Smoothies

Smoothies – Not as Innocent as you think!

Itโ€™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.ย  This leads to discussions about smoothies, the health benefits and a read of my previous blog โ€“ Smooth(ie) Operator โ€“ with my ultimate breakfast recipe.

Something we always need to clarify is the philosophy of the โ€˜Greenโ€™ Smoothie with added green veg, especially leafy ones, compared to the shop bought ones which are purely fruit.

Why?ย  Because fruit is a lot of sugar!ย  The BBC2 show, โ€˜Trust Me Iโ€™m a Doctorโ€™ raised this question a few days ago with their Episode 3 discussion โ€˜Are Smoothies Good for Me?โ€™

Which Magazine had already published their shocking results earlier this year (โ€˜Is your fruit smoothie as healthy as you think?ย  – 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 โ€“ 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!

Thereโ€™s another possible issue with supermarket smoothies and fruit juice drinks โ€“ fructose.ย  This is the type of sugar found in fruit.ย  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 โ€“ and itโ€™s a good way to eat your greens.

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