A Different Perspective

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a guy who was able to put the way we think about food and exercise into persepective. He stated that most people are conditioned to think of things as either good or bad. He said that a good way to think of things rather than as good or bad is by what the consequences are, for example eating a certain food. For example, yesterday I stated that one of the common questions I get regarding nutrition is whethere or not a food is good or bad. The example I used yesterday was juice. Rather than thinking of juice as good or bad it may be better to think of the consqequences that result from drinking juice and then deciding if those consequences match your goals.

So what are the consequences of drinking juice? Juice is going to elevate your levels of blood sugar and insulin. Since juice is mostly fructose the majority of that fructose is going to be processed in the liver. Since the liver can only handle so much fructose the quantity of the juice becomes an important factor. Anything more that the liver can hold will be repackaged as triglycerides and cholesterol leading to an accumulation of body fat in the midsection. This response will also be stressful and elevate the stress hormones which will lead to more accumulation of body fat in the midsection. A large part of these consequences have to do with your response to the hormone insulin, which often times is determined by how lean you are. If you are very lean then insulin is the hormone that is responsible for putting things in the muscles.

So is juice good for you? This depends on the situation. If you are overweight and trying to lose body fat then no juice would not be a good choice. If you are very lean and looking to gain muscle then juice in the post workout period will help. I think we often get caught up in whether or not something is good or bad and then jump to conclusion. I think a better way of thinking is to have an understanding of how things effect you and whether or not those consequences match your goals.