Post 3: "Real" food vs. "fake" food

Orange juice is a healthful drink full of nutrients and health benefits. Whenever I would go to my grandparent’s house for breakfast, they would always squeeze fresh oranges for orange juice. I would love going to my grandparents house simply because I love how the fresh-squeezed orange juice tastes. Now that I am away at school, working full time all summer long, and doing many activities, I rarely get a chance to go to my grandparents house and get fresh-squeezed orange juice. Although I am enjoying school, my job, and everything else I do, I truly miss enjoying a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice that tastes so fresh and rejuvenating. Lately I have started drinking bottled orange juice. This is usually from concentrates filled with sugars and preservatives to make sure the taste is the same after a few weeks on the shelf. I know that the bottled orange juice is not nearly as nutritious for my body as fresh-squeezed orange juice, but I still enjoy drinking it because I like the taste.

Real orange juice can easily be differentiated from bottled orange juice. Fresh-squeezed orange juice smells like what it came from - oranges. The “fake” orange juice is still orange juice, but it has many other additives that give the color of a lighter orange, where real orange juice is strictly a vibrant orange. The label on the bottled juice says a bunch of stuff that really makes me question what is in the orange juice. If it was really orange juice, none of the marketing slogans would have to be on the bottle; people should know that orange is healthy for them, and the bottle doesn’t need to reiterate that fact.

Michael Pollan writes about exactly this point in his controversial book, “In Defense of Food.” Pollan says to eat healthier, don’t buy items that have slogans on the box, bottle, or whatever packaging the item comes in because it most likely means that the item has nutrients and other stuff added to it that are not at all healthy for you. Fruitpages.com says that the bottled juices are heated, or pasteurized, which also kills special nutrients. This is exactly why Pollan says stay away from pre-made drinks and foods. Eat fresh food and you will be as healthy as can be.