Goodbye Fizzy Drinks, Hello Juice!

We’ve been talking about health and eating healthy for a while now and only because it’s become clear that most of the world is on a health kick. It’s becoming more and more difficult to lose weight when faced with temptation in the form of pretty much everything these days. Whether it’s the kind of food we’re eating, the diets we’re trying out or just the lifestyle we’re following, there’s something stopping us from crossing that final line into losing weight and looking good while doing it.

Obviously cutting out junk food is the first step and once that’s done, everything else falls into place. Junk food is absolutely unhealthy because of the high calories and the oil that’s used and obviously the lack of freshness in the food itself. When prepared, the meals are prepared in large quantities and you’re not eating fresh food, which is not good for health in general. But when paired with food that is high in oil and starch and carbs, it’s a recipe for disaster. We’ve talked about why it’s bad for celebrities to endorse junk food brands simply because if a celebrity thinks something is good, then automatically people start eating that and enjoying it. Which doesn’t help eradicate the situation of obesity.

America, China and India have the largest number of obese people in the world. And this affects our population, so much so that Kerala has decided to implement a ‘fat tax’, which adds a 14.5% tax to junk food of any kind. Whether it will last or not is still up for debate, but at this moment in time, it is the one thing that is definitely telling us that junk food needs to take a step back and let people enjoy slightly healthier options. Even the food that is produced at home would be better than this.

the first step towards change

While it’s not much of a conscious effort as much as it’s something that is happening in the country right now, according to a Nielsen data report, it seems that juice and juice brands have been selling better in the first part of 2016 in India. Brands like Real, Tropicana and Slice have pushed Pepsi and Coke and their fellow cohorts out of the top selling slot. While these juices are processed and have a lot of excess sugar and are not exactly as healthy as the fresh fruit juice you’re better off drinking, they are 100 times better than the fizzy drinks that most kids these days consider as water. It’s an ongoing battle that isn’t going to just solve itself at the snap of a finger. But the fact that there’s a change makes all the difference.

The next step, obviously, is to get people to make juice at home and to try out fresh fruit juices instead of settling for something that has been packed by someone else. It’s a big step, but it’s one that can definitely be done, if people are ready for that kind of change. 

Bigbasket.com co-founder Vipul Parekh even spoke about this trend with Economic Times, saying, “Traditional drinks and tastes have come out of the shadows. The past few decades saw high-decibel marketing and commitment of resources from global brands, but consumers are going back to favouring what they perceive are healthier and traditional flavours.”