Faux Juice

So yesterday I was saying that I sometimes drink juice in the morning to get me by until 12:30. Now I can see you saying “wait a minute, juice is calorie rich so doesn’t that break the 16:8 fast long before your 12:30 start?”

Not really. The reason is that I’ve developed a bit of a homemade, calorie free, juice mix.

Here is the recipe:

Shaken, not stirred. 😛

None of these things technically have any calories associated with them. That isn’t true due to the way the food and drug laws are written, but worse case is the entire 1L mixture will be less than 20 calories. So essentially this is better than tea or coffee with milk/cream.

The ice acts as an agitator for the juice pulp and the vitamin crystals. Also, as I’ve mentioned in the past, I do not use aspartame as its worse for you than natural sugar. So I prefer to find water enhancers that use stevia extract (preferred) or surculose (only if I have no other alternatives). 

If you like more pulp in your juice then use real lemons or limes and a juice press or juice extractor instead of the bottled pure juice. Obviously you need to keep the pulp if you use a juice extractor since that separates out the juice from the pulp. Although this takes more work as you will need to peel and pit the fruit before you puree it so as to avoid seeds and the rind as part of your juice mix.

This mixture, while tart, is actually fairly sweet due to the water enhancer. If you want it to be sweeter, then add another shot of the water enhancer or 1/8 teaspoon of stevia to taste (not the liquid stuff, that stuff is vile, blech!). 

Once you have the basic mixture down, you could then experiment with other fruits once you are in your non-fasting window. 

  • 1 peach = 37 calories, 1.6 grams fiber
  • 1/2 grapefruit = 37 calories, 1.7 grams fiber
  • 1 cup sliced strawberries = 50 calories, 2.5 grams fiber
  • 1 cup watermelon pieces = 51 calories, 0.4 grams fiber
  • 1 cup papaya pieces = 54 calories, 2.5 grams fiber
  • 3/4 cup apricot halves = 55 calories, 2 grams fiber
  • 1 cup cantaloupe cubes = 56 calories, 1.3 grams fiber
  • 1 orange = 60 calories, 2.3 grams fiber [1]

Warning: Emergen-C is not meant to be taken more than one package per day as per their website directions “(Adults): Take 1 packet 1 time per day. Place contents of packet in glass, add 4-6 oz (120-180 mL) of water and stir. Take with food a few hours before or after taking other medications or natural health products. Consult with a health care practitioner for use beyond 6 months.”

So if you plan on doing up multiple 1L juice bottles for a day, either split 1 package across multiple bottles or only use it on the one closest to your first meal. 

From a cost perspective this is probably close to the same as buying orange juice off the shelf due to the cost of water enhancer and Emergen-C, albeit in the long run a bit cheaper on a per liter basis. The big bonus is really that, while its not the same taste / texture of a glass of orange juice, it is effectively zero calories and can easily be added into your rotation of food stuffs for meal planning.

— Kevin

 

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