Is juice healthy for me?
June 8th, 2014
When I ask my patients if they are getting five servings of fruits or vegetables per day, many of them say “Yes, I drink plenty of fruit juice.” I know many of us have been taught from an early age through TV commercials and the old “Food Pyramid” that drinking fruit juice is equivalent to eating a serving of fruit, but I disagree. This may not be the healthiest option, and could be the reason why you can’t seem to lose weight. While it is true that fruit juice does contain vitamins, you are getting way too many calories. A typical 8 ounce glass of juice has about 180 calories, the same amount as your typical can of soda! That means that if you normally drink 2 glasses of juice per day and replaced them with water, you could lose 1 pound every two weeks!
Still not convinced? Think back to the last time you made orange juice by hand. You would need about 8-10 oranges. If I gave you 8 oranges, set them on a plate and told you to eat all of them, could you finish them all in 5 minutes? Probably not. That’s exactly what you are doing when you drink juice. In fact, we usually give orange juice to diabetics when their sugar is dangerously low because the body is able to absorb it quicker. Liquids are digested much faster manner than solids. When you eat a whole orange, the fiber (aka the stuff that gets stuck in your teeth) prevents you from extracting 100% of the calories from the orange. Fiber also expands in our stomach and lets us know that we are full. Our bodies are not able to break down most fiber in foods, which is why fiber is helpful to treat and prevent constipation.
The next time you have a craving for juice, think of it as drinking the same amount of soda. As an alternative, eat the actual fruit. You will get so much more fiber and less sugar. Also, you will be guaranteed that the vitamins in whole fresh fruit will be much better for you than from a plastic bottle of processed juice that has been sitting on a store shelf for 6 months or more. Many vitamins degrade rapidly when they are taken out of foods. If you still must have juice, a good rule of thumb is make it yourself with fresh fruits (I’m sure you won’t be adding preservatives and coloring at home) and dilute it with equal amounts of water. This way, you will drink half the amount of calories per serving.
Another option is to make fruit-infused water. Take some cut fruit and put it in a pitcher, preferably one with a strainer at the spout. Add water and a touch of lemon or a sprig of mint. Leave it in the fridge overnight. The flavors of the fruit will add subtle taste to the water without the calories. This is a refreshing summer drink that won’t add to your waistline!
