Comparing Oranges to Oranges

People often ask me what beverages I consume on a daily basis. The answer is simple, water(filtered or RO) and green tea. Then the next follow up will be something like...but what about fruit juice. And of course by fruit juice they mean the good stuff; either 100% real fruit juice or even freshly squeezed. Well lets analyze orange juice for instance. A 10oz. bottle of OJ(which is the size Tropicana sells) has 140 calories, 28 grams of sugar, and no fiber, and boasts it's 120% daily value of vitamin C. A normal sized orange (2-5/8" diameter fruit) has only 60 calories, 12 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of fiber, and is humble about it's 116% Vitamin C concentration. So lets see... more fiber (i.e. better on the glycemic index, good for digestion) virtually the same vitamin C concentration, and less than half of the calories. And this mind you is a 10oz. serving of Orange Juice. At McDonalds or IHOP(my favorite health food joint!) a large orange juice is 20oz. This quantity of Orange juice has roughly 280 calories, and 56 grams of sugar, with no fiber. You'd have to eat nearly 5 oranges to get to that many calories. Nobody would probably think you were weird having 20oz. of OJ, but eating 5 oranges in one sitting would probably make people scream "THE JUICE IS LOOSE!" Freshly squeezed juice is only marginally better, unless you are consuming the majority of the pulp. As one of the leading causes of childhood obesity, it's becoming harder and harder to argue consuming juice regularly in ones diet. So eat the fruit, ditch the juice.