What's in fruit juice?

Aside from vitamin C and calcium, fruit juice contains:

• Calories - 250ml glass of unsweetened orange juice typically contains around 100 calories, compared to the 60 calories in an actual orange
• Fructose (a form of sugar) - half a pint of fruit juice contains more sugar than the World Health Organisation recommends ideally having in a day (30g of sugar for men, 24g for women)
• A lack of fibre - juice always contains less fibre than whole fruit and highly processed juices may not contain any fiber

Is fruit juice all bad for people with diabetes?

Fruit juice has some benefits for people with diabetes. Despite the high sugar content, it is a good source of nutrients such as vitamin C.


A recent study on sugary drink consumption and premature cell aging discovered a link between fruit juice and longer telomeres. Telomeres are protective DNA on the end of cell chromosomes.
Longer telomeres are often associated with longer cell lifespan, whereas short telomeres have been linked to insulin resistance and diabetes.


The relatively high GI and high sugar content of fruit juice makes it useful for raising blood sugar levels, in case of hyperglycemia.

Interesting obesity facts

• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese
• In 2008, over 40 million preschool children were overweight worldwide
• Latest findings from the NHS suggest that more than 1 in 4 (26%) of adults in the UK are obese (has a BMI of 30 or more).
• The UK is the fattest country in western Europe and second fattest in the whole of Europe, with only Hungary having a larger obese population.
• Glasgow is officially the UK's most overweight city
• Studies into obesity prevention have shown that giving up watching television for a week reduces a child's waist size by an average 2.3cm (just under 1 inch)  

Preventing obesity

The links between obesity and type 2 diabetes are firmly established - without the intervention of a healthy diet and appropriate exercise, obesity can lead to type 2 diabetes over a relatively short period of time.

The good news is that reducing your body weight, by even a small amount, can help improve your body's insulin sensitivity and lower your risk of developing cardiovascular and metabolic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and types of cancer.
According to the NHS, a 5% reduction in body weight followed up by regular moderate intensity exercise could reduce your type 2 diabetes risk by more than 50%.

Does drinking fruit juice increase the risk of diabetes?

A study  suggested that drinking three portions of fruit juice a week was associated with an eight per cent increase in diabetes risk. 

Conversely, eating blueberries, grapes, apples and pears reduces the risk. The researchers found that replacing fruit juices with three helpings of certain whole fruits a week would lower the risk by seven per cent.
Some whole fruits reduced the risk more than others. For grapefruits and bananas, there was a five per cent decrease, whereas blueberries reduced the risk by 26 per cent.

Meditation posture

When we practise meditation we need to have a comfortable seat and a good posture. The most important feature of the posture is to keep our back straight. To help us do this, if we are sitting on a cushion we make sure that the back of the cushion is slightly higher than the front, inclining our pelvis slightly forward. It is not necessary at first to sit cross-legged, but it is a good idea to become accustomed to sitting in the posture of Buddha Vairochana. If we cannot hold this posture we should sit in one which is as close to this as possible while remaining comfortable.

The seven features of Vairochana’s posture are:

1. The legs are crossed in the vajra posture. This helps to reduce thoughts and feelings of desirous attachment.
2. The right hand is placed in the left hand, palms upwards, with the tips of the thumbs slightly raised and gently touching. The hands are held about four fingers’ width below the navel. This helps us to develop good concentration. The right hand symbolizes method and the left hand symbolizes wisdom – the two together symbolize the union of method and wisdom. The two thumbs at the level of the navel symbolize the blazing of inner fire.
3. The back is straight but not tense. This helps us to develop and maintain a clear mind, and it allows the subtle energy winds to flow freely.
4. The lips and teeth are held as usual, but the tongue touches against the back of the upper teeth. This prevents excessive salivation while also preventing our mouth from becoming too dry.
5. The head is tipped a little forward with the chin slightly tucked in so that the eyes are cast down. This helps prevent mental excitement.
6. The eyes are neither wide open nor completely closed, but remain half open and gaze down along the line of the nose. If the eyes are wide open we are likely to develop mental excitement and if they are closed we are likely to develop mental sinking.
7. The shoulders are level and the elbows are held slightly away from the sides to let air circulate.
   If we want to colour our mind with a virtuous motivation we need to clear away all our negative thoughts and distractions.
   A further feature of Vairochana’s posture is the preliminary breathing meditation, which prepares our mind for developing a good motivation. When we sit down to meditate our mind is usually full of disturbing thoughts, and we cannot immediately convert such a state of mind into the virtuous one we need as our motivation. A negative, disturbed state of mind is like pitch-black cloth. We cannot dye pitch-black cloth any other colour unless we first remove all the black dye and make the cloth white again. In the same way, if we want to colour our mind with a virtuous motivation we need to clear away all our negative thoughts and distractions. We can accomplish this temporarily by practising breathing meditation.

Breathing Meditation

When we have settled down comfortably on our meditation seat we begin by becoming aware of the thoughts and distractions that are arising in our mind. Then we gently turn our attention to our breath, letting its rhythm remain normal. As we breathe out we imagine that we are breathing away all disturbing thoughts and distractions in the form of black smoke that vanishes in space. As we breathe in we imagine that we are breathing in all the blessings and inspiration of the holy beings in the form of white light that enters our body and absorbs into our heart. We maintain this visualization single-pointedly with each inhalation and exhalation for twenty-one rounds, or until our mind has become peaceful and alert. If we concentrate on our breathing in this way, negative thoughts and distractions will temporarily disappear because we cannot concentrate on more than one object at a time. At the conclusion of our breathing meditation we should think `Now I have received the blessings and inspiration of all the holy beings.’ At this stage our mind is like a clean white cloth which we can now colour with a virtuous motivation such as compassion or bodhichitta.

Breathing meditations

Generally, the purpose of breathing meditation is to calm the mind and develop inner peace. We can use breathing meditations alone or as a preliminary practice to reduce our distractions before engaging in a Lamrim meditation

A Simple Breathing Meditation

The first stage of meditation is to stop distractions and make our mind clearer and more lucid. This can be accomplished by practising a simple breathing meditation. We choose a quiet place to meditate and sit in a comfortable position. We can sit in the traditional cross-legged posture or in any other position that is comfortable. If we wish, we can sit in a chair. The most important thing is to keep our back straight to prevent our mind from becoming sluggish or sleepy.

The first stage of meditation is to stop distractions and make our mind clearer and more lucid.

We sit with our eyes partially closed and turn our attention to our breathing. We breathe naturally, preferably through the nostrils, without attempting to control our breath, and we try to become aware of the sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. This sensation is our object of meditation. We should try to concentrate on it to the exclusion of everything else.

At first, our mind will be very busy, and we might even feel that the meditation is making our mind busier; but in reality we are just becoming more aware of how busy our mind actually is. There will be a great temptation to follow the different thoughts as they arise, but we should resist this and remain focused single-pointedly on the sensation of the breath. If we discover that our mind has wandered and is following our thoughts, we should immediately return it to the breath. We should repeat this as many times as necessary until the mind settles on the breath.