Juicing

[SMITHYC]

Good morning Everybody.

I have purchased this to try and have more fruit and veg. Now a friend has told me it is not good to blend fruit and veg into a drink.

Can I have your opinions on this please.

I know I don't eat enough fruit.

[SofaJockey]

I don't know of any technical reason why fruit and veg shouldn't be blended.

Though personally I try hard not to eat too much fruit (no more than one or two pieces daily due to the natural sugars) and so I avoid drinking any fruit juices at all to maintain weight-loss.

[moreless Administrator 7 stone]

I personally eat very little fruit at all, SMITHYC, apart from the occasional berries. Fruit is nature's candy and modern fruits have been developed to be bigger and sweeter and blending just makes that sugar easier to access.

If you're going to blend, then my advice would be to use mainly vegetables, using avocado as a thickener and just a few berries for sweetness, restricting yourself to one small glass a day.

I eat lots of vegetables with each of my meals, which gives me all the nutrients I need.

[SMITHYC 1 stone in reply to moreless]

Thank you for your advice. Your saying what my friend was saying to me. Will only have the occasional one. Will have to use the frozen fruits up that I have then not buy anymore or just make it for my husband who loves his juiced fruit.

[TheAwfulToad Visitor]

The reason people advise against blending fruit and/or veg is -

a) You end up consuming what amounts to a sugary drink, particularly since

b) A blended fruit drink contains a lot more than one piece of fruit.

The idea that we should all be eating lots of fruit is another of those bizarre bits of dietary truthiness that never gets challenged. Fruit is pretty rare in nature. Sweet fruits are even rarer (because birds and animals get them first). Most humans have never had access to six squeezed oranges for breakfast every day. Sure, fruit is tasty and all, but as moreless said it's basically nature's candy, and we've bred modern fruits to be bigger and sweeter than they ever were. It's a treat. Nothing more.

As for veg - by all means add more veg, but I recommend learning new and tasty ways to cook them. Also, if you get rid of some of the surplus stodge from your plate, you'll find you've got more room for them, and you'll be more inclined to actually eat them

I realise we're all raining on your parade here, but you could repurpose your brand-new toy to make soups!

[SofaJockey in reply to TheAwfulToad]

Ah, I wondered what the issue was, it's just a general advisory against fruity drinks which I entirely understand.

Soups, however, are awesome. 😄

[SMITHYC 1 stone in reply to TheAwfulToad]

Thank you for your useful information.

Another lesson learnt. Should have asked before I bought one.

[TheAwfulToad Visitor in reply to SMITHYC]

I'm sure it won't be wasted! Give this a go instead:

bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/crea...

[gasp1 Visitor]

i bought one to try and use it for same thing but got told about the increase in sugar in blended fruit, Ii just use mine now to make banana and oat smoothies when i need a quick breakfast on the go, I just put in a banana, table spoon of flaxseed, 30g of porridge oats and blends it makes a filling breakfast drink (cant beat getting your oats in a morning !)

[SofaJockey in reply to gasp1]

I use one of those 'frozen raspberry' bags to add half a dozen berries to my morning greek yoghurt. 😄

[SMITHYC 1 stone in reply to gasp1]

just bought a smoothie mix with oats today for the days I go walking with friends as a quick breakfast.

[afnhg]

Your friend is unfortunately wrong, there is nothing wrong with blending.

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to afnhg]

Please read the reply, above, by TheAwfulToad, which explains the downsides of blending

[Greendream123]

I usually have a smoothie for breakfast. It isn't for everyone but it is for me. I add a banana and usually 1 other fruit plus soya milk and powders like pea protein, milled seeds, sometimes a few nuts or handful of oats. It helps me get in iron, calcium, protein etc... I don't use fruit juice so that makes it healthier but I'm sure there's people here that wouldn't imagine having such a terrible breakfast!

I think you should use your juicer for what you like, experiment and, whilst being mindful of natural sugars, don't feel like you can't eat the fruit you've bought yourself.

[Bee-bop Maintainer 2st 7lbs]

Hi Smithyc,

Don't feel it's a wasted product. I was also going to suggest having your fruit in a shake/smoothie if you are worried about the natural sugars. I am a slimming world member and the reason they don't go for fruit juices etc is because you miss out on the chewing aspect which helps us to consume less and the fact that say oranges juice can contain 8 oranges which no one would do in one sitting! I am not opposed to making things like smoothies occasionally myself though but, to be fair I like fruit and yogurt together now 🙂

[Eryl Visitor]

Some doctors (eg Gary Fettke) are saying that a lot of fruit is bad for us and that we should avoid eating a lot of the very sweet modern varieties. Also the fibre in whole fruit protects us from the harmful fructose by linking the gut to slow down absorption until the microbiome has had a chance to break it down.

Also it has been found that vitamin d gives protection from the harmful results of eating sugar and that happens to be at its highest just after the Summer when fruit is in abundance. Coincidence, or evolution?

[gasp1 Visitor in reply to Eryl]

I have always been told to snack on fruit in morning and then in afternoon to have carrot sticks celery etc in afternoon as it give body time to burn of sugars during the day whilst body is active, people normally slow down in afternoon sit in front of telly etc so do not burn as many calories which result in body storing calories that are not burnt .

[Eryl Visitor in reply to gasp1]

If you're active then it shouldn't do a lot of harm, but I don't think you should take that as free reign to eat as much fruit as you can in the mornings. Have a look for Gary Fettke's video "is fruit good or bad for you?" on youtube.

[SMITHYC 1 stone in reply to Eryl]

Thank you will have a look.