I get this question a lot when people are on a "diet"……..”Can I drink juice??”  If your goal is fat loss, then don’t have a heart attack……..but no, you should not drink juice!  But what about vitamin C, people say!  You can get plenty of vitamin C from dark green vegetables or take a supplement!

Here are some foods high in Vitamin C

• Kale
  
• Mustard Greens
  
• Bell Peppers
  
• Thyme and Parsley
  
• Broccoli
  
• Cauliflower
  
• Brussel Sprouts
  
• Oranges and Clementines
• Strawberries

   

Is it that you shouldn’t eat fruit when you diet……NO!  I would actually rather you eat an actual orange than drink a cup of orange juice.  One cup of orange juice has between 20-30 grams of sugar, that is way too much if you are on a "diet".  Now I don’t know about you, but I would much rather eat a few chocolate chip cookies than a glass of OJ for 30 grams of sugar!  Fruit is much better because it doesn’t have the added sugar as does the juice, and also fruit has fiber, which helps food run through the digestive track, and the process of digesting the actual fruit is harder than the juice, so you burn more calories in the process of digesting the fruit than the juice.

So next time you think about drinking a glass of OJ, think again!  You especially don’t want to drink juice before a workout!  Remember what happens when you ingest sugar………Here it goes………………………………………………………

When you ingest something that is high in sugar, you have high blood sugar so your body starts to release INSULIN which is the hormone that takes the sugar from the blood stream to the muscle for energy and to the liver for storage.  That’s not the problem!  The problem is that when insulin starts to increase there is no homeostasis in the body so another hormone (GLUCAGON), is suppressed, that hormone is the only hormone in the body that releases FAT CELLS.  If you do not release the fat cells……YOU CAN’T BURN THEM!  Does that sound like a diet to you?  Bottom line, sugar impedes the body from burning fat!

So what can you drink?

Water or tea!  I know super boring you might be thinking.  But hey, if you want to lose fat and get in great shape that’s what it takes girlfriend!  This isn’t so hard, what is hard is breaking your bad habits.  If you get in the habit of drinking water and tea, after a few weeks, it won’t be a big deal.  Is it hard?  Sure at the beginning, but once you get used to it, it’s a breeze, and the result is huge!  So girlfriend, if you are on a "diet" throw out all your juices, don’t even give them to your kids, make them fresh homemade juice if anything, and start getting yourself and your kids in the habit of drinking H20!

Get tons of healthy recipes and eating strategies for losing weight in "Eat to be Fit"