smoothies for breakfast?

Casey_81

Hi,

I commute to work, and so get up really early to take a train there. Rather than grab a coffee and slice of toast on the way out the door was wondering if smoothies would be a better option.

I usually make the smoothies with a small glass of orange juice and some frozen berries and 2 tablespoons of low fat bio yogurt and a handful of porridge oats.

Would it be more beneficial to just eat the fruit with yogurt & oats?

Thanks

El_Dangeroso

Yeah, it would. Though the whole breakfast seems a little bereft of protein. Eat a boiled egg or something, it'll help keep you full until lunch.

jam_mac_jam

Smoothies are a treat like a biscuit, not a breakfast. They dont fill you up and they are full of sugar, you are much better eating your calories as chewable food. Have the oats and fruit or yogurt and fruit, ,much better choice.

sillysasauge

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

Smoothies are a treat like a biscuit, not a breakfast. They dont fill you up and they are full of sugar, you are much better eating your calories as chewable food. Have the oats and fruit or yogurt and fruit, ,much better choice.

They are not like a biscuit at all, true they are high in calories and sugar, but the sugar is in the form of fructose which is natural and more slowly absorbed than refined sugar. Plus the huge amount of vitamins and minerals you are getting.

The added oats will add protein and help slow down the absorption of the fruit from the sugar into your bloodstream , giving you more energy for longer. I would add a good few spoons of it if you are going to have it for breakfast, you could also add in some nuts for more protein.

jam_mac_jam

sillysasauge wrote: »

They are not like a biscuit at all, true they are high in calories and sugar, but the sugar is in the form of fructose which is natural and more slowly absorbed than refined sugar. Plus the huge amount of vitamins and minerals you are getting.

The added oats will add protein and help slow down the absorption of the fruit from the sugar into your bloodstream , giving you more energy for longer. I would add a good few spoons of it if you are going to have it for breakfast, you could also add in some nuts for more protein.

I dont care what you call the sugar or it takes a little bit longer to get into your system you are better eating the whole fruit , smoothies with orange juice are a treat not a daily breakfast, you will be starving an hour after that breakfast. I would rather have a biscuit than orange juice at least its solid, any way my point was that its a treat not that its the same as a biscuit.

sillysasauge

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

I dont care what you call the sugar or it takes a little bit longer to get into your system you are better eating the whole fruit , smoothies with orange juice are a treat not a daily breakfast, you will be starving an hour after that breakfast. I would rather have a biscuit than orange juice at least its solid, any way my point was that its a treat not that its the same as a biscuit.

ok, a healthier treat
In my opinion you can do a lot worse than that though for breakfast as long as youve plenty oats in there to keep you going. Much better than toast which if it's white would be just empty calories and virtually have no nutrition value.
Would be good to see what other people think!

Casey_81

Thanks for all of your input, I kinda guessed as much with the smoothies.. but wanted to know what other people thought too.

From reading your comments, am I right in saying that some oats mixed with nuts and fruit pieces and low-fat yoghurt is a much better idea?

Sapsorrow

sillysasauge wrote: »

They are not like a biscuit at all, true they are high in calories and sugar, but the sugar is in the form of fructose which is natural and more slowly absorbed than refined sugar. Plus the huge amount of vitamins and minerals you are getting.

The added oats will add protein and help slow down the absorption of the fruit from the sugar into your bloodstream , giving you more energy for longer. I would add a good few spoons of it if you are going to have it for breakfast, you could also add in some nuts for more protein.

Sorry but where on earth did you get the idea that fructose is not harmful relative to other sugars? You know sucrose is 1/2 fructose and high fructose corn syrup which is also likely to be found in your biscuits is just made up of fructose molceules too at the end of the day. Fructose is easily the worst of the monosaccharides: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

Give me pure glucose any day!

