Some people out there in internet land say that making smoothies is utterly pointless because it destroys up to 90% of the nutrients in the food.
Is this true?? Well… I, for one, don’t believe it is. Watch the video to find out why!
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKfg_QEOA0I
9 Responses
tracy, i did it- my first green smoothie post ever. thanks again for being an inspiration 🙂 i read your blog religiously now. and i’m no longer afraid of blending! 🙂
Awesome!! I got sent an email telling me you linked to my article so I checked out your blog post! How did your recipe taste?
I honestly think that it’s not likely ANY of the nutrients are destroyed by blending even if you wanted to destroy them. Blending doesn’t destroy stuff on a microscopic scale. The molecules are too small to be affected in any substantial way by blending in my opinion. Supposedly blending just breaks apart cellulose to release the liquid stuff inside that contains all the plant pigments, vitamins, minerals, etc.
I don’t remember where but I saw some sort of vegetable powder that is made by “bursting” open the cellulose.
I’d be more worried with microwaving and heating vegetables because that can definitely destroy vitamins and the various antioxidants (minerals not so much I think.)
I definitely think you have all made some good points and I don’t want to confuse everyone BUT man/woman is the only creature on earth that destroys its food before eating. When I am stuck I try to compare us to a vitamin. If something spun around and hit you at 10,000 times a second you would be very very bruised and damaged and the simple contact with metal can oxidise and denature vitamins. Hit an apple until it bruises and turns mushy and brown its not as appertising. Also teeth were designed to chew and digestion starts in the mouth,NEW enzymes are activated in the mouth by chewing, and lastly our bodies have got use to fibre being larger from chewing than blending which breaks it down to nothing, the bowel relies on fibre to clean itself. However being this extreme can take the enjoyment our of food, trust me, sometime ignorance is bliss. I learnt early on that some proteins are so delicate that blendind will denature them, as in eggs and whey
It came out pretty good; I’m dying to add bananas, but I’m going to try hard to stick with lemon and berries for a while! i’m sure the taste would be better if i get some unsweetened coconut like you had originally mentioned.
haha to be honest, I don’t really know how much flavour the coconut adds :/
Also, I broke down and started adding half a piece of fruit to the smoothies to sweeten it. Totally fruitless wasn’t so bad for a while…but….I got sick of it. Although if you are using berries, that can’t taste so bad! It should sweeten it up enough right? Raspberries are my favourite yum
Great video and energy, just wanted to add my two cents: I have been adding blended greens into my diet for about a week now, (one smoothie a day) and almost stopped when I heard that it may destroy nutrients. Then I read some more… Oxidation CAN happen when the flesh is exposed to the air, but it will NOT oxidize if placed in water or dipped in lemon juice. So I simply use water and a little lemon or lemon peel (a little goes a long way) in my smoothies, so as soon as the veggies are ‘exposed to air’ they are immediately coated in water and lemon juice. And don’t blend it to the point where it is all liquid, just blend it enough to drink it. (So it doesnt get warm and it makes you digest it) I actually chew mine a few times before swallowing it, to make sure it is coated in saliva for aid in digestion. Of course I have no idea if any of this has any effect on the smoothie. All I can say is TRY ONE! The way you feel afterwards will make you laugh at any of the negative comments trying to downplay this awesome addition to your diet.
researching this topic, all I hear is “I think”. Is there any research on the subject? I just watched a 5 minute video that told me absolutely nothing.
Probably not. Eat smoothies if you like them, don’t eat them if you don’t like them. Don’t worry about this and go enjoy your life. You can waste a lot of your life worrying about nutritional details like this one. I know I’ve wasted lots of mine!