Fruit juice, a deliciously sweet treat and one of your five a day. Sugary goodness that we can enjoy without feeling guilty because it’s natural sugars, of course! But is that morning glass of fresh orange really as good as we think it is? Unfortunately the answer is no.

There really is a reason behind why drinking more than one glass of fruit juice a day is a massive no no (and doesn’t count towards another portion of your fruit intake)! It’s quite scientific but putting it simply, the main reason is fibre. When we juice our fruit we lose the fibre, which is really important for slowing down the time it takes the sugar from entering our blood stream. Hence, preventing blood sugar levels from spiking. Without fibre our blood sugar levels rise very quickly, greater increasing your chance of type 2 diabetes. According to a Credit Suisse study, “8oz of Tropicana orange juice contains twice as much sugar as a Krispy Kreme donut!” Eeeek!! If that isn’t bad enough, the high amount of fructose in fruit juice enters your body, digests and leaves a pretty similar result to the consumption of alcohol- just without the fun of the night out! Not what you want.

Luckily, juice isn’t banned completely! The way we consume fruit and vegetables can have a huge effect on how well their nutritional benefits impact our bodies. For example, it’s thought that it’s best to cook tomatoes to get their full nutritional value. Vegetables tend to have higher nutritional benefits than fruit when consumed as a juice. Perhaps it’s time to eat your fruit and juice your veg? The best vegetables to juice are leafy greens such as spinach and kale, broccoli, asparagus, garlic and red peppers. Just maybe go easy on the garlic if you’ve bagged a hot date that evening!

In all honesty, there are lots of debates around the consumption of any kind of juice with people telling us what to and not to eat and drink. One glass of juice every so often is great and does provide health benefits. What I’d really recommend is to make your own juice drinks and add the pulp back in! That way you’re still getting most of the goodness. Think freshly made smoothies rather that juices and green juices for the ultimate nutrition boost! Tasty drinks that you can really feel good about!! Xx