5 ways to avoid the unintended sugar overdose from healthy juices

There's a lot of health kicking going on this month, and props to us!  In an attempt to improve our diet and overall health, we have to make good choices, and to make good choices, we have to be well-informed.  An article in The Huffington Post yesterday, The Unbelievable Amount of Sugar in 'Healthy' Juice , caught my eye and I wanted to give my two cents.  The article talks about those store bought and specialty detox juices and how many have as much sugar as 5 or more chocolate chip cookies (30-38 grams)!

38 grams is a lot of sugar, equal to more than 9 teaspoons of the white stuff to be exact, and with little to no protein, fat or fiber in your glass, (a juicer takes out all the pulp, aka fiber), your body absorbs that sugar quickly spiking your blood sugar levels, insulin levels and thus potentially fat and inflammation levels.  Yes, there are also lots of vitamins and minerals in the bottle (especially if it's not pasteurized?), but is that sugar load a good idea…probably not!  Keep in mind, our bodies metabolize sugar (aka glucose), whether from cookies or carrots the same way.  Here are some suggestions to make this health kick thing actually work in our favor:

1.  Make your own 'juice' using a blender.  The Vitamix, more affordable but smaller Nutribullet or just a high-quality blender will work and will keep the fiber in your drink allowing your body to slowly absorb all the sugars and nutrients at a pace it can handle.

2.  If you're making your own, choose 1 medium serving of a sweet fruit like blueberries, apple or banana, not multiple. Use greens, lemon/lime, cucumber, avocado, ginger etc. to balance it out.

3.  Check the labels if you're buying your juice.  I would say aim for 10 servings of sugar or ideally less per serving.  One of those 12 or 16 oz bottles of juice should probably be enjoyed as two servings, not chugged as one.

4.  Eat something else with your juice (or add it to your juice) that contains some fat, fiber and protein.  Your body needs the fat to absorb those nutrients anyway and these additions will help slow the absorption of the sugars.

5.  Consider why you're juicing.  Is it to lose weight or detox?  Keep in mind that if you go too long without enough calories, protein and fat, you'll start to lose lean muscle and when you do inevitably start to eat normal again, you'll put all that weight back on and quickly.  If you're trying to detox, giving your digestive system a rest isn't necessarily a bad idea, I just wouldn't recommend doing that for more than a day or even 18 hours at a time in most cases.

I hope this helps.  Any thoughts?  I love getting your feedback!
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