Smoothies - Looking for Advice - Good or Bad??

discombobulate

I've just been looking up a bit on smoothies as i've started having one most evenings and have found conflicting statements on whether they are good or bad to have every day.

Typically what i'd put in the smoothie to make up around 500ml would be:
Orange or Apple juice (usually tropicana)
Mixed frozen berries
Banana
Frozen veg (usually mix of carrot, brocolli and cauliflower)
Scoop of whey

I know theres obviously good in the smoothie but does it mean i'm taking in too much sugars etc.

Also how long can a smoothie mix be refridgerated for? Does this time go down if there is whey in the mix?

papu

discombobulate wrote: »

I've just been looking up a bit on smoothies as i've started having one most evenings and have found conflicting statements on whether they are good or bad to have every day.

Typically what i'd put in the smoothie to make up around 500ml would be:
Orange or Apple juice (usually tropicana)
Mixed frozen berries
Banana
Frozen veg (usually mix of carrot, brocolli and cauliflower)
Scoop of whey

I know theres obviously good in the smoothie but does it mean i'm taking in too much sugars etc.

Also how long can a smoothie mix be refridgerated for? Does this time go down if there is whey in the mix?

Smoothies are great , Nothing wrong with having one once or twice a day as a quick and easy extra meal or meal replacement. Nobody ever got fat from eating bananas , Veg and Berries. Maybe Sub the Fruit Juice for some skim milk if your worried about the Sugar. I personally don't see the harm in fruit sugars , it's natural and used as energy quickly!

As for keeping it in the fridge I wouldn't keep it too long , Wheys always best freshly mixed, if you want it cold add in some crushed Ice or ice cubes. You could Possibly freeze it in pop-sickle molds and have it frozen, might be another option

thegreatiam

why dont you just eat more fruit and veg?

you can skip the apple orange juice, its only there as a base. just use water and ice. or milk/greek yoghurt if you need protein

discombobulate

thegreatiam wrote: »

why dont you just eat more fruit and veg?

you can skip the apple orange juice, its only there as a base. just use water and ice. or milk/greek yoghurt if you need protein

Thanks for the advice on the milk / yoghurt. Might give that a try. I just find it an easy way to get veg into me in addition to the small amount I may have otherwise. I find most veg very hard to eat unless it is well cooked so I use the smoothie as an opportunity to get more raw veg into my diet.

thegreatiam

some recipes i use, you might like them.

during exercise:
1 stick of celery, 1 apple, thick slice of lemon, large chunk of cucumber. chilled water.

Post exercise:
1 banana, 1 apple, spoon of peanut/almond butter, milk.

morning drink:
water, greek yoghurt, hand full of mixed berries (mostly blueberries), honey (to taste)

I buy fruit in bulk, chop it in to manageable pieces and freeze it. then if i need a smoothie i throw hand fulls of what i need into the blender.

smoothies are mainly a way for me to save time, you will still need to count the ingredients total calories to maintain a deficit to lose weight.

discombobulate

thegreatiam wrote: »

some recipes i use, you might like them.

during exercise:
1 stick of celery, 1 apple, thick slice of lemon, large chunk of cucumber. chilled water.

Post exercise:
1 banana, 1 apple, spoon of peanut/almond butter, milk.

morning drink:
water, greek yoghurt, hand full of mixed berries (mostly blueberries), honey (to taste)

I buy fruit in bulk, chop it in to manageable pieces and freeze it. then if i need a smoothie i throw hand fulls of what i need into the blender.

smoothies are mainly a way for me to save time, you will still need to count the ingredients total calories to maintain a deficit to lose weight.

Thanks. Some good ideas in there

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

if I'm reading this thread right.. I can use my whey powder to make protein ice pops?

siochain

papu wrote: »

Sugar. I personally don't see the harm in fruit sugars , it's natural and used as energy quickly!

fruit sugars \ fructose especially in liquid form has the same effect as sugar ie. fat production. Same negative effect in tooth enamel too.

