A duel at the top between the two breakfast stars. Were you used to accompanying your morning OKR routine with a fruit juice or a smoothie? These two refreshments, while thirst-quenching, aren't always ideal for recharging your batteries.
Fruit juices are a timeless breakfast staple. But for the past few years, our Instagram feeds have been selling us the benefits of smoothies.
The question everyone is asking is: which one should you choose to start your day off right?
100% pure fruit juice (let's not talk about juice from concentrate, we're serious people) is obtained by simply pressing the fruit. It's therefore the juice that most closely resembles homemade juice. The fruit undergoes virtually no processing, no added sugars, and no additives.
However, whether 100% pure or freshly squeezed, fruit juices contain a lot of sugar and little fiber. A 200 ml serving of juice contains twice the calories and sugar of an orange and four times less fiber. When it comes to sugar, juices have little to envy sodas.
The healthiest smoothie?
If you look closely, a smoothie is a blended fruit puree, water, and milk or yogurt with sugar. Depending on the brand, preservatives, colorings, and additives are also added. In other words, at first glance, a glass of industrial smoothie is much less healthy than a glass of 100% pure fruit juice.
However, most fruit juices do not contain pulp, and fiber, which slows sugar absorption, is also eliminated. Conversely, in smoothies, the fiber concentration is higher when the fruit is simply blended.
In reality, if consumed in reasonable quantities and made at home, smoothies aren't much worse for the body than juices. However, they're not the best way to do it good.
What consumption should we adopt?
Public Health France reminds us that fruit juices (pressed or not) should be limited to one glass per day (200 ml) due to their high sugar content and low fiber content compared to whole fruit. Smoothies should be consumed occasionally.
Also, fruit that takes longer to eat (than to drink) is more likely to fill us up. It's worth remembering once again that the best way to consume fruit is to eat it fresh and raw, accompanied by a large glass of water.
