Are fruit and vegetable juices Core Foods?
When it comes to energy density and weight loss, research has made an interesting discovery: Foods that are consumed as a beverage (with the exception of milk) are not perceived by the body as food and essentially bypass the body's systems that recognise eating satisfaction (i.e. the Comfort Zone in the Core Plan). Therefore, juices or any kind of calorie-containing beverages (except non-fat milk) are not Core Foods. But you can still enjoy them on the Core Plan as part of your weekly POINTS Allowance
from WW:
Fresh fruit gets two thumbs up but juice is not on the list. Is there really a difference between them? Absolutely! A medium orange contains about 60 calories and 3 grams of gut-filling fiber. An 8-ounce cup of fresh squeezed juice has twice as many calories and only a sixth of the amount of fiber. Plus, you can down a cup of juice in mere seconds. It takes a while for your brain to receive signals that it's been fed, so chewing instead of chugging really is a wise slim-down strategy.
Dried fruit is not on the list either. A cup of dried apples contains about 210 calories – nearly 3 times the calories in a cup of fresh chopped apple. The dried apples are a highly concentrated source of sugar and that means a super calorie boost. A comparison of raisins versus grapes is even more shocking: One hundred grams of seedless grapes contains just 70 calories. The same amount of raisins has almost 300.