Juicy Sugar Facts

Today's post comes from a great website called Hooked on Juice.

I remember when my family first came to the United States, my sister, my brother and I went crazy with a few things that were now available every day to us which were only a treat before. Some of these things - bananas, gummy bears (my personal favorite 5lb bags from Costco), muffins, chocolate chip cookies, and lots and lots of juice. Oh, and I have quite a special place in my heart for Sunny D and Tampico! I don't think that those beverages even claim to be juice at all.

I remember always having in our fridge a giant jug of apple juice, orange juice and Costco sized containers of cranberry juice. Yumm! Healthy and nutritious, you say, WRONG! Full of sugar and corn syrup. Unfortunately what we never noticed is the high fructose corn syrup in the ingredients, the grams of sugar per serving, and not to mention the serving size! I always drank a pint glass, which is twice the 8oz serving size, dozing myself with as much sugar (if not more) than a coca-cola can!

Even 100% juice, full of vitamin C and natural (non corn syrup) sugars, will contain more sugar than one should be drinking. Cutting out these sugary beverages can be a great first step towards weight loss and improving one's diet. So, when your school or workplace replaced Coke with 100% juice in the vending machines, did they really do your health a favor? Considering that you could now be consuming even more sugar than you were before? Sure, the natural sugars in fruit may be better for you than a can of Pepsi or Cherry Dr. Pepper, BUT, why not eat a piece of actual fruit and drink some water? That's advice that even I have a hard time following, but it's definitely something to think about.

Here's a lovely table that I took from Hooked on Juice. Go to their website for more information.

12 ounces of >>>>>>>	Coca-Cola	Orange Juice	Apple Juice	Cherry Juice	Grape Juice
Total carbohydrates	40 g	39 g	42 g	49.5 g	60 g
Carbs from sugar	40 g	33 g	39 g	37.5 g	58.5 g
Sugar (teaspoons)	10 tsp	8 tsp	10 tsp	9 tsp	15 tsp
Calories	145	165	165	210	240