Facebook
Twitter
Are you sure that's what you want?
RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—If you’re a juice drinker, chances are you’re part of the three-quarters of American households that start the day with orange juice, the most popular juice in this country. However, in your sleepy haze, you might not realize that the sunny OJ in your hand may have traveled thousands of miles to get there. So what should you really be drinking in the morning?
This: Orange Juice
Pros: A single eight-ounce glass of OJ has a mere 110 calories. And it provides you with an entire day’s worth of vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant that can protect your skin from sun damage and your brain from air pollution and environmental pollutants like lead.
Cons: Too much orange juice might do serious damage to your tooth enamel. A recent study by Yanfeng Ren, DDS, PhD, associate professor at the University or Rochester Eastman Institute for Oral Health, found that orange juice reduced tooth-enamel hardness by 84 percent after people drank it every day for five days. Other fruit juices could have similar effects. “We picked orange juice because it’s the most popular juice,” says Dr. Ren. “But most fruit juices have a pH below 4 (which is very acidic), to prevent bacterial growth.” He added that cranberry juice is slightly more acidic than OJ. Even worse are energy drinks and sodas, which often have pH levels of 2.6 (the lower the pH, the more acidic a substance is).
From an environmental perspective, orange juice isn’t very green, either. The largest producer of orange-juice oranges is Brazil, so the fruit has a long way to travel to get to your door. But it’s not the transporting of orange juice that has the greatest impact; it’s the growing of oranges with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and the energy required to process oranges from whole fruits into bricks of frozen concentrate or cartons of juice. According to one estimate from a juice producer in Florida (the country’s second-largest source of orange-juice oranges), producing orange juice emits the same amount of carbon dioxide every year as 1,700 cars.
oranges can differ in qualities
The only oranges that agree with me are honey-bells from Florida. They agree with me because they are a cross between a grapefruit and an orange-they are sweet and juicy but don't contain quite as much sugar as a regular orange.It is a great alternative if you can't have that much sugar.
I could eat a lot of these and my face wouldn't break out as it would from a regular orange.I can also digest this kind of orange without problems.
Milk is a Great Choice
Yes, milk is a great choice! I’m a dietitian with National Dairy Council and encourage consumers to get more nutrients from their calories by drinking milk. When budgets are tight, it's good to know just one cup of milk provides nine essential nutrients for just 25 cents (based on a $4 gallon).
I haven’t seen any research that demonstrates that organic milk is any safer or healthier for you than regular milk. No matter what milk you choose--organic, non-organic, low-fat, fat-free--the government strictly regulates all milk, and tests for antibiotics and pesticides and other residues.
need more info
What happens to the lactose in either process?
Organic milk is 3x more expensive
They fail to mention that organic milk costs $6.00 a gallon, at least it does where I live.
not quite all the info
There are a couple things they forgot to put in this article. One, yes, milk does have more saturated fat than orange juice, but it's the type of saturated fat your body actually needs because it's natural. Two, going organic with your milk is a great idea, but it doesn't provide all the antioxidants of the orange juice because it's usually ultra-pasturized. This super high heat process destroys the natural enzymes and good bacteria that your body needs. Plus, the pasturization process actually changes the makeup of the caesin (milk protein) to such a state that it can be harmful to your body. So, go with the milk, but make it raw. That way you're actually getting the full benefits of all the milk has for you!