Fruit or Fruit Juices Healthy? #69

We stopped last time on soft drinks, sodas, Cokes, Pepsi, whatever you want to call them.  We were leading up to  how important eliminating the unhealthy foods are as adding more healthy foods to your diet.  You do know there are many people who eat lots of fruits, vegetables, no meats, no dairy, but they haven't dropped all their old foods like soft drinks, candy, pastry.  So you see the commitment you are facing if you really want to reduce cholesterol, lose weight, get fit, and live a heart healthy lifestyle. 

These calorie numbers may vary slightly depending on the source. Calories are based on a 12 oz. serving, Coke 140, Pepsi 150,  Crush orange 185, Crush strawberry  185 and so forth.  A honey bun, 370.  I have calculated on a average day I use to have a least 2 cokes, a honey bun, a fast food burger and french fry lunch.  A couple bags of chips from a vending machine for a whopping total of 2530 calories. Now are you sitting?  This is up through lunch only. I still had afternoon tidbits and dinner to go. This was not each and every day but it was not an unusual day. So if you went back and read my first and second post you would see when I made my commitment to change I was eliminating up to 2500 calories by lunch daily and  more to eliminate.  I am giving you an example of how you can help yourself by looking at it the same way I did.  Stop the bad eating habits first. If not, nothing else you try is going to work very well.

I drink about two 4 oz. glasses of orange juice daily.  Basically for the vitamin C.  I do not understand why there are so many calories in orange juice.  It  contains more calories than the same amount of most soft drinks.  We drink "not from concentrate," which means it has gone through a pasteurization process and no water, sugar, or preservatives have been added.  You just know there has got to be something wrong here. Why all the calories?  I have always justified drinking orange juice and the sugar as being okay because natural fruit sugar is healthier than refined produced sugars or sweetener additives.  I think I may have been wrong.  The pasteurization process eliminates most of the orange taste and flavor.  The orange juice product is then bulk stored for up to one year.  In the final process before packaging  the producer then adds "flavor packs" to the juice to give it the orange taste and flavors.  I am not sure why the producers are not required to show on the orange juice packaged label what ingredients have been added through the flavor pack.  I have read quite a bit about fruit juices, specifically orange and grape.  Most producers claim theirs contain   100% juice, no water, or sugars added.  Welch's grape juice touts that they do not add sugar or flavors, and are certified to be heart healthy by the American Heart Association.   Resulting from most of what I have learned, I am convinced most fruit juices are high in sugar, calories, and lose some fair amount of nutrients through processing and pasteurization.  Knowing that, I believe we are probably a lot better off, health wise, to eat more whole fruits and drink less 100% fruit juice.  After eliminating soft drinks I discovered that most fruit juices that I liked apple, orange, and grape are no better for you when counting calories than what I  gave up.  So I drink mostly water.   And coffee.   Cindy will verify I eat lots of fruits daily.....Calories in 100% fruit juices 8 oz. serving.  Apple 120,  Prune 180, Orange 110,  Grape 155, Grapefruit 95  and finally the one we should all be drinking Tomato juice 40 calories.......................

I avoid most political issues, not because of no interest, but because of maintaining my health.  Prior to having a heart attack, I was too intense in following political issues through newspapers, radio, and TV.  In the U.S. and worldwide.  After the heart attack and when making lifestyle changes, I decided I should no longer and would not follow so closely, politics or various media political reporting. I still maintain a basic knowledge and opinion of what is going on here and around the world.   It was a health choice for me. You can get yourself too involved in stressful situations of which you have very little or no control.  That is where I was, it was unhealthy for me and I made a change.

 I have had some readers express me sharing more of what I think of 2012 being the year of doomsday.  I don't believe ancient history and pagan beliefs will shape what happens this year..........................Current events and world leaders will determine that, whatever and whenever the outcome.

My purpose with this blog is to be considered by you, a credible, and helpful source of heart healthy lifestyle information.   You and I can control the outcome of our health.