Eating fruit v drinking smoothies

candy_pants

Hello there,

I am trying to eat right and get healthy and one of the things I know I need to do is increase my fruit and veg intake. However I find eating fruit to be quite hard work in itself so I have been drinking about 250ml (sometimes more) of Innocent smoothies instead which is approx 2 portions of fruit and 143 calories per 250ml serving. My thinking is that drinking smoothies if far better than not eating any fruit at all (which was the case before) but is there much more benefit to eating fruit instead of drinking it in smoothie form? Am I missing out on much nutritionally?

Thanks

waraf

As far as I know fruit loses its nutritional value quickly so unless you're making the smoothies yourself from fresh fruit and drinking them immediately you are losing out on a significant amount of the nutritional value of the fruit.

edit: plus, those innocent smoothies are a savage price. You could pick up a smoothie maker in power city for buttons and make the smoothies yourself. There are loads of great recipes online (some great ones for hangovers too!!)

Stark

Fresh fruit is much better for fibre.

candy_pants

Hmmm I thought that might be the case alright.

Although I remember from Home Ec in school that fruit and veg loses most of its value when heat is applied so assuming there isn't heat involved in the process then maybe Innocent Smoothies aren't so bad? Or wishful thinking perhaps....

I think I'll carry on with the smoothies for now because as I said before my fruit intake was virtually zero so this has to be better?

Thanks for your reply also.

EileenG

Sorry, it's wishful thinking. By the time fruit has been turned into a smoothie, often pasteurised so it will keep, it has lost all its fibre and most of its nutrition. What you've got is a high sugar drink that is pretty much on a par with Ribena.

Not all fruit is hard to eat. Strawberries are just coming into season, and they are an excellent nutricious fruit.

If it comes to a choice, then veg is better than fruit (lower calorie too). And most veg keeps the bulk of its nutrition when it is cooked. Why not make a big pot of vegetable soup and snack on that?

cozmik

candy_pants wrote: »

I find eating fruit to be quite hard work

huh?

g'em

cozmik wrote: »

candy_pants wrote:

I find eating fruit to be quite hard work

huh?

lol that's what I thought! Left to my own devices I could eat my own bodyweight in fruit every day

candy_pants

g'em wrote: »

lol that's what I thought! Left to my own devices I could eat my own bodyweight in fruit every day

I do love strawberries and blueberries and things but maybe its from being force fed apples and bananas as a child that I feel that way!

rubadub

candy_pants wrote: »

However I find eating fruit to be quite hard work in itself

I would agree in a way, not that it is hard but you will tend to eat less. e.g. I could drink 1L of apple juice, which is 1 kilo, in about 2mins, NO WAY I could eat a kilo of apples in that time! That is part of the reason I prefer eating fruit, it slows me down. Also it tastes far better, the zing of a proper granny smith or fresh pineapple is way better than fruit juice or smoothies.

*Honey*

Another point worth mentioning is the fact that most fresh fruit is low GI (fills you up for longer) but when blitzed into a smoothie, it's almost pre digested which vastly increases the GI of the food which means it's very easily digested and you can get hungrier faster.

If you don't like apples and bananas, choose other fruit - pineapples and fresh mangoes for instance, all the berries are so so good for you.

I'd also say if you're trying to lose weight have far more veg than fruit in your 5 a day (better still 7 a day), you'll eat far less sugar that way.

rubadub

*Honey* wrote: »

I'd also say if you're trying to lose weight have far more veg than fruit in your 5 a day (better still 7 a day), you'll eat far less sugar that way.

Yes, esp. bananas which are ~22% sugar and high GI, compared to apples oranges and many other fruits which are 10-12% sugar and lower GI.

*Honey*

Melon is also high GI due to the amount of natural sugars in it - you can balance that against the amount of water in it though. Pineapple is medium GI if I remember correctly as are mango, figs, raisins and papaya.

Apples, plums, pears, cherries, peaches and all the berries are all low GI fruits - also eat the more highly coloured ones too as they have additional antioxidant benefits.