Ahh orange juice, the healthy part of many a breakfast, right? I mean come on, we’ve all seen the commercials. Orange juice comes from Florida where the sun is always shining. It’s full of healthy vitamin C to help you fight colds and it should be consumed every morning to get a healthy start on the day. Yah, if you believe that, I have some sub prime mortgages to sell you.
What’s The Problem With OJ?
So why am I picking on orange juice this morning? Three reasons:
Makes Meals Healthy – I’ve seen too many people add orange juice to a plate full of pancakes and bacon as a way of making their meals healthy. Guess what, adding something to an unhealthy meal does NOT make it healthy. That also applies to you people who think adding a side salad to a 3000 calorie steak dinner will make your evening healthier. If a meal is unhealthy then it’s unhealthy and no amount of additions will make it healthier.
Processed Food = Junk – The OJ most of us get comes from Florida, maybe. However, between there and your table it went through a lot. It was crushed, pulped, pasteurized, strained, condensed, rehydrated and then packaged up with preservatives to make the shelf life longer. It has about as much in common with fresh oranges as a McDonald’s milk shake does with fresh milk. Stop buying processed foods. You’re paying extra for crap you don’t need.
Stop Drinking Your Fruit – Yes, fresh orange juice does contain some great vitamins. However, it’s missing so much of the good things that come with oranges. So many of the vitamins and minerals are left behind. The fiber is not there, even if your juice is pulpy. The ability to satisfy hunger without many calories is gone. You’ve taken a wonderful package of good ingrediants and turned it into orange colored sugar water, which is essentially what fruit juice is.
The Solution
Drink water, eat an orange. It’s that simple. You get all the vitamins and those food processing companies get none of your money. It’s a win / win! Oh, and if you want to make a meal healthier, eat the orange BEFORE the meal. The high water content will help fill you up which means you’re likely to eat less of the pancakes and bacon.
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And in case you haven’t figured it out yet, I hate modern food manufacturing. It’s like an entire industry designed to make us pay more for unhealthier foods.
I agree with everything you’re saying above. However, I still like Orange Juice! It’s not perfect, but it’s still better than a lot of things, like soda pop, for example. Still, your advice to actually eat the entire fruit is definitely true.
- Dave
Absolutely David,
Orange Juice is still better than coffee, soda, kool-aid and a lot of other drinks. So if you’re replacing those with OJ, you’re taking a step in the right direction.
Gal
Laughing my ass off at the thought of OJ and a plate of pancakes — I over produced insulin just thinking about it. I love what you say about not drinking your fruit, and I couldn’t agree more. Fresh OJ is a great treat once in a while — I live in an area where most of my neighbors have trees. But OJ, in my opinion, should be a treat no different than the occasion Snickers bar or ice cream cone — definitely not an everyday food. Thoughts….
I believe the health benefits of O.J. are overstated. It’s loaded with calories (sugar) and you don’t get the benefits of the fiber. I’m with you. Water all the way…
Great post, I personally can’t stand the way companies manipulate the advertising of their products to make them seem healthy. When diebetics run for the orange juice to raise blood sugar quickly, you know it’s not a good sign of a healthy “added vitamin C” drink.
Jean Luc Boissonneault
mydailywellnesstip
Thank you for such a “to the point” post, as usual. I enjoy orange juice, but not as a means of improving health – I enjoy it as a treat, almost like dessert. For us, we rarely buy orange juice from a food manufacturer.
As you might imagine, I have the same feelings as you on manufactured food products. Unbelievable where we’ve wound up in the name of food “technology”.
Thank you for your persistence and your consistent message Gal – it’s appreciated as always.
Your examples are quite extreme. You won’t discourage me from drinking my fav drink – one red grapefruit, one lemon and 3 sweet oranges. Try it and you’ll love it!
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here. But I would argue that not all orange juices are that bad. There are good and bad ones. Below i’ve attached a ink that helps to prove my point.
http://foodessentials.com/compare/Preservative_Free_Juice_or_Drink_-_Orange_Juice/121999/0
There are several preservative free orange juices, and in fact many of those are color free, low sugar as well. But you havfe to be careful becuase often the low sugar ones contain HFCS and that might be something you want to avoid.
Although this hasn’t been commented on in over 2 years, I have those same glasses.
And I prefer any fruit over their juice relative.