Juice bars are popping up everywhere: in shopping malls, in health food stores, and along boutique-lined streets. While opting for juice rather than a sugary coffee drink is a step in the right direction, it does not necessarily mean that what you are getting at the juice bar is good for you.
Many smoothie blends offered at juice bars use:
Frozen yogurts
Canned frozen fruit
Boxed soy or nut milk
Packaged powders that are full of added sugars and fructose
The excessive sugars found in many blended smoothies and juices can actually overwhelm your endocrine system, feed Candida, and do far more harm in your body than good.
The added oils found in boxed milk analogues do absolutely nothing for optimal health. As it turns out, added vegetable and seed oils are actually pro-inflammatory. While this makes them more useful in the manufacturing process, it also makes them toxic in the human body.
This is especially true of the oils found in many processed foods and non-dairy milk products. These are vegetable and seed oils like canola, safflower, or palm oil. These oils have been refined, bleached, and deodorized.
Many chain juice bars offer only freshly juiced oranges. Besides oranges, all other fruit and juices come from concentrates and are prepackaged. Prepackaged juice is typically full of sugar and is pasteurized, which means all of the living enzymes have been denatured and destroyed. These enzymes, only available in fresh and raw juice, are key to the health benefits touted by juice companies.
When made without added sugar, synthetic nutrients, and hard-to-digest protein powders, smoothies can be a wonderful way to enjoy several nutrient-dense foods all at once.
If you find a juice bar that juices an array of fruits and veggies, many times the juices on the menu have a sweet base: oranges, apples, carrots, or beets. These fruits and veggies, especially when juiced, are a concentrate of sugar!
If you decide to take matters into your own hands and make smoothies at home, be sure to choose ingredients wisely.
A lot of what is sold at the health food store may look like a good idea:
-High performance protein powders
-Chocolate, vanilla, or berry flavors
-Powdered veggie blends
-Organic powders that are fortified with essential nutrients
However, keep in mind that many of these powders have added sugars to enhance taste. These added sugars will end up feeding any kind of systemic infection in the body, like Candida. These sugars can also contribute to inflammation in the body.
Many people will use a blended smoothie as a meal replacement. As a meal replacement, we have a tendency to load these blended drinks up with protein powders and synthetic nutrients. The body has little chance of understanding what exactly to do and how to absorb these nutrients.
The key to a healthy and nutrient-dense smoothie: Emphasize whole food ingredients and the importance of a healthy inner ecosystem.
Beneficial microflora help to regulate digestion. Beneficial microbes:
-Detoxify the body of harmful heavy metals.
-Help repair the lining of the gut when it has become permeable or inflamed.
-Contribute to the production of key nutrients, such as several B vitamins and vitamin K.
How do you get all these beneficial bacteria into your gut? Make a smoothie at home with fermented foods!
- Incorporate a few dollops of fermented coconut meat. Fermented coconut meat will add a delicious creamy component to your smoothie, good bacteria, and healthy fats like lauric and caprylic acid, which naturally combat pathogenic microbes.
- Add a scoop of Vitality SuperGreen, which is fermented, free of added sugars, and made from whole food greens and algae that have been predigested.
- Use fermented coconut water or fermented Body Ecology Innergy Biotic as a healthy liquid base for your smoothie.
- Open up a couple capsules of Ancient Earth Minerals and empty the contents into your smoothie. Beneficial microbes thrive in a mineral-rich environment.
- Sweeten with stevia.
What to Remember Most About This Article:
Juice bars are a popular health trend, but unfortunately, many smoothies sold at juice bars contain frozen yogurt, canned frozen fruit, and packaged powders with added sugar and fructose. The excessive amount of sugar in commercial smoothies and juices can do more harm to your health than good.
Even if you make smoothies at home, it’s important to choose your ingredients wisely. Many smoothie ingredients and powders sold at health food stores have added sugar to improve their flavor. Make it a priority to blend up a nutrient-dense smoothie full of fermented foods and beneficial bacteria to promote detoxification, support gut health, and supply your body with key nutrients!
Donna Gates is the best-selling author of The Body Ecology Diet
