REFINED FRUIT JUICE

I was discussing the merits of using fruits to sweeten porridge when a client let it slip that he was adding fruit from a packaged container as opposed to fresh fruit. This led to a long discussion of fresh vs processed and thought I would share with you some findings.
Firstly I had to go to the supermarket to access the ingredients found in packaged fruits as this information is not readily available on their websites. I will not mention names here as all manufacturers seemed to do the same thing. There are too many varieties out there anyway. I ventured off to the supermarket thinking this would be easy. Read the ingredients, make my assessment of the ingredients and move on. The reality was that nothing is what it seems.  I have been working on this all morning very little information gained. Let me explain.
Sample one: Ingredients was 58% fruit, with refined fruit juice and ascorbic acid. This had me baffled. The product came in a plastic container so I could see the fruit packed inside. If there was 58% fruit, what was the other 42%? And then there was the Refined Fruit Juice!! Do you know that I could not find any information on what exactly Refined Fruit Juice (RFJ) meant?? I was unable to see if this was simply the juice from the fruit that occurs naturally or what it meant. Of course it is not natural juice or else this would be written in capital letters for all to see. No refined fruit juice could simply mean the water the fruit was cleaned in, washed in perhaps, who knows?
I decided the best way to compare fresh fruit and packaged fruit is to do a side by side nutritional chart. The results were quite amazing and here they are:

	Peaches Packaged in RFJ	Whole peach
	140gm	175gm
FAT	0.1GM	0
CHO	20.6GM	17
SUGARS	16.0GM	15
FIBRE	1.3GM	3
PROT	1.1GM	2
SODIUM	8MG	0
Kj	354	275

What do the results tell you?? The 8gm of sodium is due to the preservative factor. There is double the fibre found in fresh peaches vs packaged making me ask have the fruits been tampered with? How can there be less fibre??  The fruit in packaged products is certainly slimier and softer, has this evolved due to consumer demand? Have the manufacturers decided to get rid of the firmness and fibre because people are now too lazy to chew?

Next time you use processed over fresh, you are not really adding one of your five a day. You are more adding just another processed product the body has to work twice as hard to digest it, which can be difficult for those under a lot of stress, but that is for another blog.

bye for now

Julie Dargan RN, ND, BHSc

3 Day Raw Food/Juice Detox

For those of you who are interested in doing a 3 day detox in beautiful surroundings with like minded people then read on.
Julie Dargan is hosting two retreats, one in Daylesford, Victoria and another in Port Douglas, Queensland.
Julie is a qualified nurse, Naturopath and Natural Juice Therapist. All juices and raw foods will be supplied with lots of information and demonstrations throughout the day.

Group sizes will be limited to 16 so be quick to inquire and make your booking.
 For more information email Julie at juicemaster47@gmail.com