Last Updated on November 9, 2023 by Fasting Planet
You love nothing more than to start your morning with a cold, refreshing glass of orange juice. The tart flavor wakes you right up, plus OJ goes so well with breakfast essentials like cereal, toast, and eggs. If you’re about to begin a fast, do you have to give up orange juice or can you keep sipping it?
Orange juice is a sugar, carb, and calorie bomb that will break your fast and cause an insulin response. In other words, your body will release glucose that is then used as your primary energy source instead of fat, impeding your fasting progress.
Ahead, we’ll discuss what’s in that glass of OJ, why it’s not the best beverage choice when fasting, and which drinks you can safely enjoy on a fast without the risk of an insulin response. You’re not going to want to miss it!
What’s the Nutrition in a Glass of Orange Juice?
Do you really know what’s in that glass of OJ? Allow us to tell you.
If you’re a Florida Orange Juice drinker, according to their website, an 8-fluid ounce serving of orange juice contains 120 calories. You’re also ingesting 2 grams of protein, 21 grams of sugar, 0.6 grams of dietary fiber, 28 grams of carbohydrates, and 0 grams of total fat.
Health-wise, that single serving nets you:
- 470 milligrams of potassium
- 61 micrograms of folate
- 15 milligrams of vitamin B6
- 8 milligrams of niacin
- 1 milligrams of riboflavin
- 2 milligrams of thiamin
- Up to 2.5 micrograms of vitamin D
- Up to 358 milligrams of calcium
- 104 milligrams of vitamin C
- 15 micrograms of vitamin A
Do you prefer Tropicana, especially their original no-pulp orange juice? Per the nutrition facts on their website, 8 fluid ounces contains 110 calories, 2 grams of protein, 22 grams of sugar, 26 grams of carbs, and 0 grams of total fat.
You also get:
- 25 milligrams of magnesium
- 60 micrograms of folate
- 1 micrograms of vitamin B6
- 6 milligrams of niacin
- 2 milligrams of thiamine
- 90 milligrams of vitamin C
- 450 micrograms of potassium
- 20 milligrams of calcium
That makes a glass of Tropicana a little less nutritious than the same serving of Florida Orange Juice.
Can You Drink Orange Juice While Fasting?
Orange juice is touted as a healthy beverage because it contains high levels of potassium, folate, vitamin C, and other micronutrients as well as antioxidants. By drinking OJ often, you may be able to ward off kidney stones and inflammation while increasing your heart health.
Yet just because a beverage is healthy to consume when in a non-fasted state doesn’t mean it’s always something you should enjoy while fasting. Why is that?
There are three areas of orange juice’s nutritional profile that should concern you as someone who fasts. The first is the high levels of sugar.
Unless you’re making it from scratch at home, then any store-bought OJ is going to have sugar. The average is 20 grams, but it can be higher. That’s a lot of sugar in a single glass.
What does sugar have in it? Glucose, a sugar source that keeps us energetic. While intermittent fasting, your goal is to burn through your body’s supply of glucose by reducing calories. This forces the body to burn fat instead, as you need to get your energy from somewhere.
When you ingest a sugary food or beverage during your fast, you can trigger what’s called an insulin response. This indicates to your pancreas that it’s time to send more glucose to the blood. Your body will take that glucose and use it for energy instead of fat. If you repeatedly drink OJ for the duration of your fast, you can keep causing this start-stop fat-burning progress.
Ultimately, causing your body to switch from burning glucose to fat, then glucose to fat, and glucose to fat yet again can impede your weight loss results.
The second issue with orange juice is that it’s high in carbohydrates. The average quantity of carbs for the two OJ brands we compared is 26 to 28 grams. Since glucose is sugar, it makes sense that you’d get a boost in glucose from consuming sugar, but carbs? Indeed, carbohydrates are a huge source of glucose.
Since you’re not only ingesting a good number of carbs when drinking orange juice on a fast, but sugar too, the combined effects will definitely result in a significant insulin response.
Thirdly, the calories in OJ are a bit concerning. How many calories it takes to break a fast is generally recognized as between 0 and 50 calories. Once you begin ingesting more calories than that, you’re again increasing your risk of an insulin response. Consuming 110 to 120 calories in one glass of OJ is too much when fasting. The only exception is if you’re intermittent fasting and allowed to ingest calories.
Which Beverage Should You Reach for on a Fast Instead?
Okay, so it’s best if you skip the orange juice for now, at least until your fast is over. What should you drink until then?
You can’t go wrong with water on a fast. Drinking water throughout the day promotes feelings of fullness and maintains your hydration, which is at risk of becoming dehydration considering you’re not getting hydration from food while fasting.
Try cutting up orange slices and letting them steep in the water overnight for a natural citrusy flavor that will make foregoing OJ a little more bearable.
If you’re tired of water and need a change, black coffee is allowable on most fasts, as is black tea and green tea.
Conclusion
Orange juice is a healthy beverage because it’s jam-packed full of antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins. However, the high sugar and carb content as well as the drink containing more than 100 calories per glass means you can’t drink it on a fast. If you do, you’ll create an insulin response that disrupts fat burning.
Water is always a safe beverage to drink while fasting since it contains no sugars, carbs, or calories. Best of luck on your fast!