• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

orange juice ?????

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.

mark123mark

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
i always thought fruit was good for you but i have just found out that orange juice the stuff you by in cartons made from concentrate is not good and i like the stuff what am i going to do now😡😡
 
"Made from concentrate" means mainly that, in order to reduce weight and bulk and hence shipping costs, much of the water is removed before shipping, and put back at the other end. Whether a given juice is this or not, the fact is that it's basically flavoured sugar water, hence not good for you either way (except as a hypo treatment). 🙄

Welcome to the forum. Good luck in finding a preferred drink which isn't loaded with carbs (I like Pepsi Max, especially the recently re-introduced Cherry flavour).
 
To be honest, it doesn't really matter whether it's juice made from concentrate, or freshly squeezed. Fruit contains a lot of vitamins but it's also very, very high in sugar and most people don't realise your body doesn't distinguish between 'added' sugar or 'natural' sugar - as far as your body is concerned, it's all sugar.

Juice is particularly problematic as it is very high calorie - the single quickest way to put calories into your body is to drink a litre of juice, and it's made extra problematic by the fact that much of the sugar in fruit juice is fructose, which your body has a very strong preference for converting to fat for storage. Juice also raises your blood sugar very quickly which is why a glass of fruit juice is recommended as a hypo treatment.

As for you're going to do now....well, that depends. What impact does a small glass of fruit juice have on your blood sugar? If it's not significant, there's no real problem incorporating it into your diet. But a better option would be to eat whole fruit - whole fruit contains fibre which slows down the rate at which the sugar gets into your blood and can help with portion control. But it's safe to say, no-one, diabetes or not, can healthily eat substantial portions of fruit or drink juice without applying a bit of moderation.

Otherwise, you could look at no-added-sugar cranberry juice - cranberries are naturally very low in sugar and so their juice (if it's sweetened by an artificial sweetener) is probably the lowest sugar juice you can get. Although again, you probably don't want to drink loads of cranberry juice for urinary comfort reasons!

The idea that fruit juice and smoothies are healthy is one of the biggest lies that's been inflicted on the public in the last 20 years. I worry how many people must have joined a gym, done a load of exercise and then rewarded themselves with a massive smoothie, convinced they're doing everything right and then found they actually gain weight as a result of their 'healthy' lifestyle.
 
Yes sadly a lot of fruit juice is made from concentrate and essentially worse than cordial, but if you like a small glass of orange juice you could try tropicana 50, it's not made from concentrate and they sweeten it with Stevia. It's essentially watered down fruit juice with Stevia added to make it taste more like 100% juice. I haven't tried it myself because I don't like artifical sweetners but I hear from my friends that it nice and orange juice like. Of course you could try tropicana normal juice which is also not from concentrate if standard juice doesn't cause you issues with blood sugar. Welcome to the forum 🙂
 
I used to regularly incorporate a small glass of juice (squeezed, not from concentrate because I find concentrate too sweet usually) with my breakfast with no ill effects. But it does all boil down to how it affects you. Are you able to test your BG levels, because that is the only way to properly find out?

Andy 🙂
 
Welcome to the forum Mark.
I sometimes have fruit juice as a treat with a meal. Usually I dilute it with water, about 1 part water to 1 or 2 part(s) juice, to make a longer drink. On flights, when offered free drinks (last experienced over 5 years ago), I usually opt for tomato juice, as portions are small and it's lower sugar than orange or apple juice.

Fresh juice, not from concentrate does taste nicer, but it's so much more expensive, no difference in sugar content, and takes more environmental resources to transport, so I wouldn't pay the extra.
 
It makes no difference whether the juice is made from concentrate or fresh. The amount of sugar and fructose will be the same for a similar dilution level. Yes, go for no-added cranberry juice.
 
I have a small glass of Innocent Orange Juice with bits. Guaranteed not to be made from concentrate. Downside is 8.2g or sugar per 100ml. It works fine for me. I know it is available from Tesco as that is where I get mine.

Cheers
 
Although I've never really been a fruit juice lover it was a real shock to discover the dramatic effects of fruit on bg levels My first banana sent me well into double figures!
Because I eat more fats now I really miss the fresh light feeling of eating fruit freely. It's so refreshing especially in the summer but tend to avoid anything except a few berries in yoghurt.
Anyway since this post started I decided to try an orange, on it's own a few times. I'm over the moon as I seem to only go up just over 1 point and just now walked after eating one for late breakfast and down to 5.7! Mustn't overdo it now!
 
How big an orange Linda? - a Jaffa or a clementine?

Amazing if it was a big one!
 
Yes it was a big one I was 6.6 on waking 7.8 1 hour after and 5.7 after a walk and 2 hours after eating it! I'm pretty amazed too! 🙂
Previous times I've eaten it with other food ie after lunch and had higher rise but nothing disastrous
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top