W9: Open Topic

As you may already know, for my editorial, I will be talking about juice and how it is not the all healthy beverage that society makes it out to be. After a bit of research, I discovered that 100% fruit juice, and even other unhealthier fruit juices with additives and lower concentrations of real fruit juice, are extremely high in fructose and calories. The calorie and fructose levels are so high in fruit juice and other juice drinks that they are greater than that of the levels in the average can of soda pop, even though juice is generally consumed in smaller amounts than is soda pop. To me, this is baffling.

 I was personally raised in a household where juice was always in the fridge and readily available to me. I enjoy juice just as much as any other person, but I, personally, found myself drinking more milk and water. At a young age, although I did not know nearly as much as I thought I did, the one thing I did know was that juice was good for you. I was sure of it. So, now, in light of all my recent research, I am shocked to discover that, without the vitamin C, the occasional glass of orange juice that I enjoy is no healthier, and maybe even unhealthier, than a can of Coke. I am glad that I decided to research this topic and am eager to put my new-found knowledge to good use by strictly limiting juice from my diet and replacing it with fresh fruits that do not contain nearly as much fructose and as many calories.

This makes me wonder what foods I am overlooking. What are the other foods that I believe to be healthy, yet really carry no real nutritional value. Off the top of my head, the only thing that comes to mind is cheese. Cheese provides a good sources of calcium, however, it is a very oily and fattening food. Cheese is also one of the more common items in the American diet, and like anything else, too much of one thing is a bad thing. Although cheese is a good source of calcium, there are other, healthier foods that contain calcium and are much healthier for you. Certain yogurts and milk are two things that pop into my mind right off the bat. I feel that if people can become more aware of the health benefits and nutritional value of the foods that they are faced with in their everyday lives, they will be able to make more informed and effective decisions in terms of what they eat and how they obtain their required daily value of nutrients.