Fruit vs. Fruit juice: A Choice That impacts Your Weight loss

Medical Reviewed by Sindhu Vas, Post Graduate in Nutrition and Food science

Fresh fruit juices are amazing and delicious any day. They hydrate you, entice your taste-bud and are easily digestible.

A glass of freshly squeezed juice is the best accompaniment to a wholesome breakfast. However, no matter how great fruit juices are, we end up with the fruit vs. fruit juice debate.

Nutritionists and physicians alike have always championed whole fruits for weight loss and overall wellness. This is also backed by various studies.

But why does everyone insist on whole fruits when even fruit juices offer the same antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients?

Well, it’s the fibre!

Fruit juices are frowned upon because of the lack of fibre content. One of the main traits of fruits is the rich fibre content the skin and pulp provide. When we crush the fruit and remove the pulp and skin, we strip the fibre content essentially leaving the juice fibre-less. 

Now, this is not at all good! Fibre comes with a number of benefits. It is very essential for easy digestion, controlling cholesterol and in case of diabetes; it helps to keep the blood sugar under control. [2]

Benefits of whole fruits for weight loss

Fruits are a key player when it comes to weight loss. They provide a number of nutrients and especially fibre which is an important component for healthy weight loss.

When we juice a fruit, we also exclude some of these nutrients along with fibre. This is especially true for packaged fruit juices.

While processing and packaging fruit juices, the health-giving phytonutrients are lost. Phytonutrients are very important for protecting you against certain diseases.

Apart from lacking fibre, these fruit juices also have a lot of fructose content and the excess of the latter is definitely not good for both weight loss and diabetes.

While doctors typically recommend around 1-2 fruits a day, when it comes to drinking fruit juices, you could easily drink the juice of about eight to 10 fruits per serving. Can this help you lose weight? Absolutely not![1]

The added sugars

Packaged fruit juices are high in calories and sugar. If you want to lose weight, then this is a recipe for disaster.

So many people go on ‘fruit juice’ diets not knowing they are consuming more calories.

Even when making fruit juices at home, many tend to add more sugar to the fruit. This will spike the blood sugar level which is not a good sign if you want to lose weight.

Having more than you need

This is an unsaid problem. When people drink fruit juice, they unknowingly consume more than they need because juice doesn’t satiate the stomach as wholesome fruits.

When you have wholesome fruits, your stomach feels full quickly preventing you from overeating.

Portion control

Not just for regular foods, portion control is important for fruits too if you want to lose weight. That’s why fruit juices are not a great choice for weight loss.

Unfortunately, many do not know the correct portion size of fruits and they tend to overeat unintentionally.

Below are examples of what counts as one portion:

• 1 apple, banana, pear, orange or other similar-sized fruit.
• 2 plums, satsumas, kiwi fruit or other similar-sized fruit.
• ½ of grapefruit or avocado.
• 1 large slice of melon or fresh pineapple.
• 3 heaped tablespoons of vegetables, beans or pulses.

 If you really love fruit juices, you can always consume fruits and fruit juices alternatively. 

Remember, when we say fruit juices, we are talking about freshly squeezed juices at home and not the store-bought ones. 

Store-bought ones are nothing but sugar water with some added flavour and additives! In fact, they are more damaging to health.

 Likewise, it is recommended that people with diabetes opt for whole fruits instead of fruit juices since the former has fibre. Also, if you want to drink juice, it is better you consume with the pulp and don’t add any added sugar since fruit juices already have natural sugar and avoid taking clear juice. 

So, you want to eat fruit or drink fruit juices?

Have a quick look at the video below and see the benefits of eating whole fruits for weight loss.

Add fresh fruits to your diet and enjoy the goodness of fibre and other micronutrients in a wholesome manner. You’ll not only feel lighter and fuller, but you would also have lost a kilo or two in just a matter of weeks!

FAQs

1. What is the best fruit for weight loss?

Berries are the best when it comes to fruits for weight loss. They have lower sugar content than regular fruits like mangoes and bananas. The berry fruit group include the blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, cranberries, raspberries etc.

2. Do apples help you lose weight?

For all the apple lovers, yes! Apple can help in losing weight due to the presence of non-digestible compounds. These compounds are found to promote the growth of gut bacteria that are responsible for weight loss.

3. What are the Indian fruits for weight loss?

Some of the common Indian fruits that can help in losing weight are orange, amla, apple, watermelon, guava, lemon, papaya, garcinia etc.