Nothing But the Fruit

Fruit is good for you! Folks who think they are getting their daily intake of fruit by eating what is not pure fruit are in for a big surprise. If you drink fruit juice, eat fruit snacks or rollups, the dried fruit in cereals, granola or cereal bars with "fruit", jams, or the "fruit" included in pasteurized yogurt, you are not eating real, 100% fruit. Your body is designed to eat and digest fruit to put it to use to make all your systems work properly. It is not designed to absorb and make use of the other stuff.

None of these processed, packaged foods replace fruit. Fruit juice is a good example of what I am talking about - do you know how many pieces of fruit it takes to make an 8 ounce glass of orange juice? About 12. Would you eat that many oranges at once? Heavens no! And your digestive tract is completely overwhelmed at the amount of sugar from that many oranges. Your body also does not gain benefit from the fiber, pulp, or nutrients found in the fruit itself.

Many parents give their children fruit juice everyday thinking they are doing them a favor, but in reality, they are doing their kids a great disservice. Children learn that all their drinks come in a sweet package, and don't drink enough water. Many of them also don't eat enough plain fruit because they have just filled up on junk instead.

So next time you grab for the junky, processed snacks that contain some fruit-like substance, but is not pure unadulterated fruit itself, think twice. Just sit down to a simple, delectable piece of grapefruit or slice up a succulent, juicy red pear, and ask yourself...does it really get any better than this?