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Watch Out for Added Sweeteners

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Too Much Sugar, Even Natural Alternatives, Is Not Healthy

 

added sweetenersIf You Think Artificial Sweeteners Are the Answer, I Have Bad News for You!

 

In the juicing world added sweeteners are rare because most recipes are naturally delicious without adding sugar.

Smoothies are different. In the smoothie world, added sweeteners are the norm because using the entire veggie or fruit – skin, seeds, and all – while adding nutrition and fiber, also adds tartness to the taste. Added sweeteners make smoothies taste good.

We try to add only ‘healthy’ sweeteners such as agave nectar, raw (turbinado) sugar, honey, maple syrup, or coconut sugar. We also use ‘natural’ low calorie sweeteners such as stevia, xylitol, and yakon syrup. This is because they are much healthier choices than any artificial sweetener. More and more research indicates that artificial sweeteners are linked to obesity and diabetes.

The Hard Truth

Sugar, whether it’s white or one of the healthier alternatives, is still sugar. And those of us who live in the US have a real sugar problem. We eat too much of it. On average each American eats 19 teaspoons or more of added sugar every day for an additional 285 calories.

Health experts say that’s just too much. According to the American Heart Association a healthy amount is 6 teaspoons daily for women – 100 calories – and 9 for men which is 150 calories. For comparison, a can of Pepsi or Coke is a bit over 9 grams of sugar.

Read the Labels

These common sweeteners are all sugar even if the label doesn’t call them sugar:

  • Agave nectar
  • Brown rice syrup
  • High-fructose corn syrup
  • Dextrose
  • Evaporated cane juice
  • Glucose
  • Lactose
  • Malt syrup
  • Molasses
  • Sucrose

If the label lists a sweetener in the first few ingredients it’s probably too much! Same goes if the label says more than 4 total grams of sugar.

Cut Out Added Sweeteners

Fresh juices and smoothies can be absolutely delicious without added sweeteners. So many of our natural foods are packed with healthy sweetness. A carrot is sweet but only about 25 calories. A beet is about 60. An apple 90, banana 100, orange 45. So let’s go natural with no added sweeteners.

Juice and Smoothie Recipes

This is why I do not offer any recipes with added sugar, even my smoothie recipes. I keep tweeking a recipe until it tastes delicious without added sweeteners. My recipes have absolutely no added anything but the fruit, veggie, green, herb, and spice. Nothing else.

Personally, I’m so concerned about the ill effects of too much sugar, I encourage you to consider taking a further step beyond no added sweeteners in your juices or smoothies. Try using less fruit, the sweetest of our foods, in juices and smoothies to reduce your overall sugar intake!

What Do Added Sweeteners Do To Your Body

Take a look at this excellent brief video for what exactly sugar does to your body and why too much is so harmful.

 

 

Juice and Smoothies Recipes for Kids

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Children Love Fresh Juice and Smoothies

Delicious Fresh Juices and Smoothies Are Better Than Anything Store-Bought!

We as parents can no longer ignore the problems associated with giving our children so many sugary sodas and drinks. Hyperactivity, tooth decay and obesity are just a few of the terrible results. Let’s take better care of our children with fresh juices and smoothies that are so delicious that they’ll prefer them to sugary drinks!

Fresh or BottledJuicing for Children

If you want to give your child the best, know this fact, fresh juiced fruits and vegetables will give your child nutrients found nowhere else – not in any bottled juice, even the best organic brands, not in any cooked food, even your best homemade recipe, and not in any vitamin or mineral supplement, even the most expensive all-natural brands! Surprising but true.

The special nutrients found nowhere else are enzymes and phytonutrients. What’s so special about these nutrients?

Enzymes

These are responsible for all the proper functioning of every organ in the body. We need enzymes not only to eat and digest food, but also to see, hear, smell, taste, breathe, move and think. Enzymes are critical. And only raw, juiced and blended food contains them.

Phytonutrients

These are only found in plants. They are all the nutrients left over when you take away vitamins and minerals, and there are hundreds in every plant. They turn out to have incredible disease-fighting powers. We are just beginning to identify them. You can buy a pill form of several known phytonutrients, but to get the hundreds more we haven’t discovered yet, the only place you’ll find them is in fresh fruits and veggies.

Jucing for kidsSynergy

This may be the most incredible benefit of all! Nutritional synergy is an astonishing property of certain nutrients that when mixed together deliver more benefits than each one alone. There are many known examples such as vitamins C and E, and beta-carotene and zinc. Synergy suggests that if you eat or drink the whole fruit, scores of benefits arise that we have yet to uncover, and all of them are good for our health.

The trick is to give your child the tastiest juiced or smoothie so he or she will come back for more! The sweetest vegetable is the carrot. Peel the skin and it’s even sweeter. Other favorites are apples, oranges, grapes, cherries and watermelon. Purchase organic brands. They cost a bit more, but they insure that the produce is free of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers.

Required Fruits & Veggies

Just one glass (2 cups or more) of a fresh juice or smoothie is a convenient way to insure that your child receives the recommended 3-5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day – the “minimum daily requirement” or “MDR”, as established by nutritional science. With fresh juice you can finally stop worrying about your child eating enough fruits and vegetables.

