A lot of sugar in cranberry juice?!
Is this ok fruit sugar or the high fructose corn syrup bad sugar? I can't find pure cranberry juice, its cocktail always. I drink it because I always figured it was a healthy choice and better than water because it had lots of healthy junk it it, but not sure now. Also, why is it drinks like that produce a lot of mucus junk in the back of your throat?
Answers: I really enjoy drinking cranberry juice, but after looking on the label, it has like 33 grams of sugar per 8 oz serving, which is as much if not more than a coke, and I wonder if it is still a healthy choice.
Is this ok fruit sugar or the high fructose corn syrup bad sugar? I can't find pure cranberry juice, its cocktail always. I drink it because I always figured it was a healthy choice and better than water because it had lots of healthy junk it it, but not sure now. Also, why is it drinks like that produce a lot of mucus junk in the back of your throat?
If you want good cranberry juice, there are other options out there that are very similar to what you're used to drinking--actually, I think it tastes better! I get that horrible mucus from those drinks too.
Below is a link to my favorite brand of juices, R. W. Knudsen's. You can buy their products at most mainstream health food stores. They offer cranberry nectar and pure cranberry juice. The nectar is sweetened with real fruit juices. The pure stuff is extremely tart and should be diluted with water and can be sweetened with apple or grape juice. I tend to sweeten things with agave nectar. It metabolizes slowly and tastes great. You can also find that at health food stores. FYI: Knudsen's also makes an excellent natural Gatorade type drink too called Recharge.
http://www.knudsenjuices.com/products/de...
Trader Joe's also may have some options too.
High fructose corn syrup is very unhealthy in so many ways. I would stay away from it as much as possible. Most filtered or spring waters are the healthiest beverages. Even natural fruit juices need to be consumed in moderation. Your body can only process so much sugar, and developing diabetes is a valid concern.
It has some nutritional value -- certainly more than you'll find in pop -- but it also has a high sugar content. If you can't find the pure juice (as opposed to cranberry "cocktail,") you might be better off with water and taking cranberry extract (which you can find in health food stores)
Cranberry juice is (was?) a healthy food. Anyone who has ever had a bout with kidney stones knows the acidity of cranberries prevents the build up of stones.
Unfortunately, you are correct that cranberry juice is sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. Why? Because it is so much cheaper than sugar. Our food industry looks for any way in which to cut the cost of a product. For decades we were told shortening was better for us than lard, that margarine was better than butter. But both contained fats that caused health problems- hydrogenated fats, and trans-fatty acids respectively.
It would be nice if there were a frozen concentrate you could sweeten yourself with real sugar. Sugar is less dangerous than high-fructose corn syrup. Following are two quotes on the danger of high fructose corn syrup.
"The medical profession thinks fructose is better for diabetics than sugar," says Dr. Field, "but every cell in the body can metabolize glucose. However, all fructose must be metabolized in the liver. The livers of the rats on the high fructose diet looked like the livers of alcoholics, plugged with fat and cirrhotic."
"One of the biggest evil influences on our diet is the presence of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a sugar substitute that itself is a sugar found in soft drinks and many other sweet, processed foods. The problem is that HCFS inhibits leptin secretion, so you never get the message that you’re full. And it never shuts off gherin, so, even though you have food in your stomach, you constantly get the message that you’re hungry." See link below.
Cranberries are so tart that they need massive amounts of sweetener to be drinkable.
Years ago when the government wanted to put nutritional labels on packaged foods, the biggest lobbying effort against that was by the cranberry industry. They were afraid that if the truth about their excessive sweetener were on every container it would be bad for there sales.