Juice Your Veggies, Eat Your Fruit

Many times when trying to find a delicious juice recipe, you will come across a plethora of fruit based recipes.  A fruit based juice recipe is a no brainer since most fruits go well together and will create a delicious juice.  There is nothing wrong with drinking fruit based juices.  They are very yummy and from a nutritional standpoint, very healthy.  The problem is that they contain too much sugar.  It is very easy to drink a large amount of calories and sugars in a short amount of time with a predominantly fruit based juice.  This can be especially problematic if you are watching your weight, diabetic, or hypoglycemic.  A good juice recipe is one that contains mostly vegetables, with fruits added in small quantities for sweetness and health benefits.

Juice that is created using mostly vegetables is surprisingly sweet on its own.  It’s strange, but after juicing, the true sweetness of the veggies is revealed.  Even though these vegetable based juice recipes are sweet tasting, they are actually very low in calories.  Based on an average serving, here are the calories found in some common vegetables.  I put them in order of lowest calories to highest. 

Spinach (1 cup) 7 calories

Green Onion (1/4 cup) 10 calories

Celery (2 medium stalks) 15 calories

Summer Squash (1/2 medium) 20 calories

Asparagus (5 spears) 20 calories

Green Beans (3/4 cup) 20 calories

Bell Pepper (1 medium) 25 calories

Cauliflower (1/6 medium) 25 calories

Cabbage (1/12 head) 25 calories

Carrot (1, 7 inch) 30 calories

Kale (1 cup) 35 calories

Onion (1 medium) 45 calories

Broccoli (1 medium stalk) 45 calories

Now, in comparison, check out the calories in some of these common fruits.

Pineapple (2 slices, 3”x3/4”) 50 calories

Strawberries (8 medium) 50 calories

Tangerine (1 medium) 50 calories

Honeydew Melon (1/10 medium) 50 calories

Grapefruit (1/2 medium) 60 calories

Nectarine (1 medium) 60 calories

Peach (1 medium) 60 calories

Plums (2 medium) 70 calories

Orange (1 medium) 80 calories

Watermelon (2 cups) 80 calories

Grapes (3/4 cup) 90 calories

Kiwifruit (2 medium) 90 calories

Pear (1 medium) 100 calories

Sweet Cherries (21 medium) 100 calories

Banana (1 medium) 110 calories

Apple (1 medium) 130 calories      *Usually, I recommend using an apple to sweeten a mostly vegetable juice recipe.  They are a little higher on the calories, but they are a very neutral flavor.  You might want to try an alternative fruit if you want lower calories. 

As you can see by the calories in fruit, it could be very easy to consume a large amount of calories in just one little juice.  If you use too many fruits in your juice recipe, even though it will be healthy, it will be very high in sugar and calories. You are better off eating your fruit.  This will allow you to enjoy the fruits and get the fiber that they contain.  You won’t be as likely to consume a high amount of calories from the fruit if you eat it.  In comparison with eating high amounts of raw vegetables, it is much easier to eat fruit.  Juicing is a good way to get the nutritional benefits of raw vegetables. I would suggest eating fruits instead of juicing them to avoid over consumption of calories and sugars.  The next time you create a good juice, look to add more vegetables than fruit.  An 80/20 ratio of vegetables to fruit would be a good balance in any juice recipe.