Drinking vegetable and fruit juice to reduce belly fat? 10 must-know Q&A

Drinking more fruit and vegetable juice is good for your health, but many people don’t know what details they should pay attention to when drinking fruit and vegetable juice? Here are 10 tips for drinking fruit and vegetable juice, so you can drink plenty of nutrients and lose belly fat in a healthy way.

Q1／Why do people gain weight even though they eat very little?

Most people believe that they can lose weight by not eating or skipping a meal. So why do we still often hear about cases of failed weight loss? Because when the human body is in a state of starvation and the calories in the body are not enough to meet the needs of daily activities, the body will slow down its metabolic rate to conserve energy and maintain life.

Once you resume eating, your body will speed up the absorption rate to replenish the insufficient energy. In this way, it is easier to store calories and form fat in the body. Moreover, starvation dieting can easily cause the skin to become loose and lack elasticity.

Q2/Is it most effective to drink fresh fruit and vegetable juice in the morning?

Drinking vegetable and fruit juice in the morning is the most ideal for the body to absorb. If you cannot drink it in the early morning, try to drink it during the day. Especially for people with weak kidney function, it is not advisable to consume too much water at night, otherwise it will easily lead to swelling of the hands, feet and face. The speed of drinking vegetable and fruit juice is also important. If you drink too quickly, the sugar will immediately enter the blood, causing blood sugar to rise rapidly. Therefore, you should first hold a mouthful of fruit and vegetable juice in your mouth, allow the saliva and fruit and vegetable juice to mix thoroughly, and then swallow it. People who are used to drinking vegetable and fruit juice in large gulps may dilute it by adding an equal amount of boiled water before drinking.

Q3/Will drinking fruit and vegetable juice make the body cold?

According to Chinese medicine, each person's physical constitution is formed by a combination of innate endowment and acquired factors such as environment, climate, and food; it can basically be divided into four types: cold, hot, deficiency, and excess. Vegetables and fruits also have four properties, and vegetables and fruits with different properties have different functions. For example, watermelon and coconut, which are cold in nature, can clear away heat and relieve summer heat if eaten at the right time; pumpkin, which is warm in nature, can help dispel coldness if eaten more often.

Before eating fruits and vegetables, in addition to understanding their nature and taste, you must also take appropriate measures according to your physical condition. For example, people with a cold constitution are not suitable for eating cold or cool fruits and vegetables all the time. As for people with a hot constitution, they can eat pears or cucumbers to nourish their bodies. The only way to stay healthy is to understand the nature and flavor of various fruits and vegetables and eat them at the right time according to your own physical condition.

Q4／Will fruit juice increase blood sugar levels?

It is easy to lose weight by eating only fruits and vegetables because the calories in fruits and vegetables are much lower than meat and fats. However, if you only eat fruits and vegetables for a long time, you will have a nutritional imbalance. Fruits and vegetables are rich in minerals and vitamins, but the content of fat, sugar and protein is relatively low. Therefore, although consuming fruits and vegetables can promote metabolism, long-term picky eating may cause certain dysfunctions in the human body.

Fruits are high in fructose, which converts into fat very quickly. Therefore, eating too much fruit at one time can easily lead to excessive calorie intake. It may also cause fat to accumulate in the body and affect health.

Q5/Can drinking fruit and vegetable juice prevent chronic diseases?

Vegetables and fruits are rich in fiber, which can lower blood cholesterol, control blood sugar, and prevent various cardiovascular diseases. They also contain antioxidant vitamins that can effectively prevent cancer. They can be said to be nutrients that everyone must consume every day.

However, the idea that eating a lot of vegetables and fruits every day can provide enough nutrition is not entirely correct. We should consume enough fruits and vegetables every day, but the more is not necessarily better. In addition to sufficient "quantity", the "variety" should also be diverse. Because the nutritional components of various fruits and vegetables are different, their health benefits to the human body are also different.

★ Phytochemicals are super nutrients in fruits and vegetables

Studies have found that phytochemicals (phytochemicals for short) in vegetables and fruits can protect the human body from damage by free radicals and have antioxidant effects. They can reduce the incidence of cancer, promote physical health and prevent chronic diseases. Phytochemicals are natural compounds that cannot be produced by the human body and can only be obtained from food, such as lycopene in tomatoes, carotene in carrots, isoflavones in soybeans, allicin in garlic, indole in broccoli, anthocyanins in blueberries, etc.

Q6/Fruit juice is high in sugar. Will drinking too much make you fat?

Most fruits taste very sweet, so many people think that they cannot drink fresh fruit juice during weight loss. In fact, the sweetness of fruit comes from sucrose, fructose, etc. Fructose can provide calories and serve as an energy source for life activities. Only excessive intake will lead to obesity.