Oats as a source of protein?? Nah go for the egg

sillysasauge

Sapsorrow wrote: »

Sorry but where on earth did you get the idea that fructose is not harmful relative to other sugars? You know sucrose is 1/2 fructose and high fructose corn syrup which is also likely to be found in your biscuits is just made up of fructose molceules too at the end of the day. Fructose is easily the worst of the monosaccharides: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

Give me pure glucose any day!

Oats as a source of protein?? Nah go for the egg

Guess we should avoid eating fruit then in that case. Cor blimey, what? Some people in the worteld!!!

I said add nuts for protein, now who's the sillysasage!!!:D

sillysasauge

Sapsorrow wrote: »

Oats as a source of protein?? Nah go for the egg

MMM, egg in my smoothie, yum yum!!:D
Haha, you lose, as per usual!!

sillysasauge

Ah only messing, i'm just living up to my username, ahahahahahahaah:D

I always feel people on forums like these are easy to criticise but rarely offer any alternatives or advise that will help your average joe. I'm pretty confident having a smoothie is a much better option than a coffee and slice of toast.

In all seriousness though what is your opinion of having a small glass of a smoothie for breakfast of say berries, natural yoghurt, freshly squeezed orange juice and lemon with a good few handful of oats and nuts.

Surely it's not the worst, i make my gf this sometimes when she is in a rush to college, it has to be better than skipping breakfast or even eating pretty much any of the normal kellogs type cereals, considering the high salt and sugar content in most of them. Even having a slice of white toast with butter is just empty calories and saturated fat.

Ideally though wed have scrambled eggs on home made brown bread or a bowl of porridge with honey, but the original poster said hed be in a rush.

sillysasauge

Another thing you could do for when you are in a rush is make a batch of granola bars, and keep them in the freezer than just grab one if you are in a hurry. I use this recipe, it's real good
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/magazine/2009/0314/1224242556081.html

Saaron

You could try having rye bread or maybe wholemeal bread and toast it. Then adding peanut butter or something like that! Then have some fruit to go with it.

Personally I think porridge with some seeds & fruit added is very healthy. Berries are great. Or some natural low fat yoghurt.
Muesli is also very healthy! You can have it with soya milk, milk, natural yoghurt etc. Probably not the quickest of meals..

The smoothie sounds better than something like bread or something fatty that has been fried.

Hopefully this helped

corkcomp

the original Q was are smoothies better alternative than toast and the answer is yes.. use plenty berries and some natural yoghurt and oats if you like..

Sapsorrow

sillysasauge wrote: »

They are not like a biscuit at all, true they are high in calories and sugar, but the sugar is in the form of fructose which is natural and more slowly absorbed than refined sugar. Plus the huge amount of vitamins and minerals you are getting.

The added oats will add protein and help slow down the absorption of the fruit from the sugar into your bloodstream , giving you more energy for longer. I would add a good few spoons of it if you are going to have it for breakfast, you could also add in some nuts for more protein.

Yes but you also said oats.

sillysasauge

Sapsorrow wrote: »

Yes but you also said oats.

Oh yeah my bad
11% protein not that much

ncmc

I think there is a myth that a proper breakfast takes time, I have porridge every morning, takes one and a half minutes in the microwave and I could eat it in less than two minutes if I was in a hurry! Would take longer to make one slice of toast. Lovely and warm on a cold morning and keeps me full for up to five hours, so no snacking on biccies at 11am .

Sapsorrow

A smoothie is definately better than your average bread toasted especially if it's going to be eaten with sugary jam, smoothies don't have to have masses of sugar in them though, you can make more blood sugar friendly ones with coconut milk, nut butters, water, nut or seed milk, natural yoghurt, moderate amounts of low sugar fruits (frozen berries) and some form of sweetner (xylitol etc.) if you need it. It depends on your priorities too though, if keeping your liver healthy and losing/maintaining weight aren't two of them I wouldn't worry too much about it, in particular if the rest of your day isn't too sugar heavy or your are an atheltic type. But many people who are very careful with their diets would only view a smoothie as a treat. I think the main thing is to avoid adding juices to them and to use lower sugar fruits.