Smoothies – Not as Innocent as you think!

It’s been a busy summer with lots of lovely ladies visiting our retreat (hence the lack of blogs for the past few months!) and a lot of talk about healthy breakfasts.  This leads to discussions about smoothies, the health benefits and a read of my previous blog – Smooth(ie) Operator – with my ultimate breakfast recipe.

Something we always need to clarify is the philosophy of the ‘Green’ Smoothie with added green veg, especially leafy ones, compared to the shop bought ones which are purely fruit.

Why?  Because fruit is a lot of sugar!  The BBC2 show, ‘Trust Me I’m a Doctor’ raised this question a few days ago with their Episode 3 discussion ‘Are Smoothies Good for Me?’

Which Magazine had already published their shocking results earlier this year (‘Is your fruit smoothie as healthy as you think?  – Which, Jan 2013) – out of the 52 smoothies from major supermarkets tested, 41 of them contained more sugar than a bottle of Coca-Cola!

The conclusion: the sugar and acid from fruit smoothies still causes tooth decay, and the sugar has many health consequences – affecting our risk of Type 2 Diabetes and obesity.

For more about the health concerns of sugar, have a read of my previous blogs about ‘Sugar’. And Robert Lustig (US professor specialising in neuroendocrinology & author of Fat Chance: The Bitter Truth About Sugar) adamantly agrees that sugar is a health risk!

There’s another possible issue with supermarket smoothies and fruit juice drinks – fructose.  This is the type of sugar found in fruit.  The impact of fructose is being debated but it potentially increases health risks such as obesity, insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (here is an example article from The Independent).

So for a guiltless breakfast or snack, stick to a GREEN smoothie – and it’s a good way to eat your greens.