the safest juices that cleanse the body, which can be applied almost without restrictions - apple and carrot.

If you decide to spend a few days eating exclusively juices and smoothies, for cleansing or for losing weight, then remember that juices should be prepared exclusively from fresh plant foods that have not been heat treated. If you add any heat-treated products (for example, boiled vegetables) or products of animal origin (for example, milk) to the smoothies, the effect will be completely different.

  The benefits of juices are blood thinning.

Due to the property of many juices to reduce blood viscosity, you can avoid taking certain medications (such as aspirin, for example). The effect of juices on blood coagulability is explained by the content of organic acids in them. The composition of most organic acids include anions - substances that slow down blood clotting. Fresh juices can be used instead of medicines in the following cases:

• At elevated body temperature caused by a cold or viral disease.  By reducing blood clotting, it is possible to reduce body temperature in case of illness. This is what aspirin is taken for.
• To prevent blood clots.  People who regularly take cardiac aspirin to prevent blood clots (or other blood thinning medications) can, after consulting a doctor, replace these drugs with regular use of fresh juices.

The following juices have a thinning effect on the blood:

raspberry, strawberry, viburnum, currant, cranberry, lemon, orange, carrot, apple, peach, pineapple, pomegranate, tomato and many others.

To enhance the effect, you can add fresh ginger, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, spinach to the juice - these products also thin the blood.

And some products may, conversely, increase blood clotting. For example, blood thickens products such as bananas, leeks, sorrel, lettuce, nettle. These products can be added to balance the diluting effect of the juice.

  HARM OF JUICES

  Harm juices - excess sugar.

The main problem with fruit juices is the large amount of fructose contained in them. This is especially true of such juices as banana, grape, pineapple. To a lesser extent - apple, orange, tangerine, grapefruit. Fructose, of course, is more beneficial than white sugar, but, nevertheless, it also belongs to simple carbohydrates - sugars. Fructose from fruit juices can be digested by harmful, putrid bacteria. The extent to which this problem is relevant specifically for you depends on your normal diet:

• If your diet consists mainly of meat, eggs, dairy products and flour, then your microflora consists mainly of putrefactive bacteria. In this case, sweet fruit juices will do you more harm than good. Pathogenic microorganisms will receive additional nutrition, and many useful substances from the juice, for the assimilation of which requires the assistance of beneficial bacteria, will not enter your body.
• If you eat a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits and little (or do not eat at all) animal food, then you are probably the happy owner of a healthy microflora. In this case, sweet fruit juices will not become the power of putrefactive bacteria, and all the vitamins, minerals and other beneficial substances will be assimilated by your body, with the help of good bacteria, in the best possible way.

In any grocery store you can see dozens of kinds of very different juice and nectar, packed in colorful bags and beautiful bottles.

Are there health benefits from these drinks? Regular use of such juices will have a positive or negative effect on health?

Are juices in bags harmful?

If you use juices in packets regularly and often, this 100% BAD affects health. Why? Because packaged juices are:

1. Many calories
2. A lot of sugar
3. Lots of acids

Juice is a rather “aggressive” product because it contains a lot of sugar and acids. Therefore, these drinks can not be consumed regularly, especially every day.

Why juice in packets need to drink infrequently?

Packaged juices, in addition to natural fructose, contain a large amount of sugar and organic acids, which are added artificially. But this is not the worst.

Many manufacturers do not skimp on adding various stabilizers and fragrant components to the juice to embellish the taste of the concentrate from which the drink is made.

Juice from bags, cans, bottles and any other sealed packages in any case loses most of all its vitamin and other beneficial properties. Therefore, one should not expect that the use of this drink will have some therapeutic effect on the body!

Juices from packages are no better than soda, There is no reason to expect that these drinks will have a beneficial effect on health.

Moreover, frequent use of juice from the packets can lead to gastritis and diabetes! But nevertheless, it is also not necessary to exaggerate the harm of juice in packets. Many nutritionists believe that sometimes you can “indulge” in juice from the packages, but be careful!

How to drink juice in packets?

The nutritionist Olga Krivalova in the well-known program of the first channel “test purchase” explained in detail how packaged juices are dangerous and what their rash use can lead to. And yet, the nutritionist notes that the juice from the packs can even be useful, but only if used correctly.

And how to drink the packaged juice correctly?

1. It is recommended to dilute packaged juices in half with water.
2. Even diluted juice is not recommended to drink on an empty stomach.
3. You can not use packaged juice often, preferably not more than 1 time per week
4. Choose high-quality packaged juice

If you follow these simple rules, you will protect yourself and loved ones from unnecessary health problems that may arise when consuming packaged juices.

