If you’re anything like me, water just doesn’t cut it after every meal. Sometimes, a little flavor is necessary even if you’re on a strict diet. This used to be soda for me until I realized consuming that much sugar did more harm than good. One day, my sister and I were doing our bi-weekly grocery shopping and we were walking through the juices aisle when she pointed out that cranberry juice is super healthy. I decided to take a chance and grabbed a liter off the shelf. Later, I would find out why cranberry juice should be in every girl’s fridge.
The most popular reason why you should start drinking cranberry juice is that it reduces UTIs. A urinary tract infection can be caused by numerous reasons such as sexual intercourse, holding your bladder, and even kidney stones. Luckily, cranberries contain proanthocyanidins and it can stop bacteria from attaching to the urinary tract which makes an infection unable to develop.
Next, cranberry juice is rich in vitamin C, vitamin E and quercetin, and these antioxidants protect your body from chronic diseases like heart disease for example. Incorporating fruit into your diet is a healthy choice because it also has positive effects on your heart health. In case you didn’t know, heart disease is the nation’s leading cause of death for women and results in one of three deaths a year.
Lastly, you can drink this juice to detox and flush toxins out of your body. As mentioned before, cranberries have antioxidants that help replenish your body. This could be useful on days where you feel more bloated than usual. Personally, cranberry juice has helped boost my metabolism and I wake up feeling more refreshed and energized when I’ve had a cup or two the day before.
There are many more health and hygiene effects that cranberry juice has to offer and I encourage you to do your own research before purchasing and consuming it. In general, though, fruits and vegetables are an absolute MUST in your diet. But on some days when you don’t have an apple or banana in your kitchen, you’ll be grateful for that liter in your fridge. My go-to is Ocean Spray’s unsweetened cranberry juice, with no sugar added of course!