Think, Eat, Be Healthy

Fresh Orange Juice Is A Healthy Winter Treat

ripe florida orange on the tree

Nothing beats picking an orange and drinking the juice ten minutes later!

One of the real treats of living in Florida is being able to pick ripe, sweet oranges from trees in the yard and drink the juice minutes later. A few colder nights in the 40’s makes them even sweeter and mid-January is usually the perfect time to harvest before they start to fall to the ground. Using the zest to flavor a meal and keeping all of the pulp in the juice gives maximum nutrition from oranges to any healthy whole food diet.

Most people think of vitamin C first with oranges but this citrus fruit is much more complex. The fruit and peel are both bursting with anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory hydroxycinnamic acids, polyphenols, citrus flavanones and anthocyanins, all of which act together and reinforce the effects of vitamin C within the body. Animal studies have proven oranges’ ability to lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels. The high anti-oxidant activity also prevents oxidation of cholesterol, preventing damage to blood vessels.

freshly juiced oranges

For maximum nutrition and flavor, juice only the amount of oranges that you can drink immediately.

Studies at the University of Milan have shown that drinking orange juice has much more protective action than taking a vitamin C supplement. Drinking orange juice containg 150 milligrams of vitamin C reduced DNA damage almost 20% for up to 24 hours. Taking a 150 milligram vitamin C supplement showed no such protection. This is another example of the synergistic health effects of eating a healthy whole food diet compared to relying on supplements.

I really only drink orange juice during January and February when I can pick and juice the oranges as needed. The flavor is so wonderful that it is impossible to buy packaged orange juice at the store again. This also takes the most advantage of the fruit’s nutrients, as many of the health aiding compounds begin breaking down immediately on exposure to air. It is much better to juice two small batches than one large pitcher which will sit for hours or days before being used.

glasses of fresh orange juice

For those not lucky enough to live where this great fruit grows, the same rules still apply. Try to buy the freshest and ripest oranges you can find, or order them in season to be shipped to you(many companies in both Florida and California will do this for very reasonable prices). Then juice or eat the fruit as you go. You will not go back to buying orange juice in a carton or from the freezer and your body and taste buds will thank you.