Could fat loss be as easy as…. Just a little juice a day will keep the belly bulge away? Well, according to some recent research done at Baylor College of Medicine that could be so. Dr. Carl Keen Ph. D. and his researchers stumbled upon a new recipe for fat loss and the main ingredient is so simple that it made me very skeptical at first until I dug a little deeper and did my home work.
The researchers initially set out to see how daily consumption of low sodium vegetable juice impacted health issues like cholesterol and blood pressure. They were pleasantly surprised at the results and the added bonus of weight loss that occurred. Everyone in the Baylor study was put on the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. I agree with their guidelines for the most part, especially the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables and the absence of processed foods. However, the part I don’t agree with is the low fat or non-fat regular dairy products which I talked about last post (Got “Real Milk”) and the high amount (6-12) of grain servings recommended per day. I could probably rant about this topic in another post, but the short of it is that I recommend organic and or sprouted grains sparingly or in moderation. I don’t believe we’re designed to run on the abundance of processed wheat and corn that’s in the SAD (Standard American Diet) diet. So getting back to the study. In addition to the DASH diet, some of the subjects were asked to drink 1-2 cups of low-sodium V8 juice per day and those folks that drank the V8 juice lost the most weight!
Why did it work?
1.)Veggie juice killed hunger. A cup of vegetable juice gives you a lot of bang for your buck. It’s only 50 calories and it takes up a ton of space in your stomach. This tricks your body into feeling satisfied with less food intake.
2.)Veggie juice boosted fat burning. Vegetable juice has a lot of vitamin C which enables your body to produce the amino acid carnatine which is crucial in the fat burning process. Arizona state scientists have proven that those who are deficient in vitamin C burn 11% less fat while those who upped their C burned 30% more.
3.)Veggie juice worked magic. The new Baylor Medical Center study sure seemed to prove that drinking veggie juice can help with fat loss and even though they don’t know exactly why they believe it might have something to do with the fact that vegetable juice is: packed full of vitamin C, thousands of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and anti-inflammatory compounds.
Other added health benefits for veggie juice……
- Protects your heart. When you increase your intake of tomato rich foods to one serving a day you can cut your risk of cardiovascular disease by 30%.
- Keeps bones strong. Vegetable juice, especially with tomatoes as the main ingredient, is one of the richest sources of lycopene which has been proven to significantly reduce age related bone fractures.
- Reduces Alzheimer’s. In a long-term study of nearly two thousand Seattle adults researchers found that consumption of three or more servings of fruit and vegetable juices a week was associated with a 76% reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, compared to those who drank juice less than once a week.
What are your thoughts? Personally I’ve tried the juice thing for other health benefits for a while. I even went so far as to juice my own fresh from scratch daily veggie drinks. I was inspired by Jack Lallane the grandfather of fitness and enjoyed it, but honestly it got to be a bit much with the daily clean up and prep of the machine. However, I could do the low sodium V8 drink. It would be less of a hassle.
Interesting… but what’s the overall sugar content of V8 &c. like? My doctors all recommend staying *away* from juice because they tend to be heavily-laden with simple carbs and not as healthful as eating the actual items (where you get all the vitamins, fibre, etc.).
Hi David,
Sugar’s not too bad as far as juice goes. The small 1 serving 5.5 oz can has 35 kcal, 8g’s of Carbs (6g sugar, 1g fiber) and 1g of protein. Pretty good potassium content too at 620mg. Hope that helps.
Deb
wat a cool website…..