Cherry Packed Juice:

Cherry is not the most popular berry in our country, but very useful. Its main advantage is a large number of substances that improve the tone of blood vessels in our body. These tonic substances are very necessary for our body.

Interestingly, they are also contained in tea. But tea also contains caffeine, which, for example, is not useful for hypertensive patients.

Cherry juice is a great alternative to tea!

If you add some ice to a glass with good cherry juice, you’ll get a great drink that is pleasant to enjoy sitting in a comfortable chair.

If any celebration is planned, we go to the store for a few boxes of packaged juice, and just to quench our thirst in the summer heat, we run after the box, naively believing that it will benefit our organism. However, it is well known that only fresh juices can be beneficial, but what about those that are sold in packages?

The benefits of juice in boxes

The use of packaged juice is largely determined by its composition. Choosing this product, you need to carefully consider the label and pay attention to what the manufacturer says.

Natural juice, "direct extraction" or "restored", is perhaps the most profitable acquisition in terms of benefits to the body. It is least processed and does not contain the type of flavors, preservatives, flavor enhancers. Such a product may be clarified, non-clarified and contain pulp.

A pack of juice on which “nectar” is written contains about 25–50% of the natural extract of fruit, and everything else is made up of water, sugar, citric acid.

In the Morse juice extracts from fruits and fruit even less - only 15%, and everything else is water and artificial additives. Juice drink already and juice can not be named. The health benefits of its use is clearly not, because the percentage of natural ingredients is very small, and the chemical is extremely high.

Harm juice from the pack

The harm of packaged juice is comparable to the harm brought by carbonated sugary drinks. In a glass of restored juice from an orange contains as much as 6 tsp. Sahara! With regular use of this product, the risk of developing diabetes mellitus increases several times.

The harm of juice in bags, including a lot of various chemical additives, is even greater. All kinds of phosphates, chlorides, sulfates and other
  cause cancer, allergies, gastritis and gastric ulcer. Most of them are the strongest toxins that poison the body.

A glass of fresh juice symbolizes a healthy lifestyle, but in fact it is not always the case. Juice can not only benefit the body, but also cause irreparable harm. And in order to know what and how to do and use, it is necessary to turn to the scientific literature, specialized articles in magazines and newspapers. And you can just read this article.
Juice has long been considered an assistant in the treatment of all sorts of diseases, but if you are sick of some of them, then the juice is contraindicated to you, otherwise wait for exacerbation. For example, in case of gastric ulcer, gastritis, pancreatitis, it is forbidden to drink orange, lemon, cranberry and apple juice, because there are many products that can increase the acidity of gastric juice, which will cause you discomfort. Harm juices can affect those suffering from diabetes, overweight or obesity. They should exclude from their diet grape juice, because it contains large amounts of glucose and calories. If irritation of the intestine is also not recommended grape juice.
  In addition, the harm of juices affects even if you do not limit yourself in their number. The excess of beneficial substances can cause hypervitaminosis, skin rashes, allergic reactions, constipation and many other symptoms. Amount you do not solve your problems, but rather new ones will be added.

Harm juices from the package

Juices that are designed for long-term storage, usually packed in cardboard boxes. The probability of containing preservatives in them is quite high. In addition, the usefulness of such juice is questionable, since the method of its preparation is not known for certain. Even at home, when working with a juicer, the vitamin part of the juice disappears already after 20-30 minutes due to contact with open air, in addition, the factory does not exclude the probability to add harmful bacteria and intestinal sticks to the concentrate. The metal parts of juicers can destroy vitamins, but this applies only to older devices.

The harm of juices can be not only due to non-observance of the norms of their preparation, but also for reasons of the composition of the juices themselves. For example, the constant use of carrot juice can even increase the likelihood of getting specific jaundice in a perfectly healthy person. And all because of the fact that the composition of the above juice includes beta-carotene, which the liver can process, but it will also have to strain. Pomegranate juice is too concentrated by nature, and if it is not diluted with water, it can adversely affect the walls of the stomach and intestines, and also destroys the tooth enamel. Citrus juices (orange, grapefruit) are not recommended to drink medicines, since these types of juices are incompatible with them.

You should also remember that many juices are not recommended to drink on an empty stomach, because it stimulates the production of gastric juice, which begins to eat away the walls and mucous membrane. It is also not recommended to drink juices while eating, as this can cause heartburn, bloating and nausea. With regard to children and their desire for sweets, then in their regard, all these rules should be observed especially strictly. Indeed, in addition to a strong allergic reaction, diathesis or hypervitaminosis, a large amount of juice can damage the teeth and even make diabetes. Therefore, the main rule should be, above all, moderation. And it is always better to make the juice yourself, rather than buying a dubious package in the store.