to think smoothies are a bit pointless?

[AllMimsyWereTheBorogoves]

Inspired by goady thread which has just been deleted, but picking up on one point that's always puzzled me:

I don't understand why people have smoothies instead of eating fruit and vegetables in something more like their natural form.

Don't our jaws and teeth need the exercise, chomping away?

Does it affect the amount of fibre you're getting if you blitz fruit and veg to pulp before eating it? We need that fibre going through the gut to keep things moving at a brisk pace and to carry off all sorts of nasty stuff with it.

And surely it must be awfully easy to swallow a huge amount of fructose from the fruit and the sweeter vegetables (eg parsnip, carrot) if it's all in liquid form? Fructose is just sugar, you know. Sugar + acid (lots of that in fruit too) = disaster for the teeth.

Am I missing something?

I have one every day. 2 green veg, berries, banana and protein powder whizzed up in nutribullet with ice cold water.

Is yummy and full of fibre and vitamins.

I don't get your issue. You don't like them, don't drink them but people who do obviously don't give hoot about your opinion.

lady, you can't seriously believe that.

Okay, you obviously do, but have you read the thread and seen what people put in their smoothies? How is that remotely similar to the ingredients in a can of Fanta?

I think the problem is that people presume that the sugars from smoothies are'good' when the body metabolisis them in just the same way as refined sugar. Smoothies should be predominantly veggie to have much benefit, as otherwise your chogging back loads of sugar and usually get hungry pretty soon after drinking it, due to spike in blood sugar and subsequent drop.

I think it was suggested somewhere if you wanted smoothies to eat fruit and blend veg.

I made myself an enormous beetroot and apple smoothie, forgot I'd had it then later did a mighty poo and thought I'd had a massive internal bleed, another reason to avoid juices/smoothies.

I think that the general lack of basic nutrition knowledge, especially around sugar(s) is so apparent when you are talking about things such as smoothies. People just don't understand that the problem isn't that, as a nation we are consuming too much natural or intrinsic sugar, its that we are having to much 'added sugar'. Added sugar has no nutritional benefit whereas fruit obviously has.

I have both fruit smoothies & vegetable juices made at home. I hate vegetables & the smoothies are a convenient filling drink at work in the mornings. The sugar isn't an issue as I'm losing around 1-2lb a week drinking a concoction of the two alongside regular meals bonus! Cut out cakes/sweets & a lot of other junk I would have snacked on before I started blitzing up fruit/veg.

HairyMonkey - the colour of your "mighty poo" was most probably down to the beetroot!

I had a similar fright years ago when I gave our rabbits some beetroot for the first time - their urine was bright red. I initially thought one of them was seriously ill and bleeding. Silly me!

Also, if you add oats or seeds to your smoothie, as already previously mentioned, then it will fill you up for longer.
It can be a meal in a cup

I think that the general lack of basic nutrition knowledge, especially around sugar(s) is so apparent when you are talking about things such as smoothies. People just don't understand that the problem isn't that, as a nation we are consuming too much natural or intrinsic sugar, its that we are having to much 'added sugar'. Added sugar has no nutritional benefit whereas fruit obviously has.

But juicing and smoothie making causes intrinsic sugars to become extrinsic hence why they are bad for the teeth. As a dentist I think smoothies and juices are terrible

After I regained consciousness, I realised it was beetroot, not a couple of pints of claret. Still, a lesson I reckon in avoiding juices.

Smoothies help keep my Crohn's under control for some reason, so I have about 500ml per day. I really should make my own, but last time I tried I couldn't get it blended. Kitchen tech fail... So cartons it is. :-)

Yes Armani the teeth issue is clearly still there whether its a coke or a smoothie I understand that.

But people suggesting that a smoothie is 'as bad' nutritionally as a coke/fanta is just silly

Smoothies and juices are far nutritionally inferior to whole fruit and veg for a few reasons

• fibre is broken down so you're not getting thr benefit
• moves through the body more quickly so you don't absorb as many vitamins
• eat relatively more (particularly in juices) than you would eat of whole fruit in one go, hence high sugar content. For example, you probably wouldn't sit and eat 6 or 8 oranges in one go, but a glass of juice has the juice of that many oranges in.

Lol at the dental argument....... Smoothie/juice containers come with a STRAW!!!

The vitamins are absorbed instantly.... Straight in, fresh!

Juicing barely touches on oranges

Most of the jason vale juices are veg based.... Fruit isn't used a lot and have only used oranges twice in 18 months of weekly juicing

I use mainly limes/lemons/ginger/spinach/kale/celery/cucumber/carrots/apple/courgette/beetroot/spirulina.... Could you sit and eat a plate of lemons laced with spirulina and fresh ginger?

Lol at the dental argument....... Smoothie/juice containers come with a STRAW!!!

Yeah lol at the massive rise in caries in children. Extracting teeth on 3 year olds is fucking hilarious

One the odd occasion I've bought a smoothie it's been in a bottle with nary a straw in sight.

Sympathies, NoArmani. That takes me back to my childhood in the 60s, before fluoride toothpaste and fluoride in the water.

Ahh so it's all the fault of smoothies which aren't even aimed at kids???

Plenty of people on this thread seem to prefer/are fans of,Coke' and 'fanta' so maybe it's their kids that are the ones with , I presume you mean, cavities??

Why would anyone buy a smoothie? They aren't the real deal....

There are lots of possible reasons for children getting tooth decay. Spinach smoothies aren't likely to be amongst them, but lots of fruit juice, squash and other kinds of sugary drinks, especially with lots of acid in them, would do the trick, especially if drunk from a baby bottle through a teat. There are plenty of kids who do get fruit juice from a very early age.

Dentists say that 12% of children have decay by the age of three.

Sympathies, NoArmani. That takes me back to my childhood in the 60s, before fluoride toothpaste and fluoride in the water.

We are sadly going back to that time and fruit juices and smoothies are a big part of the problem. The trouble is parents give them to children believing they are healthy and then get a shock when their teeth decay.

Soulsister: apologies for using a dental term. Caries is decay

I always start the day with a 'Green Super Smoothie' they are a great way of adding your RDA of vitamins to your diet.

I add coconut oil, spirulina, bee pollen, raw cacao, maca powder and chia seeds to my smoothies. I would never consume any of those in everyday life.

You should never have those smoothies you buy in your supermarket. Always make your own.

Bee pollen??? Seriously? Never heard of that.... Off to google

I have IBD. As and when it flares up, I can't eat certain fruit and veg in their natural form without making my symptoms worse.

Smoothies are a really easy way to ensure I maintain a nutritious diet.

I do try to ensure I have veg, good fats etc. in my smoothies though so they're reasonably nutritionally balanced (and sometimes add protein).

I have a nutribullet and make my own smoothies - I have them as meals at work as I find it a quick and easy way of getting the right nutrition from fresh ingredients.

My favourite contains mainly spinach, pak choi and cucumber, a good chunk of ginger, a scoop of mixed seeds and nuts (I have sunflower, pumpkin, hemp and linseeds with pine nuts at the moment) topped up to the max line in the big cup with milk, plus a good dollop of greek yoghurt on top and a bit of honey.

I then divide it between the two smaller cups and add some berries - for example 3 or 4 strawberries in each and a small handful of blueberries, then give it a whizz again. I get a decent filling and tasty meal out of each small cup!

I DO hate bananas in smoothies though, they just make everything taste of banana. I eat them separately though.