How to choose fruit juice?

Fruit juice is fruit, but not really…

Most people think that juices can take advantage of the benefits of fruit in a few sips. This is unfortunately wrong! Fruit juices lose the benefits of the whole fruits, which are their high vitamins and dietary fibers content while increasing the concentration of sugars and their speed of assimilation.

In order to get a small glass of fruit juice (200ml, the average capacity of the store-bought small cartons of juice), it is necessary to extract and filter the juice of 3 fruits!!!

This does not mean that drinking a fruit juice is equivalent to / is the same as eating 3 fruits:  as there is no more pulp and flesh.

1 glass of fruit juice = 1 fruit

A fruit juice does not contain dietary fibers anymore: the appetite suppressant effect will be very short in time compared to eating a whole fruit.

Watch out for sugar

Fruit juices are made up of water and sugars naturally present in fruits.

100 g fruit = 100 ml fruit juice = 12 g of sugar

Fruit sugars are simple sugars (fructose, glucose and sucrose), that is to say they are assimilated very quickly by the body. Drinking a fruit juice increase your blood sugar level; the absence of fibers will accentuate /this sugar peak in the blood. Will raise the sugar level in the blood.

In order to limit the intake of simple sugars:

1 glass of fruit juice = 150-200 ml maximum

Did you know that sodas have less sugar than most fruit juices (at equivalent volume)? Take a Look at the product labels …

The fruit juices nutritional advantage: a vitamins and minerals source

The transformation and packaging processes will reduce the vitamins and minerals that are find in fruit juices compared to whole fruit, but these levels remain significant to help cover our needs.

Vitamin C is the most sensitive to the transformation (contact with the air, heat); this is why some manufacturers add vitamin C in their products. For fresh fruit juices it is recommended to drink them immediately for a maximum intake of vitamins.

Choose a fruit juice

Nothing beats a fresh fruit juice… In contrast, in bottle or brick, it is convenient. They can be an alternative to fresh fruit juices provided they are well chosen.

There are 3 main categories of « juice » in the supermarket:

• Pure juice 100% or 100% pure juice, made by simple mechanical pressure of the fruits, healthy and ripe, then bottled without addition (no sugar, no additive). Pure juice is close to the juice that one presses. With or without pulp? It does not matter. The pulp will add some fibers. It takes 3kg of fruit to make 1 liter of juice, which explains the higher price of this product. >>> A small glass can be drunk every day

• Juice from concentrate made from fruit juice that has been concentrated and added with water. The fruits are picked, dehydrated (to reduce the storage and cost of transport), and then diluted in water, in a proportion equivalent to that of water naturally contained in the fruits. The resulting mixture is often acidic, up to 1.5% of sugar can be added without the mention « sugar » appearing in the ingredients. >>> If the word « sugar » does not appear in the list of juice ingredients, a small glass can be drunk every day

• Fruit nectar, consisting of fruit juice or puree, water and sugar. The total fruit content is usually between 25% and 50% of the juice. The technique here is to reduce the fruit puree and add water and sugar (up to 20% sugar). It is not recommended to consume fruit nectar, much too sweet, it does not look like a real fruit juice.>>> To drink exceptionally as a soda

What to remember?

Fruit juices are rich in water, contain vitamins and minerals and participate in the variety of the diet. For all the reasons mentioned above, it is recommended to drink maximum 1 glass of fruit juice (150-200ml) per day.

Smoothies (mixed fruit and / or mixed vegetables), a solution halfway between whole fruit and juice, easy making at home with a Blender!

>> Link to the basic recipe of a smoothie <<