5 a day - juice good or bad?

JohnR41

If your government guidelines call for 5 fruit per day, I think what they mean is actual whole fruit and not fruit juice. In my opinion, fruit juice is a bad choice if your goal is to lose weight and keep it off. The reason I say this is because whole fruit usually contains much more fiber than fruit juice, and fiber is very important for weight loss.

Also, I think they might mean 5 servings, which could be a lot different than five pieces of fruit. In the U.S. one serving is a 1/2 cup.

tUrRrRa

Agreed 100%! I actually try to avoid fruit juice because most juices at a regular grocery store aren't all REAL fruit juice and have added sugar. I don't always get a chance to go to Whole Foods or other natural stores, so it's harder to find a decent juice. Juice adds up in calories pretty fast. Instead, I try to eat pieces of fruit. Eating the physical fruit has many benefits, and some peels/skins are very good for you, so you wouldn't find that in a juice. JohnR41 gives a great tip about serving sizes. I often eat what may SEEM like a serving, but it's more like 2 servings. When I eat berries, I usually eat more than one serving at a time. I am assuming you do NOT want to gain weight since this is the Weight Loss board, so I'd also really suggest to look into eating fruit rather than drinking juice. You will get a lot more nutrients this way. I also try to avoid excess preservatives and artificial ingredients!

collinsc

thanks for the tips. yes - trying to lose weight. perhaps ill steer clear of the juice

tUrRrRa

The one juice I let myself have is diet cranberry juice by Ocean Spray. This isn't a 100% natural juice though, and it seems that MOST cranberry juices are cranberry cocktail juice. It only has 5 calories per serving though, so I like it when I am just in the mood to drink some juice. I just don't rely on it for my fruit servings since I don't drink it regularly. If you have a health foods store near you (like a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's), they might have a decent juice though! Some good juices are pretty expensive. I find it cheaper to just buy real fruit, and it's more satisfying to eat as a snack. Just try to buy fruits that are in season to avoid spending a lot on your produce. I also buy frozen mixed berries all year long. I use them to make smoothies. Just make sure there isn't added sugar and they are a good choice as well! I just prefer fresh fruit if I am eating them plain, but frozen ones are great for blending into a smoothie.

collinsc

thanks for all the responses. i have spoken to my nutrionist who says that although the juice has alot of sugar this is all natural sugar so it is ok....discuss...!

Kszan

Think of it this way, better for you to be pigging out on fresh fruits than candy or other junk food. Is there a reason why you're just drinking juice and not going for actual fruit? Depending on what season, fresh fruit is AWESOME! You should incorporate that into your food plan because it's very healthy and antioxidants like crazy, especially berries! Load up!

collinsc

yeh simply because im already eating 2 portions of banana, peach or grapes a day already - and its kind of easier to get a drink into my schedule

tUrRrRa

collinsc, you mentioned that your doctor said that the juice is natural sugar, but keep in mind that many times it is EXTRA sugar added to it since most juice is not 100% fruit juice. It's usually part real fruit juice, part extras. This is why most juices have extra sugar and not as many nutrients as real fruit.

JohnR41

Being that you asked for discussion on this topic, I'm going to comment further: When your nutritionist said the sugar from juice is "ok" because it's "all natural" I have some doubts. One could make the case that honey is ok too because it's all natural. Or, how about table sugar? Table sugar comes from sugar cane (a plant), so it must be all natural too.

What do all of the above have in common? They are all processed to some extent. So you have to look at each one and decide if you are getting something worthwhile for the number of calories consumed. In general, the healthiest way to go is the way that offers the least amount of processing; "no processing" being the ideal.

Look at fruit juice: Fruit has to undergo processing in order to become juice. First, all or most of the fiber is removed. In the U.S., the average person only consumes about 15 grams of fiber per day. And how much fiber is needed for good health? According to the book, "The Fiber35 Diet", we should try to get 35 grams of fiber per day. A lack of fiber can cause many health problems like constipation, hemroids, damage to your digestive tract like rupturing, and weight gain. So you need to think in terms of maximizing fiber rather than minimizing it.

The other thing about commercial fruit juice is that it needs to be heated to a very high temperature to make sure there's no bacteria in the product. But what else gets killed along with the bacteria? What does high heat do to the nutritional content?

So, is your nutritionist correct to say that the sugar is "all natural"? I would say no because the only way it could be all natural, in my opinion, is if it were accompanied by the whole fruit. The minute you extract one nutritional element, the fiber, you lose all claim to being "all natural". (Is table sugar all natural?)

If one wants to be as healthy as one can be, one needs to think in terms of eating all-natural whole foods.