Moreover, because fruits are rich in vitamins and minerals, they are indispensable nutrients for maintaining beauty and health. Therefore, during the period of weight loss, you may wish to make vegetable and fruit juice with appropriate amounts of vegetables. This can not only reduce sugar content but also help you absorb rich vitamins and minerals.

Q7／What should I do if I feel hungry after drinking fruit and vegetable juice for breakfast?

When losing weight, the diet should be mainly composed of "high-fiber, low-calorie" foods. However, this type of weight loss food always gives people the stereotype of being unpalatable, tasteless, and easy to make people hungry, and it makes people mistakenly believe that such ingredients are all vegetables and fruits, so it is naturally difficult to take the first step towards healthy weight loss.

In fact, a high-fiber diet can not only lower blood sugar and help lose weight, but also provide a variety of vitamins. When you are hungry, you might as well choose high-fiber foods such as apples, cucumbers or carrots to satisfy your cravings. They can not only replenish energy but also provide a feeling of fullness. Not only can you build a physique that does not gain weight, you also don’t have to worry about being hungry or not having enough to eat.

Q8/Can drinking fruit and vegetable juice replace eating vegetables and fruits?

Fruit and vegetable juice can only supplement part of the nutrition and cannot completely replace fresh vegetables and fruits. Moreover, after 100 grams of vegetables and fruits are made into juice, some nutrients will be consumed, and only about 60 grams of effective ingredients will be left. In addition, in order to improve the taste, the fruit residue produced by juicing is sometimes filtered out, so it is impossible to supplement the complete dietary fiber and it must be obtained from other foods to avoid constipation.

Q9／How to combine vegetables and fruits to make juice?

When making fruit and vegetable juices, you can use the diversity of fruits and vegetables in their season to make the combination more varied. In addition to the commonly used bok choy and spinach, you can also try green peppers, bitter gourd, lettuce and broccoli.

In addition, you can also add acidic fruits such as pineapple and lemon to the fruit juice, which can not only slow down the browning of the fruit and vegetable juice and prevent the destruction of vitamin C in other fruits and vegetables, but also play more health benefits. For example, drinking lemon juice can maintain the acid-base balance in the body, remove greasiness, relieve alcohol, and eliminate fatigue; pineapple juice is a secret weapon to increase the sweet flavor of fruit and vegetable juice, and drinking it after meals can help digestion and absorption.

Q10/Can commercially available bottled juice replace freshly squeezed vegetable and fruit juice?

Generally speaking, the pure juice content of bottled fruit and vegetable juices on the market is not high. Most of them are "synthetic juices" made up of sugar water and pigments. They are highly sweet and high in calories. Drinking too much is not good for your health and can easily make you fat. Don’t ever think that drinking a bottle of fruit and vegetable juice can satisfy your daily fruit and vegetable needs. Be careful as you may get fatter the more you drink.

Furthermore, any fresh juice will begin to change color or deteriorate after being left for a period of time. Therefore, in order to extend the shelf life, commercially available bottled juices often use additives such as preservatives; sometimes, in order to enhance the taste, they are even added with a lot of artificial flavors and sugars. If you drink all of them, it will be harmful to your health. Only by drinking freshly squeezed juice can you ensure quality and health.

【Tips for making and drinking fruit and vegetable juice】

Tip 1: Peel and remove seeds

Although most nutrients in fruits and vegetables are found near the skin, the skin of fruits and vegetables is often attached with preservatives, such as the wax on the skin of apples and the preservatives on citrus fruits. For food safety reasons, it is still recommended to remove the skin of fruits and vegetables.

Tip 2: Refrigerate before juicing

Using refrigerated fruits and vegetables to make juice is not only smoother to drink, but also easier to cut. This is especially true for berry fruits and vegetables, such as strawberries and tomatoes, which are less likely to leak juice when sliced ​​after being chilled.

Tip 3: Don’t add too much seasoning

Commercially available fruit and vegetable juices often contain too much artificial sugar, which can easily affect your health. When making homemade fruit and vegetable juice, try to utilize the sweetness of the fruit itself and do not add too many seasonings to avoid consuming too many calories.

Tip 4: Drink immediately

Blended fruit and vegetable juices should be consumed within half an hour, as this will prevent them from oxidizing and affecting their freshness and taste. In addition, fruit and vegetable juices should not be heated to avoid destroying their vitamin components.

Tip 5: Drink with fruit pulp

There will be some residues after making vegetable and fruit juice. These are the fibers in vegetables and fruits, which help eliminate constipation. They can be drunk directly and should not be discarded.

This article is from the Human Think Tank "7 Days of Magical Fruit and Vegetable Juice to Reduce Belly and Waist"