take a pass on juice and agave nectar

I’ve been researching again. And before you read further, I need to warn you – you may not like the newest research. I don’t like it at all. The research brings up feelings of guilt about what I fed my son when he was an infant and as he was growing up. But, honestly, none of us knew then what research now tells us.

Brian was allergic to cow’s milk so he drank soy formula. Today we know that ingesting unfermented soy products disrupts hormones and is known to depress thyroid function. I know plenty of folks who were able to stop taking thyroid meds when they stopped eating soy all the time. (Edamame – the green unprocessed soy beans are fine to eat.)

But now, it’s juice that’s in the news. Juice. Any kind of juice. The news: eat the whole fruit – it’s healthy for you. Don’t drink the juice. It contains fructose – fruit sugar – in high concentrations. People who have a glass of juice a day are 18% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who don’t drink juice. This includes orange juice, and apple juice and those expensive exotic juices sold as being high in antioxidants that cost upwards of $30.00 a bottle. Also, the whole fruit helps you maintain a healthy weight. The juice makes your body store fat and raises cholesterol. Fructose stimulates your liver to store fat.

And congrads to Brian – he’s doing so well today in spite of my best intentions at the time.

But this fructose problem is even bigger than juice. Lately lots of us have been thrilled with 100% agave nectar. It’s mild tasting, very low-glycemic, and low in carbohydrates. But today, we’re no longer thrilled. The high percentage of fructose in agave nectar does the same thing in the body that fruit juice does. The Glycemic Research Institute in Washington DC had to STOP a research study on agave nectar because of ethical considerations regarding the health of the participants.

The juice, agave, fructose research is very serious – so for now cut out or cut back on juice and eat the whole fruit.

I've been in Boston this weekend. I need to tell you, I couldn’t live here AND in good conscience eat according to the glycemic index. I’d be eating or at least tempted to eat way too much risotto, pastry, and bread. But the fabulous seafood availability would perhaps balance the “white, fluffy, and sticky” indulgences.

As an update on my yoga process: I’m in my fifth month of doing yoga, either at home or at the Bikram studio and my allergies are minimal. Virtually gone most of the time – and based on my allergy history – that’s amazing. Now when I feel them arise, I find a mat or get on the floor and do a series of Sun Salutations and I feel so much better. I know you may be thinking that a pill is much easier and I can’t disagree. But just knowing that I can have some control over my own allergic reactions gives me a crazy sense of power. Perhaps even an exhilarating sense of power.

And I wish you a wonderful sense of personal power as our days are longer and the sun is shining and the flowers are lushly blooming.

Warmly,

Lucy Beale