For various reasons, I find my diet getting poorer and poorer. I’m trying to find a way to consume more vegetables which is problematic because I have dental issues that hinder chewing. Also, I don’t seem to have much of an appetite so even when I buy some, I can’t seem to make myself eat them.
Can anyone recommend a juice that is actually healthy but doesn’t taste like, well, vegetables:o? Are there any commercial brands that aren’t laden with sugar (although it will probably require *some *sugar to combat the,um, vegetability)?Are these kinds of things actually even that good for you? I can probably make myself choke it down if there is truly a nutritional benefit.
Actually, any advice for a finicky, dentally impaired individual will be most welcomed. It’s not that I eat a lot of junk food; I just don’t eat the proper variety or quantity of food, period. If there really was a pill one could take instead of eating, I’d be first in line
Have you considered getting a juicer? I have one because I have trouble digesting raw vegetable fiber. Cucumber and tomato juices are very mild. Commercial tomato juice tastes more like tomato paste and real tomato juice is much better! You have to be careful with fruits, carrots, and beets due to the high sugar content, but surprisingly, zucchini, spinach, and cabbage juice are fairly sweet. Kale juice is pretty strong and you probably won’t like it. I think celery’s great although my mom doesn’t care for it. There’s some time and mess involved, but I’ve found it’s worth it. If you have a health food place around you, you might see if they have a juice bar so you can try a few before investing in a juicer. Be careful of high fruit content, though.
That’s a good idea. I imagine a juice bar might be kind of pricey but I could at least have some samples to determine what I like. I probably wouldn’t go the juicer route until / unless I can really develop a taste for it.
In the US at least, the usual brand for this stuff is V8 vegetable drink. I don’t think they add sugar to it, but I do think that tomato juice is the main ingredient, and that’s fairly sweet to begin with. There’s also quite a bit of salt in this stuff, even, I think, the low-sodium version.
The refrigerator in the produce area of most supermarkets stock blended veg-fruit juices. Odwalla is a big brand. They sell individual bottles so you can try different flavors without too much commitment.
When I found tomato juice about 13 years ago, it was a revelation how much I could enjoy something I had always turned my nose up at. Sadly, I think it was about 85% of the reason I wound up with reflux so bad I had to have surgery to remove a polyp on my vocal cords. Because I do not want to go through that again, I’ve sworn off. But I still recommend it to someone looking to add a veggie juice* to their menu.
I like the V8 Splash drinks. They taste just like any other fruit juice but the first ingredient on the ones I’ve looked at is a mix of vegetables. I typically have a bottle of it going in my fridge. I figure it’s better to take a couple of gulps of that instead of whatever junk food is laying around if I’m hungry.
Such products like to proudly announce “no sugar added” but they often have apple or another sweet fruit juice as a primary ingredient. So they are sweetened. Just not with refined sugar or corn syrup.
Sorry for my ignorance, but if I’m not looking to cut down on sugar (at the moment), is sugar from fruit a necessarily undesirable thing? Above all, I have to like the taste or I won’t drink it (which unfortunately wipes tomato juice right off the map). Not challenging your advise, just really trying to get educated.
I think many people try to avoid excess sugar, in whatever form. And while it’s not an issue for you now, it may be in the future. Also, I think many vegetable-based juices use tomato juice as one of the primary ingredients (partly to add sweetness) so if you don’t like the taste of it, you need to look carefully at the ingredients labeling. As suggested, you might get a juicer and make your own blends of whatever you like.
The fiber in fruit slows down the absorption of sugar and is also filling so you don’t eat as much. Juicing removes the fiber and concentrates the sugar (fructose). Sugar is sugar no matter what form it takes. Even without health issues, a glass of pure fruit juice very quickly gives me a pretty good sugar high then crashes me just as fast.
Do you like tomato soup? Spicy V8 juice heated up makes a very nice soup. Soup might be an overall great option for you to get more vegetables. It’s easy to make but if you prefer to buy it prepared, check out the Well Yes! brand, I love their soups. Minestrone with kale is a favorite. ETA I also wanted to give a shoutout to the Butternut Apple bisque and Tomato Carrot bisque. So good.
