You might think that because a fruit juice is natural and “added sugar free” it contains the same nutritional value as the fruit it came from. You might also think that juicing fruit is simply a faster and more direct way to break down a fruit and get to the good stuff. You might also have been shamelessly lied to by a Welch’s commercial! Though it might seem odd at first, whole fruit is significantly more beneficial than the juices we all know and love. Even if you juice the fruit yourself and ensure no added sugars or preservatives, you still aren’t getting the same nutritional profile as chomping into that same fruit in its entirety.
But why?! Isn’t fruit juice just the apple without the crunch, the grape without the skin or the orange without the pith?! In a way, yes, but those things aren’t just garbage to be discarded pre-consumption as you might have assumed!! They provide fiber! You might have had a friend or doctor ramble about increasing one’s dietary fiber intake and these chewable, juice containing fruit packages are simply made of it.
Fiber works a lot like that small, bristly brush you use to clean out pipes or reusable straws. It isn’t something that the body is able to break down most of the time and it functions instead as a digestive enhancement, allowing the bowels to more easily eject refuse. Additionally, fiber slows down the rate at which sugars pass through the body, allowing them to be used as energy instead of stored as fat. Fiber is, in a sense, garbage to be discarded during consumption and digestion instead! Systematically discarded through a multitude of little systems and cycles in the body that ensure you get the most nutrients possible from your food while carefully and thoroughly cleaning the rest away!
In contrast, juice hits the digestive system and carries a much higher concentration of sugar without any fiber which drives up the release of insulin and prompts the storage of the extra sugars. This ultimately leads to a crash in blood sugar levels and initiates hunger signals as if you hadn’t consumed much at all. Ultimately, fruit juice is a bit of a trap if you are trying to regulate your caloric intake. Just go for the whole fruits instead and save your body the confusion.
In addition, there are also a number of nutrients only found in the skin and pulp of certain fruits. Downing only the juices means missing out completely on the benefits of a much more complete food.
Bonus round: You are ready to consume all the fruit in sight and you’ve procured quite the haul from your local grocery store. What next? Clean those apples! Unless you are able to do our very favorite thing and Buy Locally, your fruit might be covered with a layer of protective waxes and pesticides that you definitely don’t want entering your system. If wax is ruining a water only bath, add lemon juice and baking soda, or vinegar to your water and wash that wax away. Next step, enjoy!