if it is from concentrate, does an 8 0z. glass still count as a serving of fruit? sometimes its just easier to drink my daily fruit which is what i have been trying to incorporate into my diet instead of eating no fruit at all. is there any benefit whatsoever or may i just as well be drinking koolaid?
Although fruit juice is better than soda or other sugar drinks, it is nowhere near as good as whole fruit, especially if you are trying to limit calories or sugars that you consume.
For example, a glass of orange juice is squeezed from several oranges, which means that you are getting several oranges worth of sugar in one shot, while not getting all of the fiber that was in the oranges.
if it is from concentrate, does an 8 0z. glass still count as a serving of fruit? sometimes its just easier to drink my daily fruit which is what i have been trying to incorporate into my diet instead of eating no fruit at all. is there any benefit whatsoever or may i just as well be drinking koolaid?
If you are buying juice from the store, you are not getting all of the vitamins, enzymes and nutrients - and possibly added sugar. If you want to get all of the "good stuff" from the fruit or veggie, juicing it at home is the way to go. For one thing you get a LOT more fruit or veg servings in an 8 oz glass. I juice fruits for breakfast - an 8 -10 oz glass of juice = 1 grapefruit, 1/4 of a pineapple, 2 oranges. NO WAY would I have eaten that much fruit for breakfast. So I got all the health benefits of 5 raw servings of fruit, in one glass - with no added sugars and all of the vitamins intact. I have seen a few people on the boards say that you are not getting your fiber, but you are because a lot of the soluble fiber remains in the juice. Even if it did not have any fiber (which it does), there are lots of other ways to get fiber in your diet. Have a bowl of oatmeal with walnuts and flaxseed with your juice. Fruit juices are high in fructose though, so you do have to limit the amount you drink. But you can have apple/carrot juice - 2 apples and 4 carrots. Or mix any veggies in with some apple juice, and you will get your veggies, some fruit and all the vitamins and enzymes of fresh produce without all the chewing!
You should check out the first 5 ingredients of fruit juice from concentrate. If more than 3 have anything to do with sugar (glucose-fructose, sucrose, dextrose, etc) don't drink it. It's junk. You'd be better off making your own juice with a juicer, or going to the health food store and getting multivitamin juice drinks there. Also, if you cut out juice drinks from your diet completely, you'll lose 10 pounds in one year.
