Hello everyone!
Now, for one of the reasons I registered on this forum... Smoothies!
I'd like to speak to everyone (either by post or by message) who include Smoothies in their efforts to consume a healthy diet.
Principally, I'd like advice/information on fruit combinations and ways to bulk the juice out, with things like grains/yoghurt, specifically, in what proportions.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
I try to make smoothies that are nutrient dense but don't have too many calories.
My starting point is green veggies like spinach, and then some fruit to make it more tasty - I keep a supply of frozen berries, but this time of year it's apples from the garden - and then maybe some ground flax seed, pepper, cinnamon and turmeric.
If I'm looking to replace breakfast with it I'd add some porridge oats but otherwise that's about it.
Good morning benwl,
Thanks for your response.
Do you always mix fruit and veg in your smoothies, or do you also make pure fruit and pure veg ones?
Personally, I'm not a strict calorie counter, although that's not to say that I consume calories unrestrained. From what I understand, caloric intake is, or should be, aligned with one's Basal Metabolic Rate.
Rightly or wrongly, so long as something is nutritious, I'm not overly concerned with its caloric content.
Do you count the amount of carbs for each meal, Hidden ?
Not to date, no.
At this point, I merely try to eat more of the complex carbohydrates, as I believe they're supposed to be slow-releasing, thereby keeping hunger at bay for longer. The general consensus is that the refined (white) carbohydrates are the ones to avoid.
An interesting observation I've made, about myself and others too, is that strict calorie-counting isn't necessarily a sure-fire indicator of healthy eating.
Over the last year, since making a semi-concerted effort to bettering my lifestyle, I've still fallen victim to indulging my weakening penchant for fast-food. Yet, in spite of this, I've continued to lose body-fat and increase in muscular mass. This leads me to speculate that the protein from the burgers and the carbohydrates from the chips are sustaining my basal metabolic functioning and aiding my muscular hypertrophy. Yet, I must surely be lacking the minerals and vitamins that are present in fruits and vegetables, which I'm now steadily increasing my consumption of.
I've seen instances of this in people I know, too; several people who have physically active jobs, yet live on fast, processed foods display enviable levels of lean muscularity. In all probability, these people, though lean and muscular to varying degrees, must be cardiac time-bombs, as they don't seem to consume a consistent source of fruits and vegetables, deriving their necessary daily quota of minerals and vitamins from them.
This is all conjecture and I certainly have nothing empirically objective on which to base my observations. However, this seems, to me at least, to be anecdotal evidence (for what it's worth) that perhaps strict calorie-counting should be secondary to nutrient densities of foods.
**NOTE**: The comment is based on the Member's personal experience and if anyone has any questions, please consult/ask your doctor for more information on the subject.
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After years of winging it on foods, not dieting, but looking for good advice, Gary Fettke an orthopaedic surgeon from Oz has my vote. It goes against what we've been advised about fruit, if you listen to his reasoning there's logic there. Fruit isn't what it used to be and we can get the essentials which are in fruit from vegetables .... plus some more.
I've always eaten plenty of fruit so don't normally make pure fruit smoothies.
I'd like to have pure veggie ones but I'm still trying to find a combination I really like the taste of, so for now adding enough fruit to make it tasty.
I think you have the right approach to calories, I don't excessivly count them, it's just smoothies can be so yummy and drunk so quickly it can be easy to forget they can have the same calories as a meal.
I see. I generally eat more veg than fruit, at present.
I quite agree about getting carried away with smoothies though. However, I think that the satiety response should activate before it's possible to overdose on the caloric equivalent of a fast-food meal; unless one happens to suffer from/with Prader-Willi Syndrome.
Even so, I'd rather err on the side of nutrient density than total calories.
The most important number for weight loss, and weight management generally is total calories.
But given that for many foods nutrient density is inversely correlated with energy density, we can use nutrient density as a reasonable proxy for it.
One downside is that the energy density of foods is pretty standardized (we can go to the USDA website and look them up) but nutrient density is a bit more nebulous.
That all makes sense, based on my current understanding. I'm looking more deeply into precisely what you've highlighted.
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