Read with caution if you want a healthier lifestyle.

“Feeling tired? Leave the coffee, have orange juice.” 

So reads another Daily Mail headline designed to grab our attention. The article which follows tells us that drinking 240 ml of orange juice ‘boosts alertness, concentration and reaction times’. It goes on to tell us that the effects last for hours. The article is supposedly based on a study from Reading University on 24 young men. It was found that there were improved results when drinking orange juice compared with sugary water that looked and tasted like orange juice. Strangely, there was no mention of a comparison with young men who drank coffee.

I checked the article out by going back to the original study.

• The study was on middle-aged men (not young men)
• There is specific mention of the downside of drinking extra sugar found in the orange juice
• The emphasis is on the extras found in oranges as opposed to a water and sugar based drink
• No comparison was made with coffee in the cited research

Why am I telling you this? To remind us that you can’t always take what you read at face value. When we are busy, it is tempting to latch on to a headline and if we like what we see, we act on the information given.

But we have been around a while now, and know we should dig a little deeper. I will bring you the headlines, and the back stories, every week, to help you make informed decisions about living a healthier lifestyle.

What do I drink to keep up my energy? I don’t drink commercially made orange juice – it whizzes my blood sugar level up too high and the resultant crash later sends me off for another fix. Oh, and coffee gives me palpitations, so I avoid that too. I thrive on decaff tea first thing and green tea or Redbush tea throughout the day – and of course, loads of plain water. My day can have plenty of highs and lows without me chemically inducing them!

Next time you see a claim to make you slimmer, fitter, healthier overnight – check it out on our site or send me a link if I’ve missed it. We will delve deeper!