<p>There are claims that blending fruits and vegetables “zaps” their nutritional content by allowing the mixture to be put through a “high speed oxidation process” rendering the mixture to lack nutrition. By varying times you can limit how much oxidation has taken place by lessening the blending time and lowering the blending speed. However, I have not seen a significant study backing the claim of blending “zapping” 90%* of the nutritional content of the smoothie.</p>
<p>It really does vary. It varies on the machine, the time your fruit and vegetables have been sitting out, etc. But blending does not destroy all the nutrients from fruits and vegetables. If it did…why would they still be nutritious? </p>
<p>*A percentage of nutritional content that is claimed to be lost during blending </p>
<p>I would be skeptical of “oxidation zapping nutrients” claims. To me, the only relevant issues are:</p>
<p>1) fiber content</p>
<p>2) can/will you drink more of it faster than you would eat it</p>
<p>Personally, I love the crunch of fresh veggies, salads, etc. and Iove that I can eat large, filling portions. I don’t really understand the appeal of juicing. I’d rather just eat a big salad. About the only thing I use my blender for is Bobby Flay style vinaigrette salad dressing/sauces.</p>
<p>I hate the texture of most fruit and vegetables. I would rather drink juice. But I don’t, because I’m too lazy to make juice. So I just eat yucky things instead. :(</p>
<p>I heard an interview on NPR recently with Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist, who mentioned that juicing and smoothies do not provide the same benefits of eating the components whole, because the bulk fiber is destroyed. He said something to the effect that the fiber carries the nutrients to places in the intestine where nutrition may be drawn more effectively from the food. </p>
<p>OK, I just totaled up the Dirty Juice from the YouTube link above, assuming that it makes 80 ounces per recipe as claimed in the instructions from the blog.</p>
<p>For reference, 12 ounces of Coca-Cola has 140 calories and 36 grams (9 teaspoons) of sugar. 12 ounces of this juice has 120 calories and 24 grams (6 teaspoons) of sugar. Honestly, the only “health” claim you can make for this stuff is that it is “healthier” than Coca-Cola (although not by very much). Talk about damning with faint praise.</p>
<p>Honestly, this is just a vehicle for drinking sugar. There is nothing healthy about this VitaMix smoothie at all. The only saving grace is that 12 ounce of this stuff has 3 grams of fiber, which you would get if you just ate some vegetables.</p>
<p>This is a perfect example of how what “sounds” healthy and what we are led to believe is healthy is actually horrible from a nutrition standpoint, barely better than drinking a can of Coca-Cola. Who would have guessed?</p>
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<p>If you want to jazz up veggies so they taste really, really good, don’t douse them in sugar. Cook them with some butter or some olive oil. That way, there’s nothing nutritionally harmful. The butter is, worst case, neutral. The olive oil is actually net plus from the increase Omega 3s.</p>
<p>I cut up an apple into small bite size pieces, so it’s like eating a whole bag of candy for a late night snack. One of the benefits of weaning off sugar is that the taste buds recalibrate and something like an apple is insanely sweet.</p>
<p>16 grams (4 teaspoons) of sugar in an 8 ounce serving. Think about a cup of coffee with 4 teaspoons of sugar…</p>
<p>The American Heart Association recommends a max of 6 teaspoons of added sugar a day for women (9 teaspoons for men). I don’t think that’s the gospel truth (in reality, we all have an individual tolerance for chronic sugar consumption), but it’s a reasonable guideline. So an 8 ounce glass of this stuff would be more than half of the daily allotment. Now, start adding up the added sugar that is in every processed food you eat from catsup to bread.</p>
<p>Robert Lustig’s first rule for his pediatric obesity patients:</p>
<p>Stop Drinking Sugar</p>
<p>IMO, that is the best first rule of nutrition for everyone. It will improve your health more than any other dietary step you can take.</p>
<p>When I saw a nutritionist, she was very clear that blending was significantly healthier than juicing. Your body needs fiber for your digestive tract to work properly. Juicing and not eating the pulp removes that fiber. Blending retains the fiber. I have eaten a blended nonfat plain yogurt and frozen fruit (no juice added) smoothie daily for the last fifteen years. It’s a fast way to get a serving of dairy and two servings of fruit. </p>
<p>Blending may break down cell walls and expose the contents to oxidation, but so does chewing–if you drink the smoothie soon after your blend, that shouldn’t be a problem. It’s like eating an apple; if you wait too long, it turns brown (because of oxidative reactions)–but it does take a while.</p>
<p>As a diabetic, my blood sugars SOAR after I’ve had a smoothie. I think a lot of it has to do with what interestedad wrote in the first page: that it jolts the liver into action all at once and I can’t handle it. I have that same reaction when I eat candy, but not at all when I eat my fruits separately. In fact, if I want to eat something very filling that I know won’t mess up my blood sugars, I’m so much better off with an apple than with most anything else. </p>
<p>I suspect the other reason why a smoothie affects my chemistry is because I could easily overdo the amount of fruit I’m taking in. It’s very hard to cut back on adding lots of fruits (a little apple, a half a pear, some ice cubes, some yogurt, a couple of strawberries, etc.) Before you know it, it’s much more than a little snack.</p>
<p>I think it helps to make it a GREEN smoothie. I often make one with green veggies( celery, kale, baby romaine,
broccoli, watercress) , walnuts, yogurt, and just an apple, a carrot, or a few strawberries for sweetness. I think having it with some fat ( I use nuts), or maybe a scrambled egg, helps with nutrient absorption, and also helps keep the blood sugar spike from getting out of hand.
I like to make one in the morning because it helps me get the 9 servings of veggies that my doc wants me to eat. I still eat salads for lunch and dinner, but unless I “drink” them in the morning, it’s not happening.</p>
<p>And while I agree that the fruit-based smoothie on they youtube video has too much sugar for a meal- as much as a soda, it’s not really true that it’s the same nutritionally. There are a lot of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients in the whole food smoothie in the video that you won’t find in your can of coke. </p>
<p>That’s very good, moonchild. Those are the only green smoothies I know of. I don’t make fruit only smoothies. More vegetables that fruit. Generally, enough fruit to make it a little sweet (and it’s not 6 teaspoons of sugar…).</p>
<p>The only reason I can think of for having a smoothie over real fruits and vegetables is that it’s the only way you’d actually eat disgusting stuff like wheat grass.</p>