Why it is best to avoid all brands of conventional orange juice and how to transform organic, fresh or cold-pressed juice into a healthy breakfast beverage that doesn’t skyrocket blood sugar.
There’s no doubt that a glass of orange juice is firmly entrenched in our cultural psyche as an important part of a healthy breakfast.
Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth!
Let’s debunk the myth that a glass of OJ is the Holy Grail of a healthy breakfast, shall we?
Oranges: Heavily Sprayed and Highly Processed
Most people do not realize that oranges are a high spray crop.
In addition, the processing of the oranges at the factory into juice involves toxic chemicals as well.
Neurotoxic Pesticides
Manufacturers use sprays on citrus crops called cholinesterase inhibitors and organophosphates.
Both of these are serious neurotoxins.
When the oranges are placed into a vat for squeezing (the entire orange is used), guess what ends up in the juice?
You guessed it! Conventional orange juice is loaded with these pesticide residues.
Studies of organophosphates in cow feed have been linked to degeneration of the bovine nervous system and brain. (1)
Are these residues affecting you and your children like they are affecting the cows?
Common sense would surely dictate this as very possible. Certainly not a risk I would take with my family.
A study in Hawaii found that fruit and fruit juice consumption was the number one dietary factor in the development of Alzheimer’s Disease. (2)
Researchers conducting the study speculated that pesticide residues becoming concentrated in fruit juice due to modern processing techniques is the likely reason for the link.
Acid Sprays and Solvents
As if that isn’t enough, juice manufacturers use acid sprays and solvents during processing.
These chemicals extract every drop of juice from each orange.
This includes orange oil from the skin.
There is no doubt that every glass of “healthy” supermarket OJ contains traces of these toxic residues.
Consumers are unaware of these residues as the processing chemicals almost certainly present in trace amounts (but still health altering) are not present on the label. (3)
The moral of this story is that store-bought OJ is clearly not the healthy start to the day that conventional health experts would have us believe.
OJ Shoots Blood Sugar to the Moon
How about only buying organic OJ or freshly squeezing unsprayed oranges yourself?
Fresh pressed organic orange juice retains all the beneficial enzymes, nutrient co-factors and some of the whole food Vitamin C destroyed by pasteurization.
Cold-pressed juice is not as healthy as fresh-squeezed, but still better than more pr0cessed versions.
While these options are clearly better, plain OJ is so full of sugar that it really shoots blood sugar to the moon. This risks a blood sugar crash, cravings or a headache later.
But, at least you’re avoiding the cocktail of pesticides along with the fruit juice.
What to go a step better? Keep reading!
Truly Health OJ
The easy recipe for breakfast OJ below includes the addition of healthy fat to prevent a blood sugar spike.
You may use either organic pasteurized juice from the store (acceptable) or fresh-pressed oranges (best).
Another method for the most nourishing OJ is to transform fresh-squeezed into homemade fermented orangina or healthy orange creamsicles.
Note that the recipe below is also the best method for juicing fresh veggies as well.
The addition of healthy fat not only reduces the glycemic index but also boosts mineral absorption significantly.
Breakfast OJ Recipe
Easy recipe to boost the digestibility of your morning glass of orange juice that prevents the insulin spike and sugar crash later.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces orange juice preferably fresh squeezed
- 1-3 Tbl heavy cream preferably raw
Instructions
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Stir cream into glass filled with orange juice, ideally freshly squeezed for additional enzymes and nutrients.
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Drink and enjoy! It tastes just like a drinkable orange creamsicle!
Recipe Notes
Use coconut cream instead of dairy cream if desired.
(1-3) Dirty Little Secrets of the Food Processing Industry
I wouldn’t have thought to add cream – interesting – it doesn’t curdle the cream?
I blogged a little last year about how packaged, processed OJ is brainwashing us into thinking it’s a healthy drink you should drink large portions of… I’m happy to report that soon after I wrote it, our family kicked the OJ habit – my husband started having herbal tea in the morning instead, and eventually gave that up, too. I never drank it in the first place because it made my blood sugar feel off. We cut the kids off cold turkey (ages 5 & 3) – they begged for it for a couple weeks, but we just kept saying were were out, and they finally gave up.
We do have a bunch of conventional Florida oranges around the house right now that we got in a fundraiser. I wash them well, then slice off the top and bottom with a sharp knife and cut into 6 or 8 segments. So much quicker and cleaner than peeling them, and easy for the kids to eat.
http://sufficiencyblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/our-oj-is-brainwashing-us/
yup…there isn’t much in the way of conventional processed food that is actually good for you :wink we stick to fresh produce at the grocery store, for the most part. also, remember that the pesticides used are not simply sprayed onto the picked crop. they are sprayed throughout the growing season, on the plant and ground. so its false that the residue is only on the outside an that peeling makes it safe. the dirty dozen is based on foods as you eat them….so oranges and bananas after they are peeled, for example.
thanks for another great post sarah!
Well, it almosst sounds like we shouldnt eat any foods at all that at the grocery stores. Like the boxed cereals, , I was going thru them all the other day at the grocery store wondering which is good, there were some organic ones,
I didn’t know that oranges are sprayed that many pesticides. If the oranges are peeled before eating, then it wouldn’t matter.
I’ve got to try the cream in some OJ! Yum!
It’s better to just eat an orange with your breakfast. The size of an orange juice glass has gotten so big that no one would eat the amount of oranges it takes to produce such a huge glass. Do you notice how many oranges it takes to squeeze out even a small glass? If we do fresh squeezed juice it is only 2 oranges and no more. No wonder the blood sugar spikes!
Oh, oh! Thanks for the heads up, my toddler loves orange juice and I usually give it to her once a day (diluted), but I never thought of buying organic because I thought they squeeze the inside of the orange without the skin! I’m rapidly running out of the ‘ok to buy non-organic’ items on my shopping list 🙁 Don’t know how much we can afford…
Orange juice and cream sounds great. It reminds me of Orange Julius and I used to love that when I was a kid.
My mom always had us drink OJ growing up – every morning she was resonate, ‘Don’t forget your OJ!’ She still does this today, and every time one of us gets sick, she claims it was because we forgot to take our orange juice. I wish I could get through to her how bad this stuff really is!
The main thing that steers me away from OJ is all the added sugar. It’s way too strong for me now, but I used to be addicted to that morning sugar-rush.
Really interesting Sarah. Well kind of scary really. I never drink the stuff but my husband does….not anymore though!
Thanks for sharing.