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Refined sugar is one of the primary culprits behind weight gain, overloading many foods with excess calories and few real nutrients to offer your body the energy it needs. Many foods that appear healthy at first glance such as certain yogurts, granola, and even canned fruit are all packed with sugar which will fail to keep you full, leaving you turning to snacks throughout the day to satiate your cravings and ultimately making it significantly more difficult to create a calorie deficit. However, health experts agree that one of the biggest culprits could be hiding in plain sight as part of your breakfast spread, potentially explaining your difficulty losing weight.
Upon first thought you may assume that juices would be a healthy addition to your diet as they are derivatives of fruit. However, while fruits are naturally packed with fiber and other valuable nutrients to help keep you full and even boost your immune system, this is all removed when it comes to juices, leaving only an excess of sugar and empty calories. “When you drink just fruit juice, the fiber is stripped away and you can consume in one small glass of orange juice the amount of sugar and fructose found in five oranges, minus all of the innate goodness in that orange,” explains certified nutritionist, Dr. Daryl Gioffre.
Rather than improve your health and promote weight loss, drinking juice regularly overloads your body with sugar which can have an adverse effect on your weight. In fact, Gioffre notes that juice is “glorified sugar water” which can instead serve to create inflammation in the body and even cause a spike in energy that is promptly followed by a crash. “Orange juice has 18 grams of fructose per ounce, compared to that of a can of soda, which has 1.7 grams per ounce,” he warns.
The reason why sugar is so detrimental to your health is its effects on your insulin levels. “Sugar induces inflammation in the body and spikes insulin levels, which is essentially a fat-storing hormone. When we reduce sugar intake, we reduce insulin levels and essentially stop the body from storing fat,” explains nutritionist Heather Hanks. Not only this, but sugar that comes from beverages can cause an even more extreme reaction. “Because they are in liquid form they enter our bloodstream quicker than food, and this leads to blood sugar complications that are hard to recover from.”
Cutting sugary juices out of your diet may be the best way to see long term weight loss results without doing a complete overhaul of your eating habits. Simply reducing the amount of sugar you eat can help you to allocate your calories more effectively so you can feel more energized and full after eating and finally see the progress you’ve been working towards, simply by swapping out your juice for water or tea in the morning. At the end of the day you will have the most success making small but sustainable changes to your diet, and while it may be difficult to cut down on sugar to begin with, ultimately your body will feel better and more stable without the overload of sweetness first thing in the morning.
