V8 and Other Fruit or Veggie Drinks Tell Us to Sip Away But We Say Otherwise

Here, we’re all about getting the most out of anything we do. If we only have 20 minutes for a workout we are going to PUSH IT and wrench out from every second just as much sweat as we possibly can. If we’re going to refuel we’re going to do so with the right kind of carbs, whole grains, the good Omega fats, and make sure we pair it with protein.

When we sleep, we’re going to sleep hard; making it a priority because we KNOW just how vital it is for overall health and mental clarity and also that it will get us in our best possible shape. Here, we’re all about getting the most bang for your buck.

So, when it comes to fruits and veggies, here is where we stand: eat them…don’t drink them. Now, of course, if it’s a choice between guzzling some V8 and nothing at all, by all means go for the former. And of course the brand has been making a big marketing push to get you to do so, but if you’ve read up on some of our previous posts you probably can already guess our bottom line: why drink your calories?

Staying hydrated is essential and that means more than water; we’ve covered this plenty in the past and you need electrolytes as well. Today there is a myriad of calorie free or low calorie options available. Most fruit drinks, vegetable drinks, smoothies, and the like are not low calories. Many of them include a ton of excess sugar you don’t need either. 

The other thing about drinks is that they don’t register on the ‘fullness’ scale like actual food does. Drinks might fill you up for about as long as it takes for them to work their way through you, but when you hit the restroom you’re left just as hungry. In countless studies, people who drink their calories tend to eat just as many calories in food as they would have without the drinks.

That means those drink calories are just ‘extra’ calories that add up to poundage on your body later. Why drink the equivalent of a serving or two of fruits and veggies when you could eat them and get even more benefits.

Take the apple. If you ate an apple as a snack I’m sure you’d feel full and it would tide you over until your next meal. If instead you drank one serving of fruit juice, a measly 8 ounces, you wouldn’t feel full and then would likely reach for something else to fill you up. Sure that slogan may tout that “Fruits and vegetables fill you up without filling you out,” but it doesn’t exactly work that way when you’re ingesting them in liquid form.

Fruits and veggies are naturally low in calories, use that to your advantage. If we think of them in terms of volume, noshing away on these healthy foods is a great way to fill yourself up without ingesting a ton of calories. 

So why ‘waste’ those calories in replacement drinks when you can actually eat them…use those fruits and veggies to your advantage! :)