The Juice Curb~

Evening, lovelies!

Since the beginning of summer I've been on a mission to trim my waistline and make myself a little healthier for the new school term. So far no noticeable results. I'm not ginormously fat, but I do think my figure could be improved. So how am I going to go about achieving that?

My biggest downfall when it comes to weight loss is my love of sugary drinks. Surprisingly enough, I'm not talking about fizzy drinks -  I could live easily without Coke or Fanta in my life. It's fruit juice that I love; when there's juice in my house, I almost never drink water. And there's almost always juice in my house.

I know what you're thinking.
"Did she say fruit juice? Surely that's healthy enough?"
Unfortunately, this is a common misconception - for the most part, fresh juice in cartons like Tropicana IS healthy - a good source of vitamin C among other things. However, you'd be much better off having an actual orange than a glass of orange juice because a lot of the fibre from the fruit comes from the skin. In addition, it's absolutely packed with sugar. Just 12 ounces of grape juice can contain up to 15 teaspoons of sugar; and there was me gulping down five or six glasses per day. Oh, and that was just the natural, 100% juice stuff. Don't even get me STARTED on the juice drinks which actually have added sugar and sweeteners. You do the maths. I've been taking in WAAAAY too much sugar.

My excessive consumption of fruit juices/juice drinks is, I think, the reason I don't yet have the figure I want. I don't eat much - in fact I can get by on very little food each day (this is NOT recommended - V V V UNHEALTHY) but my lack of exercise due to having to stay in and study, and drinking sugar-filled, artificial rubbish every day is not helping me obtain a nice slim waist. Weirdly enough.

GAME PLAN: I'm cutting back on juice and juice drinks. Not just cutting back, in fact. I'm completely withdrawing it from my diet altogether. Training myself to drink water and ONLY water will be difficult, but if I let my guard down just once and allow myself a glass of apple juice, I just know I'll be hooked again.

Now, the last thing I want to do is put you all off drinking fresh juice. As previously mentioned, it's full of lovely vitamins and minerals to keep your body healthy, and even counts towards one of your five-a-day. The only reason I am avoiding it is because I drink too much of it. As long as you drink plenty of water and make that your main source of hydration, you can include juice into your diet, in relatively small amounts. I'm no nutritionist, but believe me, I've done my research! And I have to tell you that so far, I'm feeling much better. I have more energy, and it's only been three days! Result.

So, my lovelies, I'll let you know a little later how the Juice Curb is getting on and whether or not I've stuck to my game plan. Hopefully I'll manage it, and I'd love to hear your comments and suggestions! Click the Contact Me tab on the home page and drop me an e-mail. Hope you're all having a wonderful day.

Love, Rosie xxx