the truth about juice & the things you need to know

The truth about juice, that’s what I am breaking down today. So we all know fresh, raw juice made at home asap (best way to ensure you’re getting all the healthy stuff, those vitamins and minerals!!) after it’s made is the best but real talk…how many of us actually do this every single morning while we are trying to get the kids fed and dressed, get ready ourselves, and make a run out of the door to school and work? If I’m being honest, in our home, juicing is cyclical. We juice, then we don’t, then we do and then we take a hiatus again. Why? Because it’s a commitment to keep up with this at home (buying the fruits and veggies, prepping them, and then actually juicing/blending and the cleanup – oh that cleanup, the absolute worse part of it all!!) AND more real talk, it’s just easier to buy juices, especially these days. The options are endless. But because there are so many options, it is incredibly confusing. I know a few people who have started using something like this Juice Press coupon to help them with their juicing experience, as trying to keep on track of things by yourself is hard.

You have to, have to, have to look at the ingredient list on the back of the bottle to really know what’s going on. But furthermore, you have to be able to understand what you’re reading. The truth about juice or really anything you buy to consume: if it’s too hard to understand, if the ingredient list is too long, or hard to pronounce, then it probably safe to say: drop the juice and walk…run away!

Here’s my short “the truth about juice” lists of what to look for and what to avoid plus a list of my current favorite ready to go juices.

5 Juice Must Haves:

1. Organic ingredient list. Organic = no pesticides.
2. Cold-pressured or pressed – Noted as the most nutritious way to obtain juice. First, the produce is ground into a fine pulp. Then a press applies thousands of pounds of pressure to the pulp extracting every ounce of juice that the fruit or vegetable has to give. This process gets all the vital nutrients from the pulp into the juice.
3. HPP (high pressure processed) – This method helps to preserve all the vitamins in a juice while at the same preserving it without heat or any bad for you chemicals. It is a great second option to raw, cold pressed juices.
4. An ingredient list that is short and with all things that are real.
5. Non GMO – you don’t want anything genetically modified in your anything…so make sure this is clear on your juice bottle.

5 Juice No No’s:

1. Concentrate = yuck. Concentrate is made from fruits and veggies that have been essentially melted down into syrup form and then water and other chemicals are added back in to make this “juice” taste and stay fresh – THIS IS NOT JUICE!
2. “flavoring”, citric acid = stay away. All of these are usually added to preserve a juice so it stays fresher longer. One poplar example of a brand that uses a lot of these ‘ingredients” is V8.
3. Artifical/chemically sounding ingredients – again, keep that list of ingredients short and easy to read/say. And no Red #40 anything!!
4. Don’t trust the “100 percent juice” label, because again it can be made from concentrates.
5. No Pasteurization!! Why? Because this high heat process which is done to keep the shelf life longer, it destroys every single reason to drink juice in the first place!! Heat kills everything in the juice – the good, the bad and everything in between.

Bottom line:

• If you can, make juice at home and drink it fast.
• If that’s not an option and you can, go to a juice bar and opt for a green juice (or the one with the most veggies). Drink as fast as possible after purchase.
• For days when that’s not an option, follow my lists of “fives” and grab a juice to go.
• Make sure it’s organic, cold pressed or HPP and non GMO with a short and sweet ingredient list.

Current top three store bought juices:

(I always prefer green juices in general – veggie ones are the best option!)

• Cold pressed ready to go at Whole Foods (or any natural food store)
• Suja Juice (opt for ones where the main ingredient is something other than apple)
• 1915 Organics