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If you want to think that blending destroys the fruit nutritional value then you're more than welcome to.
Seriously? I've clarified this to you multiple times now, but once again, I have not suggested that blending destroys the nutritional value of food instead I've suggested that it changes the way the food is digested and metabolized.
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Originally Posted by ThinkingElsewhere
Many people don't have the time during work to prepare a meal of whole fruits, veggies, and nuts, yet alone eat it. Again, many of us work in places like hospitals, classrooms, laboratories, where we can't take our time and eat while were working. A prepared smoothie is a great for a 10 minute break.
As I pointed out before, fruits, vegetables and nuts are ready to eat. There is nothing to prepare. There are also many things one could prepare at home that can be quickly eaten and taken to work, school, etc. So lack of time, isn't a reason to consume smoothies.
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Originally Posted by ThinkingElsewhere
No. As stated there are whole wheat products where half of the germs are removed to make the texture less grainy. Some of the nutrients are added back and dyes (sometimes molasses) are used to make the color appear darker.
Yes, as I pointed out, food producers can call a food "whole grain" (or whole wheat) so long as it has at least 50% whole wheat. But that doesn't mean whole wheat has had had half the germs removed, instead its because the producers are mixing whole wheat and refined wheat flour to create their products. Whole wheat flour is a whole grain flour, its made by grinding the entire wheat berry just like other whole grain flours (oat, barley, rye, etc).
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Originally Posted by ThinkingElsewhere
I think we can safely say a blended mango and banana is better for you than spoonfuls of Nutella or cake frosting. I never seen a smoothie recipe that required oils. There is nothing wrong with using protein powder if it fills you up. Heck, so many people are into strength exercises (not just weightlifting, yoga and pilates are strength exercises too) these days that there going to probably need more protein in the beginning.
Yes, I think you can safely say that as well, but that isn't what I was contrasting smoothies with....instead I was contrasting it with eating the whole foods.
Protein powders are a highly processed food so I'd suggest there is a lot of things wrong with them...and they are by no means necessary for people doing strength exercises. They aren't even needed for weightlifters.
In any case, I think I've clearly stated my view at this point so I'll leave it at that.
Blending is just chopping and mixing, only a physical change. It's no different than chopping or mixing vegetables to make salsa or guacamole. Juicing is a chemical change in which nutrients are affected.
This is not accurate. Juicing is a physical process, not a chemical one.
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Issues with Fiber
Dietary fiber is beneficial to your health in a number of ways, but it is not digested as it passes through your gastrointestinal system. High-fiber plants, such as wheatgrass, are not metabolized with basic chewing and swallowing because the body does not have the enzymes needed to break down the plant’s cells, according to “Human Metabolism: Functional Diversity and Integration.”(by J. Ramsey Bronk) Simply adding fresh wheatgrass to your smoothie will make it turn green and provide you with fiber, or roughage, but you won’t be able to absorb all the vitamins, minerals and amino acids that wheatgrass contains. You need to alter wheatgrass, kelp and other high-fiber ingredients before you consume them.
Yes, many plant based foods pass through the human digestive system largely unchanged unless the cellulosic matrix that holds the nutrients in plant foods is broken up in some way.
The three common ways to break up high cellulose food are:
1. With heat... cooking is the time tested way to break cell walls and release nutrients.
2. With mechanical force... grinding and pounding were the original ways. Now we have the high pressure auger juicers that were developed by Koreans to replace their centuries old traditional mortar and pestle and squeeze bag system. And high speed blenders like Blendtec and Vitamix may break up cell walls by impact, but only with long blend times. Household blenders and short blend times merely chop up the food finely, without breaking the cell walls to release their contents.
3. By chemical action... fermentation is an example.
I dont' see the problem. If green smoothies allow people to digest the nutrients from greens and/or fruit than they would otherwise, how could that ever be bad? Particularly considering how atrocious the average American diet is. My husband and I have a green smoothie with flax almost daily in addition to the greens we eat on a daily basis. I can't speak for anyone else but I can personally say I feel more energized when I start my day with a green smoothie. Someone will have to show me some pretty strong scientific evidence showing drinking green smoothies are LESS advantageous to your health than NOT eating any greens regularly (which most Americans do not) for me to hit the "i believe" button on the ill-effects of drinking them.
I also think after a certain point common sense needs to prevail in your diet, after all science is what told us to eat low-fat foods (that ended up being filled with sugar), science told us to eat low calorie, science told us to eat low car and high protein, etc.
This is not accurate. Juicing is a physical process, not a chemical one.
Juicing is technically a chemical change since fiber is removed in juicing which (slightly) changes the chemical makeup of the fruit. You can say it's not the same degree of chemical change as burning paper, but nevertheless it's a chemical change.
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Originally Posted by AnalyzeThis
I dont' see the problem. If green smoothies allow people to digest the nutrients from greens and/or fruit than they would otherwise, how could that ever be bad? Particularly considering how atrocious the average American diet is. My husband and I have a green smoothie with flax almost daily in addition to the greens we eat on a daily basis. I can't speak for anyone else but I can personally say I feel more energized when I start my day with a green smoothie. Someone will have to show me some pretty strong scientific evidence showing drinking green smoothies are LESS advantageous to your health than NOT eating any greens regularly (which most Americans do not) for me to hit the "i believe" button on the ill-effects of drinking them.