Fresh juice or a smoothie gives your child so many nutrient benefits including a Smoothies for Childrenboost in their immune system by as much as 70%. That means fewer illnesses, and no need for expensive vitamin and mineral supplements.

Raw or Juice

“But my child eats raw carrots and fruit – isn’t that as good, if not better, than a juice or smoothie?” This is a great question, and you will be amazed by the answer! When your child eats a raw carrot, they absorb about 1% of the available beta-carotene, but when your child drinks a fresh juiced carrot, they get 100% of the beta-carotene! This is because our digestive system does not fully break down the raw form of most fruits and vegetables. The juicing process extracts juice from indigestible fiber leaving liquid that is more quickly and completely absorb-able. Thus fresh homemade juice is the best food we can possibly eat – and give to our children!

 

Juice and Smoothie Benefits

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Juice and Smoothie Benefits Include Fighting Diseases!

I began seriously juicing a couple of years ago. I wish I started decades ago, because I can’t believe all the benefits of fresh juice, such as nutrients you just can’t get from commercial juice, even the best organic brands! You’re about to be equally amazed!

Get All the Daily Requirements of Fruits and Veggies

Growing numbers of adults and children are not eating even the minimum daily requirement of fruits and vegetables. Consequently, obesity and many chronic illnesses that stem from an unhealthy diet are on the rise all over the world, even in Scandinavian countries where weight problems are historically rare.

As a result, more and more people are trying to compensate for their poor diets by consumingThree glasses of juice on a table commercially made vegetable juice such as V8. It’s a step in the right direction, reflecting a growing recognition that we need more fruits and veggies in our diet, and it’s certainly convenient. But store-bought fruit or vegetable juice is not the best answer since it is neither fresh nor chemical-free. Let’s explore the many more amazing benefits of juicing fresh fruits and vegetables.

Perhaps the greatest of all the juicing and smoothie benefits is that just one tall glass gives you all of your daily requirements of fruits and vegetables – quickly, conveniently and easily! Just one cup of a fresh juice or smoothie is over a pound of fresh produce. The USDA considers a serving to be approximately a half cup. So getting your recommended daily amount of fresh fruit and vegetables is easily done with just one fresh juice or smoothie.

No Need For Supplements

Fresh fruits and veggies are so packed with nutrients that just one glass gives you all the vitamins and minerals you need daily. You can stop purchasing expensive supplements – you get it all in a fresh juice or smoothie.

And one wonders how effective a dried and processed nutrient in pill form really is compared to the fresh nutrient in its natural form.

Nutrients Found Nowhere Else

Every plant contains certain vitamins and minerals, but also many more nutrients called phytonutrients. These are nutrients that are not vital to keeping us alive. Rather, they play an important role in fighting diseases, delaying aging and boosting energy. Each plant has hundreds of these phytonutrients, and we have yet to discover the nutritional benefits of most of them.

This field of nutritional research is exploding with new discoveries, so keep checking back as I update this site with breaking news. 

Many of these phytonutrients are lost in processing, preserving and storing juices and smoothies for commercial sale, especially enzymes which are key to the health of all functions in the body. Many enzymes last less than a minute!

benefits of juicing and smoothiesBetter Than Bottled

Commercially bottled juices, even organic brands, simply do not provide all the healthy benefits of fresh juices and smoothies. Most commercial juices are made from fruit concentrates and not whole fruit juices. Plus, commercial juices and smoothies must by law be pasteurized before they can be sold. Part of the pasteurizing process includes boiling the beverage to prevent bacterial growth. However, the boiling process also destroys many nutrients, especially enzymes.

Convenient

You can easily make nutritious fresh juice and smoothies at home and even modify juice and smoothie recipes to meet your personal taste.

Fight and Prevent Disease

The most amazing benefit of fresh natural juices and smoothies is that you can use it to prevent and even help cure many medical conditions. Fruits and vegetables are filled with essential vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that are vital to fighting many common disorders. Here are just a few examples.


Recent research indicates that cabbage juice helps to treat peptic ulcers. Another study shows that keracyanin, which is found in cherries, eases gout by increasing the movement in fingers and toes. We know that cranberry juice prevents kidney stones and urinary tract infections. Grapes contain a compound called trans-resveratrol, and by drinking at least three glasses of grape juice a day, you can prevent heart attacks just as effectively as taking an aspirin on a daily basis. Grape seeds contain powerful antioxidants called proanthocyanidins, which are considered even more potent antioxidants than vitamin C or vitamin E.

Juicing grapes gives you all of these benefits because when you put them into the juicer you get all the nutrients including those found in the seeds. For particular juicing recipes that target a variety of illnesses the best resource is Ultimate Juicing Recipes & Tips found in the “Juice Away Illness!” box to the right.

Summaryamazing juice and smoothie benefits

  • Get all your minimum daily requirements of fruits and veggies quickly, easily, and conveniently.
  • You can stop buying expensive nutritional supplements.
  • Get more nutrients than you will find in any supplement.
  • Conveniently make your fresh and nutritious juice or smoothie in your own home or office.
  • More nutrients that bottled beverages with no preservatives or added sugar.
  • Prevent and even cure many diseases.

Start with just one glass of fresh juice each morning to boost your health and energy – you’ll be surprised at how much better you’ll feel!

More recipes can be found in Juice & Smoothie Recipes That Heal available here in the box on the right.