Discombobulate it really depends on what your trying to achieve, where you are at now and on what you overall diet is like. For me it has way to much fruit sugar content to have daily.

Mellor

papu wrote: »

I personally don't see the harm in fruit sugars , it's natural and used as energy quickly!

It's ok because it's natural is a weird post-justification that's used all the time.
What common sugar isn't natural? Sugar in 1kg bags, or in cakes, or fructose syrup in coca cola is all natural, it allcomes from fruit or veg.

papu

Mellor wrote: »

It's ok because it's natural is a weird post-justification that's used all the time.
What common sugar isn't natural? Sugar in 1kg bags, or in cakes, or fructose syrup in coca cola is all natural, it allcomes from fruit or veg.

Right Good point , All sugar in excess is bad. But there's a difference in the extra vitamins , minerals and fiber you get out of eating an apple then there is from drinking a can of coke , in 1L of coke there's about 110g of sugar. in an apple there is about 23g of sugar. The RDA (http://www.food.gov.uk) being about 120g

If you want to know if it's too much sugar , weight out your portions , calculate the amount of sugar in them and come up with a figure.

papu

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

if I'm reading this thread right.. I can use my whey powder to make protein ice pops?

Yeah I don't see why not , we freeze all other sorts of proteins , from what I've read it seems to keep ok. I'd recommend a ice cream maker though if you were serious about it, if you freeze them by throwing them straight in the freezer they might be all lumpy and what not.

Solutions (15% protein) of a whey protein concentrate (WPC) at pH 6.8 or 5.0 were subjected to fast, intermediate or slow freezing at −17 °C and −30 °C, with an unfrozen control held at +4 °C for 24 h. After thawing at 20 °C, selected physicochemical and functional properties were compared; these included solubility index, heat stability, viscosity, gel strength, freezing point, as well as observations by cryomicroscopy. It was concluded that there was no major detrimental effect of the freezing process alone on any of the WPC solutions studied at either pH. Minor changes in viscosity, microstructure and possibly heat gel strength observed at pH 5.0 may indicate that long-term storage at this pH could lead to development of quality defects. To assess whether freezing might be a suitable alternative method for preservation of concentrated whey protein solutions, the effects of frozen storage must be studied further.

siochain

papu wrote: »

Right Good point , All sugar in excess is bad. But there's a difference in the extra vitamins , minerals and fiber you get out of eating an apple then there is from drinking a can of coke , in 1L of coke there's about 110g of sugar. in an apple there is about 23g of sugar. The RDA (http://www.food.gov.uk) being about 120g

If you want to know if it's too much sugar , weight out your portions , calculate the amount of sugar in them and come up with a figure.

yes there is some difference in eating fruit due to the fiber content when compared to consuming in liquid form in as you suggested was OK once or twice a day.

Emeraldy Pebbles

papu wrote: »

As for keeping it in the fridge I wouldn't keep it too long , Wheys always best freshly mixed, if you want it cold add in some crushed Ice or ice cubes. You could Possibly freeze it in pop-sickle molds and have it frozen, might be another option

This is my problem with smoothies (apart from the fact that I don't really like them). You always end up with loads, but they don't keep very well so you have to drink a large quanity in a short amount of time. That's a lot of sugar.

El_Dangeroso

Don't drink your calories if you are trying to lose weight.

Smoothies may be made of healthy ingredients but you are not getting the fullness factor that is caused by chewing.

You can totally gain weight by drinking fruit and veg:

http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v20/n9/abs/oby2011192a.html

That's a pretty good study comparing weight gain from drinking fruit and veg versus eating them.

I know soup is basically a drink but for some reason registers high for satiety:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031938404004482

accensi0n

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

I know soup is basically a drink but for some reason registers high for satiety:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031938404004482

Possibly something to do with more movement/actions over an extended perioud of time compared to just picking up a glass and gulping back in 5 seconds?