Blender purees - yea or nay?

[hopefulfaith]

I've been trying to increase the amount of fruit and vegetables in my diet, and I've recently started running/biking in the early morning before the kids get up.  When I get back, I drink water and have been throwing fruit/veg into my blender with some ice cubes --- usually apples, bananas, strawberries, and a small handful of spinach.  It seemed like a nice way to get some produce in for breakfast.

The volume is sufficient that it fills me up until lunchtime, but here is what I'm wondering:

- Blender is on puree/ice crush to crush the ice:  I keep reading about the heat involved in high-revolution machines when I peruse the juicing websites.  Is the blender killing my vitamins??

- Is the fiber destroyed so much that there is no real "fiber benefit" for my body?

- Sugar.  Lots of sugar involved here, albeit natural fruit sugars (I'm not adding juice/yogurt, etc., to the drink; it's just what I listed above).  Problematic?  or not a problem, as long as I'm not sugaring it up the rest of the day?

I feel good - I've lost a few pounds this week - but as I'm trying to bring my diet back around to mostly plant-based (I do eat meat, though, just not a lot) - is this a good way to do it??

Thank you in advance for any advice.  :)

[elluin]

I don't have an answer but would like to hear replies as I also drink a lot of smoothies and share them with my daughter. When I was seeing an acupuncturist, he wasn't a fan of my almost daily smoothie, as he felt the cold affects digestion. We do use fruit we've frozen instead of ice, and unsweetened almond milk for liquid in the smoothie.

Way to go on the healthy living changes!

[crunchy_mommy]

I know a lot of people here are HUGE smoothie fans, but I feel like it's generally better to eat rather than drink your calories... especially if you're trying to lose weight... because chewing sends different signals to your brain, you might feel more full on food than a smoothie, and also the act of chewing and the enzymes produced help your body properly break down the nutrients etc. But we still do occasional smoothies ourselves, and if it's working for you, no reason to stop really!!

Is your smoothie still cold once it's blended? If so, I doubt the heat of the blender is affecting the vitamins in any way. If your smoothie ends up warm or hot (??? never seen this happen) then I suppose it could 'kill' the vitamins some...

I don't know about the fiber thing, though my gut says it would be fine, assuming you're pureeing it to a pulp not a thin juice.

Sugar... yeah that was my first thought when you mentioned the ingredients. I don't think the amount of sugar is an issue in & of itself, but I do think you could benefit from balancing out the sugar a bit with something high in protein with maybe a bit of fat, particularly if this is replacing a meal. We usually do nuts, seeds, nut butters, sometimes a little coconut milk... I've even added a few black beans to smoothies. It may help keep your blood sugar and energy levels more stable.

[mommy212]

We have a green smoothie almost every night together, and I think it's a great way for LO (who won't eat green veggies otherwise) to get minerals, vitamins and calcium. I definitely don't feed bad about eating fruit sugar- There are SO many things worse for you out there, why worry over every little thing, especially all natural sugar balanced with fiber, vitamins, etc? Since you're using this is a meal replacement, I agree with crunchy_momma on adding the protein/fat as well- maybe tofu, yogurt, almond butter, avocado, etc

[hopefulfaith]

Thank you for your responses!  I will work on adding a protein/fat here.