That Sneaky Fruit Juice

Lots of folks believe that drinking fresh squeezed fruit juice provides great health benefits. Doctors even tend to agree. After all you get concentrated amounts of vitamin C and lots of living enzymes.

And the advertising media chimes in with terms like:

No added sugar

All natural

No preservatives

Have your glass of orange juice every morning

But let’s take a closer look at how fruit juice affects your metabolism.

First of all, when you eat the whole intact fruit the sugar (fructose) comes packaged in individual compartments surrounded by fiber. After biting into that apple (or orange slice) you start chewing which breaks down some of the fiber releasing a portion of the sugar for digestion and assimilation.

But a lot of the fiber remains to be further broken down in the intestine. Then a little more fructose drips out and enters the nearby capillaries for transport by the blood.

All of this digestive process takes time, releasing the fructose drip by drip slowly into the blood stream preventing spikes in the blood sugar.

But what happens when you put that apple through a juicer? First of all one apple does not make very much juice, so you might juice 2 or 3. Where’s the fiber now? In the compost bin and all of the sugar has been released into the glass.

You drink down the juice. The fructose zaps into your blood stream rapidly. Your blood sugar spikes sending a danger signal to the pancreas to pour out insulin to bring down the blood sugar. Other glands and hormones play a role in re-balancing your blood sugar to a normal range so your body doesn’t freak out.

Drinking fruit juice regularly places a chronic stress on the liver, pancreas, adrenals and thyroid gland and contributes to the development of degenerative diseases like diabetes.

But what about those living enzymes in the juice? Aren’t they good for me?

Yes, they are, but you can eat them in the whole fruit without overloading your blood sugar balancing mechanisms. Better yet eat a big variety of raw vegetables including lots of different colors in your meals to get your living enzymes and lots of other nutrient bonuses including the fiber that promotes bowel health.

Even over eating whole fruit can spike the blood sugar and set off alarms in your body.

Some of my patients thought they were eating in such a healthy manner. They kept their healthy fat intake in a good range, but they still had high levels of blood triglycerides (blood fat). Figuring out a way to lower their triglycerides was a frustrating mystery to them and their family doctor.

After interviewing them carefully about their dietary intake, we unearthed the culprit. They were drinking lots of fruit juice, thinking it was a healthy habit.

But the liver links 3 chains of fruit sugar together to transport it in the blood – voila! The sugar turns to fat and keeps the blood triglyceride levels high.

Cut out the juice and the triglycerides go down.

So, if fresh squeezed juice causes a problem, what about bottled juice?

Good question!

All the enzymes have died or been destroyed by the heat process of canning the juice. So you’ve probably already figured out that drinking bottled juice just gives you more quick sugar that upsets the sugar balance in the body.

For the best health outcome limit your enjoyment of fruit to 2 servings per day and avoid drinking fruit juice. A serving of fruit is probably smaller than what you might have guessed. One serving equals:

• 1 small apple
• 10 grapes
• ½ of a banana

Always take time to thoroughly enjoy every delicious bite of your fruit treat for the day.
Blessings,

Dr. Jo