[Closed] Smoothies. Good for you bad for you? Any top tips?

Orange juice is just a glass of sugar. Can you add an orange instead, with some water? At least that way you'll eat some of the goodness provided in the flesh.

Health-wise? A lot better than a fizzy drink and a little better than fruit juice. It's still mainly sugar and water though I suspect you know that already.

They don't have to be so sugary, for example [url= http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/drink/smoothie/green-smoothies/?page=0 ]Smoothies [/url]

As above, don't be mislead by thinking you are getting a healthy drink as they are full of sugar. Useful for making protein shakes up without lumps in them and I love frozen fruit smoothies in the summer to help cool down after a ride.

A really important point is how long you blitz anything for too.
Remember - the longer its being whizzed - the more air is being added to the mixture.
OK - the air gives it the texture BUT that air is then inside you.
Stomach spasms, cramps, wind, etc are all severe side effects from something that seems innocuous.

Doesn't have to be fruit - through in a hand full of frozen peas or spinich leafs etc.

Yeh as per my link above, you can use herbs and veggies and spices and seeds too.. Doesn't have to be a glass of sugar unless you want it to be!

Used to have quite often when I lived somewhere warm - blend up frozen banana and some milk, extra flavourings as required (green tea or cocoa powder were good). Haven't really felt the urge since moving to Yorkshire!

Are you saying don't eat fruit because its full of sugar.

I was told by a weight watcher that cos you are smashing the fruit to bits your guts digest the sugar easier. I.e your body didn't have to work as hard so it's a disproportionate amount compared to eating fruit normally.

You also lose the fibre content of the food by whizzing it up.

Add some oats. Make it a proper meal.

You din't lose that much Vicky - nowhere near as much as people believe.
Juicers are far worse as they remove everything - with a blender - its all still there so will keep you feeling full for far longer.
Beside - you don't have to blitz it into the consistency of milk....

If it's just berries, apples and oranges it will have about as much sugar as Coke, but a bit more fibre and vitamins. Still better than fruit juice, probably a bit worse than just eating the fruit. Will still have most of the fibre in, but without the mastication you won't feel as full. As above for healthyish meal replacements try and use mostly veg. Yoghurt will add some protein (alongside extra carbs). Oats will be lower GI than pure fruit.

So, depends what you put in it really.

Banana Kiwi Water thats all.

edit: just read some of the previous posts which are mostly blx

You can make Hulk Loads in them...

http://www.tightlightning.com/2015/04/23/joe-rogans-updated-hulk-loads-kale-shake-recipe/

We've just had words with Jnr about the one he got for Christmas. He's just used a punnet of strawberries (well he used about 4/5 of each strawberry) and about 200ml of single cream!

We have about 5 pints of skimmed in the fridge too.

Bottom line, eat all the fruit and veg you want. Blenders are better than juicers as you lose the fibre if you're juicing.

The sugar in fruit is nothing like the sugar in a mars bar so ignore the sugar Nazis.

Thus said, balance is the key. A bit of yoghurt with the berry smoother, some oats and a bit of protein powder makes a great smoothy primarily because of balance.

Like wise, balance the increase in fruit and veg with a more active lifestyle. All of your calories will be stored if you don't burn off more than you consume.

7 portions of fruit and veg a day. They have to be different portions too, not 4 punnets of strawberries!

If you mix in some super foods like kale or specialist seed mixes some benefits but as said above fruits contain lots of natural occurring sugars. Never did the smoothie route I just ate brown rice and steamed fish or chicken for meals when I used to train then got married...

Never did the smoothie route I just ate brown rice and steamed

Really well tbh gained my nutrients from supplements wanted my target weights for fights and the chosen career I was doing at the time.

As above got married and things change eat what I want now ride my bike and go gym when fussed. Hold a steady weight and no issues and no paranoia if I missed one of my 9 meals a day of if I'd left my proteins at work.

Turns stupid after a bit and you realise how tasty burgers and sweet potato fries really are.

But what's wrong with brown rice and chicken? Ammino acids allowing more protein to be absorbed by the body, fibre low in fat. Boring yes but to prep can't beat it.

So I've just read all of the above and I'm no further informed. May well try the oats route as that sounds like solid advice to start the day.

Hmmm.. this smoothie debate is interesting. The 'internet wisdom' says they are sugary and bad for you, BUT as always there's a little more to it imo.

A lot of ready made smoothie drinks, especially in the US, are indeed lots of juice with a bit of banana pulp thrown in. However some, like innocent and others, are actually only lightly mashed fruit with a little juice in. This is different as the fibre is still in there and it's not too smooshed up so it's not much different to simply having chewed it. Unless saliva enzymes do something beneficial to *reduce* GI which seems unlikely.

As we should all know there's lots of different kinds of sugar. Fructose from the fruit isn't treated the same way as normal sugar aka sucrose. This can be better or worse depending on who you talk to.
I still don't see the difference between lightly smooshing it in a machine then drinking it immediately and chewing it in your own mouth.

I think one of the issues is that eating takes longer and so you are likely to consume less sugar in a given timeframe. Juice/smoothies make it easier/quicker and so you are likely to consume more. (Juice also fills you up less due to the lack of fibre so you are likely to be hungrier sooner)

Of course, if you only ever juice/whizz as much as you'd eat, this problem goes away.

If I've got a busy day at work I make up veggie smoothies for breakfast and lunch. Base is spinach, kale and a carrot then just enough fruit to make it acceptable taste wise. A wee bit of porridge oats, seeds or whatever add a bit of texture.

True I could knock back a pint of innocent smoothie, but I'd struggle to eat the equivalent fruit in a sitting.

Savoury-ish smoothies are nice. I like red/yellow/green pepper, carrot, tomato, celery and orange/apple or a mixture thereof. It's nicer if you leave it a little on the chunky side too 😀

edit- I use a whole orange/apple with enough of the other stuff to make close to a pint of smoothie, drink half and have the other half later on. I'll have it for breakfast a couple of days a week instead of the usual toast or porridge with a bath of coffee.

I regularly make smoothies, as many have said the trick is not to use more fruit than would be healthy to eat in a day. An example, my usual smoothie is 1 small banana, a few table spoons of blueberries, 130ml of coconut water and some semi-skimmed milk to bulk it up. It still has a fair quantity of sugar but far less than a store bought smoothie where it's 100% fruit and bulked up with very sugary apple juice.

Only cheapo store bought smoothies are padded out with apple juice.

Got a nutri bullet and make a pint smoothie for work days, with kale, one banana, a chunk of carrot and forest fruits/blueberries. Making it smooth means you can chuck in the rooty bits you might not normally eat. I find it bizarre there are negatives to this, as I can't see any myself.

The veggie-based smoothies can taste a bit 'earthy' but if you get them right they're a nice alternative to the sweeter drinks. A wee bit of ginger or some wee bits of jalapeno in there can be a good addition too. I just use water as the base liquid for the smoothie, or 50/50 water/OJ if I want it sweeter.

I can very much recommend avoiding using raw sprouts as the 'leafy green' component though.

Just remember that sugar decays your teeth if you have it more than, say, four times a day. Sorry.

There's so much confusion about sugar in fruit but have a look at intrinsic and extrinsic sugars. From a dental point of view it's fine to eat an apple but not to drink apple juice.

Best done with no vegetable matter what so ever.
Unless its is fermented and maybe distilled.

I find a tasty healthy vegetable smoothie is called soup. Fibre/vitamins/protein if you want. partly broken down, good for digestion, doesn't damage too much vitamin C...really how much do you need?

Vegy smoothies taste like crap and are drunk by people kidding themselves on.