I live in an area that has a huge seasonal variation between winter and summer. I have many friends who don't believe it is necessary to drink orange juice all year round, but here's the thing - if you are taking your health seriously and trying to manage your immune system so that it won't be taxed by the rigors of winter, then drinking orange juice on a regular basis makes sense. It's packed with Vitamin C, and Vitamin C helps boost immunity among other things.
I tend to drink a lot of it in the winter, but some people can't stand the taste of it. That's where my "Anti-C" comes into play. A couple of years ago, I went to a naturopathic doctor who told me about this stuff called "anti-c." It's pretty much like orange juice, except that instead of using real oranges, it uses orange essence. Basically, you're just drinking orange flavor without all the sugar and calories that come with drinking regular OJ. You can find it just about anywhere. It's pretty inexpensive, too, if you buy it at a health food store or something like that. It's also really easy to make your own anti-c at home using frozen orange juice concentrate and some water. Just use a 2:1 ratio of the concentrate to water. Ideally, you'd mix it in a blender and drink it right away, because the longer you let it sit in its liquid form, the more diluted it gets and the less effective it is. When I make my own, I use a lot of frozen orange juice concentrate. I have it in the freezer, so if I happen to run out and don't have time to go buy some more concentrate, I don't have to worry!
When it comes to drinking anti-c with plain water, the actual vitamin C content isn't all that important. If you're serious about your health, then anti-c will work just fine even without any added vitamins at all. The main thing is to make sure that you're having enough vitamin C. I know it sounds counter-intuitive and may even sound like a bad idea, but you need to make sure that your body has the RDA of vitamin C. Right around now, if you've been eating a healthy diet, you should be getting plenty of vitamin C through fruits and vegetables. If your diet is not healthy, though, then it's very possible that your body is lacking in vitamin C. When this happens, your immune system doesn't function properly. If you're in the middle of a cold and already are significantly weakened by other illness, that's going to make it all the harder for you to recover if you do get sick. If you're trying to avoid getting sick, then you'll want to be especially careful about eating a healthy diet so that your body is well-stocked with vitamin C.
So how much vitamin C should you be taking? You should be taking the RDA every day. The RDA is a big range that's specifically designed to prevent scurvy. We're talking between 100-300 milligrams of vitamin C per day, depending on your age and sex. If you're going to be taking in a lot of Vitamin C through anti-c or something like that, then you should still have regular intakes through whole food sources as well.
If you're going to drink anti-c or something like that, though, you don't have to take it on a regular basis. Once in a while is fine. If you only drink it on the weekends or something like that, then you can still get plenty of Vitamin C through the other sources that I mentioned above. You just need to make sure that your intake is sufficient throughout the week.
Also, if you're going to be drinking anti-c, you should switch back and forth between the regular orange juice and the orange essence. It's possible that if you have a lot of anti-c in your system, then your body may not be able to properly absorb vitamin C from other sources. That's why it's important to switch back and forth between the original orange juice and the essence.
One other thing is that anti-c can cause a bit of an upset stomach for some people. If you get nervous about taking anything in your stomach, I suggest making sure that you drink plenty of water with your anti-c, ideally several glasses of water at least.
When it comes to anti-c, though, I only take it occasionally. I take a little bit here and there throughout the year, but not every day. If my cold or flu symptoms start coming on and I'm starting to get nervous about getting sick again, then I'll make sure that I drink some anti-c right then, so as to dilute any extra stomach acids that may have gotten in there.
I also make sure that I'm drinking orange juice in addition to anti-c. I'll drink a few glasses of OJ every day so that my body is regularly getting a dose of vitamin C. Even though anti-c contains Vitamin C, it's not enough to prevent scurvy, and I don't want to run the risk of getting sick when the cold weather comes around.
Since I take at least one anti-c every morning after I brush my teeth, I've noticed that I haven't gotten sick all winter long. I'm pretty sure that's because of the anti-c, but it also could be because I've been taking in enough vitamin C from other sources. Either way, I don't plan on stopping my daily anti-c routine any time soon.
So there you have it. Anti-c is a great way to get more Vitamin C into your system without having to drink orange juice - and if you try it out, let me know how well it works for you!"
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