Juice Cleanses, Probiotics, And Meat-free – Healthy or Hype?
We write a lot about health fads, we know. But there’s good reason for this – fads are never-ending. Every now and then you see a new trend that promises either great health or beauty, or both. Some of them are good (we know veggies are good for us), but some of them are downright strange. Read on to find out whether the latest trends are healthy or just more fads.
It’s no surprise that fads come and go. We all (at least most of us) want to be healthier and maintain a youthful appearance. So, when the latest news says something is good for us, it’s to be expected that many will follow the advice. Here are the latest fads (and whether they’re any good).
Juice cleanse
Juice bars have been trending for a few years now, and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, despite the lack of actual scientific evidence backing juice diets. How do juice diets work? The idea is that you abstain from solid foods for a set period of time, while consuming only juiced fruit and vegetables. Quite a lot of celebrities have adopted this diet as a means to shed a few extra pounds, and the diet actually works… but only in the short-term.
The juicing process removes essential fiber, so you end up drinking a lot of sugar without enough fiber to help the body digest the sugar. The diet is not sustaining, so once you get back to eating normally, the weight will crawl right back! We suggest that you rather go for a balanced diet with adequate protein, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Improve your health with probiotics
Probiotics is not new to the supplement market, but the effect it has on our body has developed into more than just ‘good for our gut’. We now know that our gut bacteria have a large effect on our bodies. They affect bowel health, immunity, and even our mood! So naturally, probiotics are promoted as a way to boost our immunity (as well as benefit our overall health).
Experts say however, that only certain strains of bacteria can help our immunity, and these ones might not even be present in the probiotic you consume! Before you take a probiotic, check the label and do your research to see if the strains it contains will actually be beneficial for your specific health condition.
Meat-free meat
You don’t have to go far to find meat-free meat options. These days they’re available in most stores and are no longer confined to your high-end health stores. What is meat-free meat anyway? It’s basically a processed plant-based product made to look (and sometimes taste) like real meat. The most popular types come in the form of sausages or burgers.
But are they any good? Health experts are not sold on the idea. Not only are these products often highly processed, they also lack the fiber you’d get from whole plants. There’s another reason why you should rather opt for real meat (or whole foods if you follow a plant-based diet): we don’t have that much data on the long-term effects of artificial meat on our bodies. For that, we need to wait at least another five years!
Over and over again it seems to boil down to the same old story, which has been tried and tested: eat a balanced diet and drink enough water (and remember to exercise too).
