Or would I benefit more from juices (like apple or orange for breakfast, for example) to get essential vitamins? Or, does the sugar in most juices outweigh the benefits of its vitamins?
Most juice is highly processed and has artificial nutrients added back in. And it does in fact spike blood sugar, which is why the big organizations like WHO have recommendations below 8 ounces a day.
You’re generally better off eating an orange each morning and drinking water, tea, etc from a nutrient standpoint. Some people juice fruit themselves and that’s better nutrient wise but still has the sugar spike, which you generally want to avoid in drinks.
Well you are making the assumption juice is more nutritive, which given the array of types of juices is a strong assumption.
It’s very easy to overwhelm your liver with fructose. So nothing wrong with juice but it typically needs to be limited to 4-6oz per serving and ideally not more than 2 servings per day.
The whole “healthy fruit juice” shit is just propaganda made by companies that benefit. In the grand scheme of things think of how much of a given crop is not sellable as fruit in the store because it’s rotted, some other aesthetically unappealing issue, etc. so what do they do with those? Extract the juice and launch a massive campaign about how good fruit juice is for you lol. It’s left over nutrition trash as outdated as the food pyramid. Stick with water, tea (something with actual benefits and phytonutrients and no sugar), or choose to indulge occasionally but know that it’s you indulging and not making a health decision.
Water. Water. Water. It’s all I drink. Best part of growing up in a British household in Canada, we had milk, water, beer and tea in the house. No pop, no juice - ever. I’ve never liked milk or tea and I had to sneak out the house to drink the beer so I grew up drinking water. 50 years into this journey and I’m pretty sure I can attribute my slightly younger looks, great skin and good health to the fact that water is all I drink - thanks to my cheap ass parents never even considering buying a sugar filled beverage
If you were to make a tier list of beverages, clean water would be the only S tier beverage - you may be able to argue a case for certain teas.
Most juices would be in the B to C tiers depending on the amount of supplemental sugar and other questionable additives.
I’m going to throw my two cents in, because I don’t see it anywhere else here. Firstly, I agree with some other people
My addition: I love milk. I drink a few glasses of milk a day just to get my protein intake up by 30 grams or so. Skim milk to maximize protein to calorie ratio, or full fat to actually feel a little more full
i had an old-school boxing book, where all these old tricks and routines of how to train,eat etc. and it was a lot about health, nutrition,digestion etc.
this book said no drinking with meals at all. you should drink large quantities of water between meals but not with meals. its bad for digestion.
Don’t drink much while eating to avoid diluting your gastric acid. I drink water afterwards. Wine is supposed to help. Fruit juices I prefer away from meals, as they trigger different digestion strategies. And only natural juices low on sugar.
I would go water, if you are getting a balanced diet or taking vitamins there is no need to worry, and the sugar in fruit juice will outweigh any benefit. Better to just have a piece of fruit or two and that way you are benefitting from the whole fruit like fibre etc.
If you want to drink the healthiest drink then water is the best option, but is not good to drink too much water while eating due to water can dilute the acids in the stomach and make digestion a lot more difficult and slow. Also has been tested and hot water is better than cold water while eating (probably that is why in many Asian countries they take tea or why some people take tea after, even though some tea can reduce the absorption of nutrients) but the idea of drinking just hot water is not very appealing! Maybe just not iced water :)
Water is always satisfactory. Can’t go wrong. And for some variety, diet soda is excellent. No calories or carbs, leaving more room for the foods that you like. Crystal light is also a good option if you don’t like carbonation. (Please, no unfounded conventional wisdom about the toxicity of aspartame.)
I always feel that when people ask what is ‘healthiest’ of anything it’s impossible to answer because we don’t know anything about the individual. Their state of health, lifestyle, genetics and predisposition to certain illnesses or intolerances, what the rest of their diet entails, health goals, environment, weight, activity schedule, any other unhealthy or healthy habits they have. It’s wild.
My personal opinion is that your use of “healthiest” here is too vague. Most nutritionally dense? Lowest calorie? Non-inflammatory? I think what you drink is part of your diet and as such, can incorporate a variety of different options while still being part of a healthy overall lifestyle.
I drink water pretty much exclusively because I’m currently trying to lose weight. When I get to a weight I’m happy with, I’ll probably be more relaxed about that rule, but still maintain the habit of drinking primarily water.
Juice isn’t particularly nutritious… When it comes to nutrition, just make sure your meal is high quality and drink water. Or if you want to be like me, say “I’m looking for supplemental antioxidants” and have a glass of red wine with your meal.
Ideally you wouldn’t drink anything with a meal if you wanted to optimize digestion but if you insist water, water kefir, dairy kefir, herbal/green/Yerba teas are nice, and warm lemon water would all be good options imo.
One new thing I’ve been trying is to consume more healthy smoothies to help with my current weight loss journey. I used The Smoothie Diet which i found was easy to follow and super tasty to drink and they’re actually $10 off right now!! https://go.smoothiediet.com/?hop=safemargin
In my opinion yes. Fruits have lot of sugar and they are not even healthy when you eat them at night. Because at night (when the sleep hormones release) our metabolism convert them into fats. My advice for you to get vitamins from vegetables not just rely on fruits. Eat the fruits before the sun goes down.
Surprised Noone has mentioned quality of water. I would never drink unfiltered water (I use big Berkey style). Usually drinking a medicinal herbal tea iced or hot (I generally add tinctures to my water) would always be better, by the research that shows benefit, in hundreds of thousands of studies, on varying medicinal herbs
to spice up my hydration I drink cold water flavored with herbal teas. I toss a couple of bags into a container, fill with water, let it sit for 24hrs and the next day I got blueberry tea or raspberry. no calories and some flavor.
You want the healthiest thing, don’t drink when you eat \^\^ but yes, water is the best.
Also, “healthiest” doesn’t have a really clear definition.
I mean, if you’re lacking something that orange juice (without additives and shit) can provide you better than something else, go for it instead of water once every while…
I don’t care what other people say.
I consider no-sugar-added juice a healthy beverage. If no sugar has been added it has less overall sugar than most juices and the sugar that’s in there is from the fruit itself. That being said, drinking plenty of water is still important, but being healthy doesn’t have to be miserably boring. Also, some teas like green tea (unsweetened, of course) and herbal infusions with things like ginger and dandelion can have specific benefits.
The point is, drink plenty of water, and moderate other fluids for flavor and perks on top of having plenty of water. Don’t replace some of your daily water intake with other fluids, if you’re looking to stay very healthy and avoid kidney stones and whatnot.
You really don’t want to be drinking water during meals. It just dilutes all your gastric juices. And if you do get thirsty every time you eat, it is a sign of dehydration. Digestion needs water to move the biomass.
The best option what to drink during eating would be something fermented.