sugar free juice

5 Delicious and Nutritious Sugar-Free Fruit Juice

Statistics show that the average American consumes about 42.5 teaspoons of sugar daily.

THAT – is an alarming figure. 

You see, according to the American Heart Association (AHA), men need no more than 9 teaspoons of sugar per day while for women, it is less than 6 teaspoons. Evidently, many of us are way past our required sugar intake.

Why Is Too Much Sugar Bad For You?

  • Too much sugar leads to excessive weight gain. It leads to issues like high blood pressure and high cholesterol level, which is why obesity has been a growing concern in recent years.
  • Sugary food and beverages increase your hunger and resistance to the hunger regulation hormone. As a result, you eat more and that leads back to the point above.
  • Sugar-sweetened beverages can lead to an increase in visceral fat production. This is the deep belly fat that is often linked to heart diseases and diabetes.
  • People who take too much sugar are at a higher risk of developing acne.
  • Sugar increases your risk of cancer.
  • It is also commonly found to have increased a person’s risk of developing depression.
  • Excess sugar in the body speeds up ageing in both skin and cellular.

As you can see, sugar is linked to a lot of health risks. Fortunately, more and more people are increasingly aware of the consequences and are therefore getting mindful in what they put into their body. One common instance is the switch to sugar-free fruit juice / making juice without sugar, a practice we observed lately.

Don’t think regulating your sugar intake is just an act for those with diabetes. That is not a benchmark – non-diabetic people should also take sugar-free juice whenever they can. Stop buying sodas, colas, energy drinks and processed fruit juice. Give your body the healthiest option -make some sugar-free juice today. 

Sugar-Free Juice Recipes

Here are several sugar-free fruit juice recipes to try at home:

1. Apple Juice For Diabetics

Mean Green Juice Joe Cross

With this sugar-free apple juice cleanse, your body will be beach-ready before you know it. This juice is delicious and is packed with enough fruits and vegetables that will give you the nutritional boost you need. Add it to your fitness regimen to help you get in shape in summer (and throughout the year as well). 

You will need:

  • 2 apples
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 handful of spinach
  • 1 celery stalk
  • Juice from ½ a lime
  • ½ cup of water
  • 1 green tea bag
  • 1 cup of ice cubes

To prepare the juice:

  1. Wash the produce.
  2. Peel the carrot then cut it into small pieces.
  3. Heat the water.
  4. Put the water into a cup and insert the teabag.
  5. Let the teabag sit until the water cools down. Remove the teabag afterward.
  6. Put the tea, ice, carrot, spinach, apples, lime juice, and celery into a blender.
  7. Blend until smooth.
  8. Pour the juice through a cheesecloth or strainer to remove the pulp. You can skip this process if you prefer using a juicer.
  9. Serve and enjoy.

2. Mango Citrus Vegetable Juice

mango-bittermelon-smoothie

This is an excellent juice recipe for mango lovers who want a sugar-free, gluten-free and dairy-free recipe. You can choose to use either fresh or frozen mangoes based on your preferences.

You will need:

  • 1 mango
  • 1 orange
  • 1 yellow or orange pepper
  • ½ lemon
  • 1 cucumber
  • ¼ to ½ cup of water

To prepare the juice:

  1. Wash the fruits and vegetables.
  2. Peel and chop the mango.
  3. Peel the orange, pepper, lemon, and cucumber as well.
  4. Put all the ingredients in a blender.
  5. Add water as desired if you find that the mixture is too thick.
  6. Blend until smooth.
  7. Serve and enjoy.

3. Naturally Sweetened Lemonade

lemonade

A healthy lemonade recipe that will leave you feeling refreshed, you can be sure there are no artificial sweeteners or sugar added into this concoction.

Some say this is a more nutritious alternative to the usual lemonade, considering it uses white grape juice in place of water. If you can’t get your hands on white grape juice, just substitute it with pineapples or apples.

You will need:

  • 2 cups of white grape juice
  • ½ cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ½ tsp. of lemon zest
  • A pinch of turmeric (optional)
  • 1 cup of water (optional)

To prepare the juice:

  1. Put all the ingredients in a blender.
  2. Blend until smooth.
  3. Serve and enjoy.

4. Lime Veggie Juice

lime-veggie-juice

This lime veggie recipe is a good juice for diabetics. It contains a lot of diabetes-friendly vegetables that are good for blood sugar and the overall body condition.

You will need:

  • Juice from one freshly squeezed lime
  • 1 organic carrot (peeled and chopped)
  • 1 cup of spinach (roughly chopped)
  • 2 stalks of celery
  • ½ cucumber
  • ½ fennel bulb
  • ½ bunch of cilantro
  • 1 medium red pepper

To prepare the juice:

  1. Put all the ingredients in a blender.
  2. Blend until smooth.
  3. Serve and enjoy.

5. Naturally Sweetened Berry Juice

berry-juice

If you love berries, you’ll love taking this juice (especially on a hot summer day). Berries have a low glycemic index, making this drink a safe fruit juice for diabetics.

You will need:

  • ¼ cup of frozen blueberries
  • ½ cup of frozen red raspberries
  • 2 ¼ cup of frozen mixed berries
  • ½ cup of water
  • 16 ice cubes

To prepare the juice:

  1. Blend the ice cubes until they are crushed.
  2. Pour in the water and add the frozen berries.
  3. Blend until smooth.
  4. Pour into chilled glasses and serve.

Challenges When Making Sugar-Free Juice

When it comes to making sugar-free juice, one main challenge lies in selecting the right recipe and ingredients.

This is because fruits generally contain sugar so if wrongly selected, they can make your blood sugar spike instead of the other way round. It therefore is of particular importance that people with diabetes understand that standard recipes could work against them and they cannot follow them blindly.

With our recipes above, there is no need for such worry. We pick a lot of citrus fruits, berries, carrots and leafy greens for our recipes, ingredients that are low (if any) in natural sugar so that we can eliminate such risks. All of our recipes above are low glycemic and diabetic-friendly so don’t worry.

Here are a few juicing tips and tricks for low sugar juicing:

  • The best juice for diabetics use low-sugar fruits as sweeteners. Fruits like berries, green apples and kiwi will help prevent your blood sugar from spiking.
  • If you want to add flavour, use herbs and spices. Cinnamon comes highly recommended because the continuous consumption of it help stabilize blood sugar. Fennel, ginger, cilantro and parsley are some other commonly-used alternatives.
  • Make it a habit to use vegetables that have a high water content. Cucumbers and celery are two good examples – they are good bases that will add more volume and help dilute potent juices as well.

Conclusion

Be it you have or do not have any underlying medical condition, it is always a good practice to keep your blood sugar in check since young.

Limit your sugar intake by making healthier food and beverage choices. Do not wait until your health starts deteriorating to take action. And in that, including sugar-free fruit juices in your diet is certainly the right step ahead in the right direction.