When it comes to healthy eating, you may be asking yourself how to incorporate more fruits into your diet. Fruits are highly versatile and can be made into juices, added to smoothies, or just eaten raw. So what is the healthiest, most nutritious way to eat fruit?
Today we are going to discuss juicing, making a smoothie, or eating a piece of fruit.
Let’s start with juicing.
Suppose you have an orange in front of you. That orange contains about 40-50 calories. If you choose to juice it, you will consume those 45-50 calories in the juice. What you won’t get is the fiber. Why is fiber important? Fruit has natural sugar. When you drink fruit juice, your blood sugar will spike. Fiber helps prevent that spike and helps you stay fuller longer.
What about Smoothies or Shakes?
Shakes are a good option, however, it depends on what you’re putting in your shake. With shakes, you are getting fiber from the fruit, so there is added nutritional benefit. The problem is that people often add multiple fruits, milk, yogurt, honey, and other things to make the shakes taste good. When it comes to calories, those foods add up, and it’s easy to lose track and consume a shake that is 400-500 calories. If you are trying to reduce your calorie intake, shakes can be sneaky unless you carefully measure every ingredient you are putting into them.
Eating the piece of fruit.
The healthiest way to eat fruit is eating it as it is, including the peel (if the peel is edible). When you eat the whole fruit, you get all the vitamins, water, and fiber. Remember, a lot of the fiber is in the peel, so if you are eating something like an apple or plum, don’t skip it!
So overall, when comparing juicing, vs. shakes, vs. eating the whole fruit, the rank goes like this:
- Good: Juice
- Better: Shake/Smoothie
- Best: Eat the piece of fruit
Remember that at the Wellness Center at Progressive Pediatrics, our goal is to help your teen or pre-teen live happy, healthy lives by finding a nutrition and wellness plan that works for them. Make your appointment today!
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