A. Eat Fruit. Juicing was the rage in the past and has made a come back. Juicing, 100% fruit juice, no matter how you slice it, (get it... fruit... slice it... I made a joke!) although it may be all natural with no additives or preservatives, is not the better choice. If I had a dime for every time I had someone tell me they don't eat fruit because it has sugar, I'd be able to retire! Fruit is not evil people! Read on...
Fruit juice is far more convenient than eating whole fruit, especially fruit that has to be peeled. However, juicing and all natural fruit juice lose a number of it's natural compounds, antioxidants and most importantly, it's fiber. Liquid assimilates into the digestive system and blood stream quickly. When fruit is processed into juice, most all of the fiber is removed. Fiber is important to our overall health for many reasons. When it comes to fruit and juice, fiber is slows the digestive process which slows the digestion of the natural sugar (fructose) keeping it's glycemic index low. Remove the fiber and you have increased the rate at which fructose is absorbed causing an insulin spike. This is not good for those looking to lose body fat! Whole fruit containing fiber will also fill you up more than liquid. This may help prevent consuming more calories and increasing your waistline. Fruit juice, even all natural, is generally NOT a low calorie beverage.
When you grab a bottle of commercial "100% fruit juice", such as Tropicana or minute maid, you have also grabbed a product that is denatured and processed. During the processing of the fruit, the natural juices are stored in large vat or container when processed in season. Oxygen is removed to prevent the fruit juice from spoiling thus preserving the juice and profit to the company. The flavour is also altered during the processing so the company may add flavouring and fortify the juice with vitamins and minerals lost during processing. You have just denatured the "natural juice". But I juice my fruit seconds before I drink it with my juicer or "Ninja" blender you may say. Ok, but you have still removed the pulp and other important vitamins and minerals during the juicing process. Also, when the blades are spinning on your juicing machine or blender, they cause friction and thus heat. This will heat up the fruit and denature the compounds as well.
If you're concerned about the sugar content in the form of fructose found in your fruits, I have included a Glycemic Load chart which lists fruit from lowest to highest glycemic load. Another thing to keep in mind, the more ripe the fruit, the higher the fructose content will be. Have you noticed the more ripe a banana or strawberry is, the sweeter - yet less ripe fruit is bitter? Yup... more natural sugars are released.
Glycemic Load of Fruit
A Glycemic Load below 11 is considered low.
A Glycemic Load of 11-19 is considered moderate.
A Glycemic Load of 20 or above is considered high.
Fruit Glycemic Load Serving Size (grams)
Lime 1 120g
Strawberry 1 120g
Apricot 3 120g
Grapefruit 3 120g
Lemon 3 120g
Canteloupe 4 120g
Guava 4 120g
Nectarines 4 120g
Oranges 4 120g
Pear 4 120g
Watermelon 4 120g
Blueberries 5 120g
Peach 5 120g
Plum 5 120g
Apple 6 120g
Pineapple 6 120g
Kiwi 7 120g
Mango 8 120g
Cherries 9 120g
Prunes 10 60g
Banana 11 120g
Grapes 11 120g
Figs 16 60g
Dates 18 60g
Raisins 28 60g
*Chart from http://adrenalfatiguesolution.com/fruits-lowest-glycemic-load/