I also think after a certain point common sense needs to prevail in your diet, after all science is what told us to eat low-fat foods (that ended up being filled with sugar), science told us to eat low calorie, science told us to eat low car and high protein, etc.
Exactly! Considering all the junk food many Americans eat on a regular basis, it's ridiculous to go around saying that green smoothies are unhealthy. Especially since people who tend to drink green smoothies have a healthy lifestyle, or are attempting to.
Juicing is technically a chemical change since fiber is removed in juicing which (slightly) changes the chemical makeup of the fruit. You can say it's not the same degree of chemical change as burning paper, but nevertheless it's a chemical change.
Calling a cat a dog does not make it a dog, no matter how it may change your relationship with the cat, nor how it looks upon itself, even if it learns to bark. Juicing is a physical process. There is no chemistry involved. There is only a physical separation of two fractions, neither of which is chemically changed. And in the case of wheatgrass, among others, its nutrition is not bioavailable to humans unless the cell walls are ruptured by the high pressure of the auger type juicer used to separate the juice from the matrix.
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Considering all the junk food many Americans eat on a regular basis, it's ridiculous to go around saying that green smoothies are unhealthy. Especially since people who tend to drink green smoothies have a healthy lifestyle, or are attempting to.
The issue is, simply, that the original concept of green smoothies has been substantially altered in the public mind from what it started out to be, in much the same way that eating yogurt for its probiotic qualities has been altered by becoming popular. Neither yogurt nor green juice (whether blended or "juiced") was consumed for its taste by the early advocates of their health giving properties. Rather, they were consumed despite their taste. As a matter of fact Ann Wigmore, who popularized wheatgrass juicing, prescribed drinking the juice straight, and on an empty stomach. As anyone who has drunk wheatgrass shots knows, it has a very strong and distinct flavor which does not lend itself to leisurely sipping.
But then as yogurt and juicing became more popular, edging toward mainstream, taste became much more of a market driver. Yoga moms in the suburbs wanted the health giving properties, but were not committed to chugging down stuff that didn't taste good, so fruits and sugars started being added, then increased, and recipes for juice drinks were concocted for taste over nutritional soundness. Now the average serving of typical supermarket yogurt contains 1/4 cup of sugar, and smoothies are loaded up the same way. As someone said earlier, many of them now are like candy. But hey, for an extra couple of bucks you can add a shot of wheatgrass and hardly even taste it! Never mind that the essence of the original practice has been totally lost.
THAT'S the core issue. People are loading up their smoothies and yogurts and juices to fit the amped up tastes of our current culture, to the point that their supposed health-giving properties are compromised, and in some cases, possibly cancelled out altogether.
Calling a cat a dog does not make it a dog, no matter how it may change your relationship with the cat, nor how it looks upon itself, even if it learns to bark. Juicing is a physical process. There is no chemistry involved. There is only a physical separation of two fractions, neither of which is chemically changed. And in the case of wheatgrass, among others, its nutrition is not bioavailable to humans unless the cell walls are ruptured by the high pressure of the auger type juicer used to separate the juice from the matrix.
The issue is, simply, that the original concept of green smoothies has been substantially altered in the public mind from what it started out to be, in much the same way that eating yogurt for its probiotic qualities has been altered by becoming popular. Neither yogurt nor green juice (whether blended or "juiced") was consumed for its taste by the early advocates of their health giving properties. Rather, they were consumed despite their taste. As a matter of fact Ann Wigmore, who popularized wheatgrass juicing, prescribed drinking the juice straight, and on an empty stomach. As anyone who has drunk wheatgrass shots knows, it has a very strong and distinct flavor which does not lend itself to leisurely sipping.
Physical change = a change in appearance
Chemical change = produces something new
Cut an apple in half it's still an apple. Juice an apple it's no longer an apple. That apple juice will never be an actual apple again. 5th grade science books may tell you otherwise, but that's not accurate. You technically made a new compound by turning the apple into apple juice.
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Originally Posted by OpenD
But then as yogurt and juicing became more popular, edging toward mainstream, taste became much more of a market driver. Yoga moms in the suburbs wanted the health giving properties, but were not committed to chugging down stuff that didn't taste good, so fruits and sugars started being added, then increased, and recipes for juice drinks were concocted for taste over nutritional soundness. Now the average serving of typical supermarket yogurt contains 1/4 cup of sugar, and smoothies are loaded up the same way. As someone said earlier, many of them now are like candy. But hey, for an extra couple of bucks you can add a shot of wheatgrass and hardly even taste it! Never mind that the essence of the original practice has been totally lost.
THAT'S the core issue. People are loading up their smoothies and yogurts and juices to fit the amped up tastes of our current culture, to the point that their supposed health-giving properties are compromised, and in some cases, possibly cancelled out altogether.
