It is delicious and ever-so delightful, a glass of fresh orange juice is an instant mood and energy booster. You can pair it with your breakfast or have it after a gruelling gym session.
Many of us also like to store some in a tumbler and keep sipping into it through the day. In addition to being a refreshing drink, orange juice is a bundle of vitamins, nutrients and essential minerals.
No wonder, it is such a favorite among the health and fitness enthusiasts. Since it is not bitter or too sweet, a glass of fresh orange juice is more likely to find more takers than perhaps a bitter gourd or amla juice.
Benefits of Orange Juice
Boosts Immunity: Orange juice is packed with vitamin C, which helps boost your immunity and keep you protected from cold, flu and other inflammatory diseases.
Skin Health: Drinking orange juice daily could do wonders for your skin. Orange juice is oozing with antioxidants, most significantly vitamin C, which plays a crucial role in fighting free radical activity. Free radical activity could make your skin dull and also promote wrinkles and ageing. The abundant quantum of vitamin C present in orange juice could help give you a youthful and radiant skin.
Weight Loss: Orange juice is incredibly low in calories and has zero fat, which makes it an excellent option if you are looking towards shedding that extra kilo or two. However, nutritionists often advise eating a whole orange over juicing one. Juicing an orange may cost a good amount of weight loss friendly fibres. Consuming a whole orange would help retain fibres, which help make you feel full for loner time. When you feel full you would naturally binge less.
Strong Bones: It is a known fact that the calcium content in orange is legendary, which is incredible for your bone health. But, did you also know that orange is also profuse with flavonoids like naringenin and hesperidin, which are anti-inflammatory in nature and can help relieve arthritis pain.
Kidney Stones: According to the book 'Healing Foods' by DK Publishing, oranges have high concentration of citrate, meaning drinking orange juice can help breakdown calcium oxalate stone formation and induce relief from the pain occurring due to kidney stones.
Heart Health: Orange contains hesperidin; as per the book 'Healing Foods', hesperidin can reduce symptoms of hypertension. Pectin (fibre) and liminoid compounds found in oranges can slow down hardening of arteries and can also reduce the bad cholesterol levels in the blood.
Nutritionists and health experts recommend to make a glass of orange juice at home. This way, you are able to ensure that it is fresh and made with the best quality oranges. Packaged juices that you find in markets are often injected with lots of sugar, which is not good for your blood sugar levels. If you are a diabetic, it is always advised to consult an expert to check how many glasses of orange juice you can have in a day.