Fruit Juice. Healthy Choice or Time To Wake Up

Fruit juice is consumed by many as a healthy alternative to soda pop. But is it really a healthy alternative? It seems time and time again I hear people defend fruit juice in a way that would suggest they grew the fruit themselves, went through the process of squeezing it, bottling it, delivering it to a store and providing us the extreme pleasure of purchasing this misrepresented drink. Stop the car I want to get out. I mean really, is it really necessary to take everything so personally. Just because I suggest that fruit juice is not any healthier than drinking a can of pop doesn't mean I am attacking you personally. Perhaps I was trying to offer some information that may help you understand why you or your children are not finding the results you want from your exercise routine. Or why your children can actually climbs walls after having sipped a tall glass of "not from concentrate" juice, also not from nature I might add. Perhaps the liquid sugar entering directly into the blood stream may have some less than helpful side effects. Maybe an I.V. hook up of sugar water would be more helpful? I guess the poles with the bag hanging off the end are to hard to drag around the house or playground. And for that matter if you want fruit then eat a piece of fruit, rather than drink it!

Let me ask you this question, if I were to add the equivalent levels of vitamin C to a can of Pepsi would you serve it your child for breakfast? Or as a regular way to quench their thirst?

I didn't think so. But the true fact of the matter, drop for drop UNSWEETENED fruit juice has the same amount of sugar in it as pop.

12 ounces of	Coca-Cola	Orange Juice	Apple Juice	Cherry Juice	Grape Juice
Total carbohydrates	40 g	39 g	42 g	49.5 g	60 g
Carbs from sugar	40 g	33 g	39 g	37.5 g	58.5 g
Sugar (teaspoons)	10 tsp	8 tsp	10 tsp	9 tsp	15 tsp
Calories	145	165	165	210	240

As you can see some fruit juices have more sugar and more calories than a can of pop!! Alarmed? You should be. This doesn't speak to the fact that fruit juice contains a fraction of the health benefits the actual fruit has (things like fiber).

The next crazy thing I have heard is "It's natural sugar, so it is easier for the body to digest." WHAT? Did I miss something? 10 teaspoons of sugar is 10 teaspoons of sugar, natural or otherwise! What ever happened to drinking water? Isn't water natural and a healthier natural choice to boot? I know water is boring and isn't full of sugary goodness, but we are made up of 70% water anyway. Did you know that when you feel hungry it can actually be your body reacting to dehydration? So as you can see, fruit juice IS NOT a healthy alternative to pop, neither for your children or for you. I do understand that kids need more calories and an added dose of Vitamin C is important, but there are alternatives if eating the actual fruit isn't an option. Diluting the juice is a very easy way to start. It not only provides the children with the limited "benefits" of juice, but it continuously adds water to their growing bodies. I see the contorted faces reading this thinking, "that is gross!". Guess what sunshine...the don't know any better! As adults, we have more power than we understand and we often impress our personal likes and dislikes on our impressionable children. Of course if we make faces or openly talk about how gross we think diluted juice is they will believe us. But if they are not influenced by their leaders, us their parents, they go about their business blissfully unaware. My kids loved their watered down juice when they were young. They thought that is just the way juice is. They often made funny faces when mistakenly given the high octane real stuff by a grandparent. Good times!

I personally don't think adults should be drinking fruit juice period. The benefits you believe you are getting from fruit juice can be achieved other ways, without ingesting all the extra sugar. Starting with eating the actual fruit (what a novel idea) the old fashioned way, by chewing it. It seems we are in such a rush all the time and demand instant everything we are our own worst enemy. The easiest way to change the way we ingest calories and sugar is to empower yourself at the grocery store level. Stop buying the things you crave and start buying the things your body needs. Seems we are back to the age old theory: Want vs. Need.

We eat calories all day long, why do we want to drink them too? The next time you reach for the fruit juice in the fridge, think about the volume of sugar you are consuming and bypass the liquified sugar and grab the other natural option in the fridge, good 'ole H2O.

I have to go peel an orange for my afternoon snack.

My Two Cents
Jamie