Even if we believe smoothies aren't the ideal food, I would still say most smoothies are better than 95% of the other processed foods out there, especially since so many processed foods have zero nutritional value. Like I said, in a perfect we'd eat whole foods all the time but we don't. People get pressed for time, can't chew well, etc. I'd rather see people drink green smoothies than Frappuccinos. Heck, I'd go as far as say 100% no sugar added fruit juice is better for you than soda, Oreos, and Ben and Jerry's.
In reality, most people don't go to Jamba Juice or Smoothie King everyday and many people won't take the time to make smoothies everyday. The ones that do are usually using wholes ingredients. If you're not having smoothies all the time or using whole ingredients to make a smoothie, than I don't really see the fuss. Nothing is 100% healthy these, even breathing. Also, I don't know about you but I've had wheatgrass and it's nasty!
I also think after a certain point common sense needs to prevail in your diet, after all science is what told us to eat low-fat foods (that ended up being filled with sugar), science told us to eat low calorie, science told us to eat low car and high protein, etc.
Science never told people to eat low-fat foods filled with sugar, nor has science ever told people to eat low carbohydrate diets. The science of nutrition has changed over time, and that is a good thing, but the overall health message hasn't dramatically changed in the last few decades. Of course, you can find diet books saying just about anything.....but they don't represent science.
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Originally Posted by ThinkingElsewhere
Exactly! Considering all the junk food many Americans eat on a regular basis, it's ridiculous to go around saying that green smoothies are unhealthy. Especially since people who tend to drink green smoothies have a healthy lifestyle, or are attempting to.
What is ridiculous about it? Green-smoothies have just become another American junk food, but since they have the illusion of being "healthy" they are actually more dangerous than foods people know to be junk foods.
Years ago green smoothies may have been associated with healthy lifestyles, today they've been mainstreamed which, as the other poster pointed out, means that they've become significantly less healthy.
What is ridiculous about it? Green-smoothies have just become another American junk food, but since they have the illusion of being "healthy" they are actually more dangerous than foods people know to be junk foods.
Years ago green smoothies may have been associated with healthy lifestyles, today they've been mainstreamed which, as the other poster pointed out, means that they've become significantly less healthy.
Green smoothies are more dangerous that what junk foods? Oreos, Fritos, Frappuccinos, ice cream, cheese bagels, muffins, candy bars, red velvet cake? At least green smoothies have nutritional value. A smoothie may not be the ideal food but I'd rather see people consuming green smoothies than 98% of the other processed foods out there. But I guess if one only eats whole foods than any kind of processed food is junk food, including tofu, tempeh, and spices.
Last edited by ThinkingElsewhere; 08-19-2013 at 09:09 PM..
Green smoothies are more dangerous that what junk foods? Oreos, Fritos, Frappuccinos, ice cream, cheese bagels, muffins, candy bars, red velvet cake? At least green smoothies have nutritional value. A smoothie may not be the ideal food but I'd rather see people consuming green smoothies than 98% of the other processed foods out there.
I said they may be more dangerous because people mistakenly consider them health foods regardless of whats in them where as most people know that candy bars are junk foods.
A lot of junk foods have some "nutritional value", but having some nutrients doesn't subtract from the other ingredients. If you make kale ice cream its a junk food regardless of the presence kale, now, is it better than standard ice cream? Perhaps...but still a junk food.
Physical change = a change in appearance
Chemical change = produces something new
I'm not sure how you came to so thoroughly misunderstand basic scientific principles such as these, but you have. Here's a more authentic explanation... "Physical changes are changes affecting the form of a chemical substance, but do not change the chemical composition of that substance."
And chemical changes... "occur when a substance combines with another to form a new substance, called synthesis or, alternatively, decomposes into two or more different substances."
Cut an apple in half it's still an apple. Juice an apple it's no longer an apple. That apple juice will never be an actual apple again.
No, because although its form has been irreversibly changed, a chemical assay of the juice and pulp will show that it is still made up of the same compounds. It's like breaking a glass. You can't put the physical form of the glass back together, but the chemical composition is completely unchanged.
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5th grade science books may tell you otherwise, but that's not accurate.
Sorry, but claiming you know better than a primary scientific textbook severely undercuts the credibility of anything else you might have to say.
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You technically made a new compound by turning the apple into apple juice.
Not at all. It's still all the same compounds, unchanged, just in a different physical form.
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Also, I don't know about you but I've had wheatgrass and it's nasty!
Yes, I've juiced wheatgrass for years. It's the original green juice, and I think still the best.
The taste is challenging, but people drink it for its health-giving properties, not its taste.
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Juicing is a physical process. There is no chemistry involved. There is only a physical separation of two fractions, neither of which is chemically changed. And in the case of wheatgrass, among others, its nutrition is not bioavailable to humans unless the cell walls are ruptured by the high pressure of the auger type juicer used to separate the juice from the matrix. 
At least green smoothies have nutritional value. A smoothie may not be the ideal food but I'd rather see people consuming green smoothies than 98% of the other processed foods out there. But I guess if one only eats whole foods than any kind of processed food is junk food, including tofu, tempeh, and spices.
