Why you should stop drinking fruit juice

It would be easy to believe that fruit juice is a healthy beverage, after all, isn’t fruit healthy?

Yes fruit is healthy (in the right doses), however the cold hard truth about fruit juice is that it is really just liquid candy.
The problem lies in both the quality and quantity of the ingredients.

Quantity is an issue as it takes several pieces of fruit to make up 1 cup of liquid, which results in a high concentration of sugar.

Did you know one cup of orange juice could
have as many grams of sugar as a can of soft drink!

Quality is an issue as the juicing process strips away most of the fibre (as well as vitamins and minerals) which is needed to help slow down the absorption of glucose in the blood.

Both of these factors combined have a negative impact on:
- blood glucose levels
- mitochondrial health

which leads to many health issues, including obesity, diabetes, Alzheimers, cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

Blood glucose

Every time you eat or drink, your body breaks that down and uses it to either:

• Build and repair parts of your body, like your muscles, bones, skin, hair, nails etc.

  • This function is primarily done via the fats and proteins you eat.

• Fuel your body.

  • This function is primarly done from the carbs you eat.

  • Due to fruits and vegetables being primarly composed of carbs, when eaten, these are used for energy.

How does the body create energy from food?

Your body breaks down the food into glucose, which then triggers insulin to be released. Imagine insulin like a key that unlocks the doors to cells, allowing glucose to be pushed inside to be used for energy. Without insulin, the glucose can not get inside the cells to create energy.

All this glucose gets pushed into the cells of your muscles and liver first, and any excess gets converted into fat and stored.

When you are eating good quality food in the right portions, this process of converting glucose into energy works well as the level of glucose in your blood is manageable.

The problem with fruit juice (and other high carb processed foods) is not only the high sugar content, which will flood your blood with high levels of glucose, it is also missing the vital fibre component, which would aid in slowing down the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream.

As a result, a glucose spike occurs. Over time, consistent glucose spikes can lead to insulin resistance, which is something you want to avoid as it increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome.

What is insulin resistance?

Just as we become resistant to anti-biotics, when our cells are over-exposed to insulin, they become resistant to it. Remember, picture insulin as the key that unlocks all the doors to a cell. If cells are over-exposed, that key fits into less and less doors so the body secretes even more insulin to try to fix the problem. This triggers a vicious cycle of repeated insulin secretion that leads to many health issues, as mentioned above.

The good news is that insulin resistance is usually reversible by eating the right foods in the right portions.

Mitochondrial health

If you’re not familiar with the term mitochondria, think of these as teeny tiny living batteries that live inside your cells.

They are responsible for converting glucose (from the food you eat) into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy of the body.

Excessive sugar consumption negatively impacts mitochondrial health leading to oxidative stress, which in turn contributes to cellular aging and dysfunction.

An immediate impact you may feel from this is fatigue, as your mitochondria are not effectively producing the ATP you need to move your body.

Long term effects of dysfunctional mitochondria include neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, as well as cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

So what’s the solution?

Eat the fruit whole!

This way the fibre content in the fruit slows down the absorption of glucose into your bloodstream, plus the sugar content will be less as it will be unlikely you will eat the 3-4 oranges required to make a cup of juice.

You will also then get the full benefit of the vitamins and minerals contained in the fruit.

Enjoy!