Home made fruit smoothies VS eating fruit

[Ken]

Hi

I remember catching an episode of the F Word with Gordan Ramsay and there was this report on ready made smoothies from supermarkets such as the Innocent branded ones. It supported buying whole fruits instead and eating them throughout the day as opposed to buying the ready made ones as they were full of sugar and overall would cause weight gain partly due to the higher intake of sugar over a shorter duration of consuming time.

I hate eating fruit but I buy them and make my own smoothies because I can store it the fridge and it'll last me 2-3 days with a glass or more a day. It taste better and overall more easily accessible/convenient/practical/whatever.

My question is, was the report against ready made smoothies in supermarkets due to added sugar or was it against smoothies made by oneself as well?

Is there really a difference between eating fruits throughout the day and having a glass of home made smoothie twice a day?

Thanks.

 

[Glaucus]

Is there really a difference between eating fruits throughout the day and having a glass of home made smoothie twice a day?

Not many add sugar. But fruit is full of natural sugar. 1 piece of fruit has the sugar from one fruit, where a smoothy could contain the energy from 6 or more.

 

[peetee]

"A 250ml serving size of an innocent smoothie provides you with 120 to 190 kcal which gives you only 6-9% of the calories you are supposed to eat in a day."

From innocent website.
Hardly a killer amount of calories, if you aint an idiot and dont guzzle the stuff down I cant see a problem with them, although im sure if you made your own you could cut the calories out too, theres no added sugar in innocents but they probably cram in the sugary fruits for flavours sake etc.

 

[Vixen]

You should really go for the form with the least processing, as it takes longer for the sugars to break down. Fruit is full of sugar, so if you have too much at once it can be just as bad as a chocolate bar.

 

[oli collett]

I can't imagine the difference is anything more than marginal

 

[Bakedgoods]

I can't imagine the difference is anything more than marginal

Not really..

With something like a smoothie you are consuming a lot more fruit than you would actually eat in one sitting.

Which means a lot more sugar, a much larger insulin spike and coupled with other foods like people usually do, a greater potential for getting fat.

 

[Fr0dders]

the problem with the smoothies is that its concentrated so you eat more than you would fruit


Think about it, a smoothie will contain the juices of probably 6-8 pieces of fruit. Would you honestly sit down and eat 2 apples, 2 bannans, 2 oranges and 2 grapefruit all in one sitting ? and then do the same again in the afternoon ?

but you'd think nothing of having 2 smoothies a day, because the actual space used in your stomach is much much smaller than all those fruit.

 

[btph]

I'm sure fruit sugar is very different from the type of refined sugar you would find in a chocolate bar. Is there anyone out there that knows the difference?

For instance if my memory serves, you don't get such a big blood sugar spike from eating fruit as you do from sugar in tea. Even though the calorific value may be identical.

 

[monkeyspank]

just eat the fruit!
most of the goodies are just underneath the skin

 

[Bakedgoods]

I'm sure fruit sugar is very different from the type of refined sugar you would find in a chocolate bar. Is there anyone out there that knows the difference?

For instance if my memory serves, you don't get such a big blood sugar spike from eating fruit as you do from sugar in tea. Even though the calorific value may be identical.

Sugar from fruit is mostly fructose but not entirely. Fructose can only be used for replacing glycogen in your liver and can not be used for anything else.

If your liver stores are full, it will then be stored as fat.

Not all fruits are equal and some give a larger insulin spike that others, some fruits even contain fats.

 

[oli collett]

the problem with the smoothies is that its concentrated so you eat more than you would fruit


Think about it, a smoothie will contain the juices of probably 6-8 pieces of fruit. Would you honestly sit down and eat 2 apples, 2 bannans, 2 oranges and 2 grapefruit all in one sitting ? and then do the same again in the afternoon ?

but you'd think nothing of having 2 smoothies a day, because the actual space used in your stomach is much much smaller than all those fruit.

From what i understand innocent smoothies contain ~ 2 portions of fruit so i don't think it is quite the same, otherwise i would have thought that an innocent smoothie would be a bit more than 120-190kcal? I think 2 bananas alone is ~200kcal.

You're quite right in that it's easier to drink but then that goes down to sensible eating - i personally tend to treat a smoothie as my intake of fruit for the day and consume the rest of my carbs in meat/veg (and sometimes beer and other rubbish!).

It's like any food isn't it? moderation...

 

[Stretch]

Everything in moderation.

 

[Fr0dders]

It's like any food isn't it? moderation...

i think you've hit the nail on the head there

Its not that smoothies are bad.

Its just you have to be carefull of what your drinking and not just blindly saying "because its a fruit smoothies its healthy and i can drink as much of it as i want"

which seems to be the mis conception.

 

[manic111]

Smoothies have a far higher GI than fruit, which means that they are more likely to lead to blood sugar spikes and, eventually (possibly) diabetes. Eating fruit through the day keeps your blood sugar constant and therefore negates this problem. But like you guys have said, smoothies in moderation are OK, still not as good as just eating it though!