When the Nutribullet came on the scene back in 2012 everyone went blending mad, nothing was safe!
Smoothies are now the in thing, especially when going on a health kick, and drink manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon immediately to save those of us who didn’t want to go to the bother of making our own; or having to buy copious amounts of fresh fruit every few days to keep up the new healthy morning routine.
So what’s the deal with smoothies. For me, personally, I don’t drink a great deal of them or fresh fruit juice. It’s funny, when people find this out they instantly panic and ask, why, are they bad? No, they are not “bad”, I just prefer to eat my calories than drink them.
Anyone that knows me knows I LOVE my food!
Smoothies are a great way to get 1 or even 2 of your five a day and a quick and easy way for people to ensure a consistent intake of fruit, and even veg, who might otherwise struggle to eat it every day.
However, the main issue with drinking your calories is that you can easily overconsume and increase your calorie intake without realising it, resulting in weight gain. Yes fruit is healthy, but like anything, you can eat/drink too much of it.
Also worth noting that fruit is sugar. Regardless of it being “natural” or not. Sugar is sugar and the body metabolises it in the same way and while blending the fruit does not alter the fibre content (like I was once led to believe) drinking fruit juice or a smoothie is no different to a fizzy drink when looking at sugar content alone which, let’s face it, is the reason most people avoid drinking
fizzy juice.
As you’ve probably heard, Innocent Smoothies are not so innocent with high sugar content. For example, the Totally Tropical flavour contains 35g of carbs, 31g of which is sugar in a 250ml bottle at 167 calories which, you more than likely carefully selected over a bottle of coke which has 26.5g of sugar and 105 calories. So less calories and sugar than the smoothie.
Yes there are additional vitamin and fibre benefits in a smoothie. However, in a 250ml bottle these benefits will be small in comparison, and if you are trying to lose weight you would be forgiven for choosing the smoothie to go with your freshly prepared lunch without realising that it could be the reason for taking you out of your calorie deficit.
This is the other issue, people forget to account for liquid calories. So if someone has a rough idea of their calorie intake through their meals every day but forgets to add that innocent smoothie they drink every day because it is “healthy” and not food, they are in fact over consuming by 1,169 calories per week on that one drink alone. Not to mention the cooking oils, other drinks and dressings/sauces that also don’t get
accounted for!
Am I saying drink fizzy juice every day instead? No I’m not. So just you climb back off that soap box before you do yourself an injury and understand the context here.
I think we can all agree that we tend to make choices based on what is deemed healthy (smoothie) and what is bad (fizzy) and therefore, all I am saying is read the nutrition labels at the back as you will be surprised that “healthy” products are not always what they seem.
This is where that annoying phrase of balance comes in. A smoothie here and there and a fizzy drink here and there is perfectly fine. If a bit of fizz takes the edge of a sweet craving without breaking the calorie bank then go for it but also mix it up with a homemade smoothie every now and again as well (where you will be able to control what goes in it and save some cash compared to a shop bought one. Another reason why Innocent is not so innocent; you need to re-mortgage your house to keep up that habit).
I feel I have to add a disclaimer here that sugar should not be demonised and will not make you fat. It’s not the bad guy it’s made out to be in the media; they are just giving fat a break for now. I will keep saying it – eating more calories than you expend will make you gain weight not a specific food or food group.
This is why understanding where your calories come from is important so you can make informed choices.
Would you be able to eat the same number of oranges required to fill a glass in one sitting? Probably not, and that’s where eating the fruit becomes more satiating than drinking it.
Another sneaky thing that manufacturers do is put the nutritional value of 100ml on the back and not the serving size of 250ml. So at a glance in a rush on your limited lunch break you see this:
Great, 45kcals and just 13g of carbs that will be great for the diet. Nope. It’s actually 112kcals and 32.7g of carbs. Check out the ingredients too. This covers the point again that you would probably not eat all that in one go but you would drink it in 0.5 seconds without it touching the sides and you would still feel hungry.
Remember it’s all about your own goals and I’m in no way saying deprive yourself of a smoothie! I’m not that cruel. I just hope that highlighting some of these points is helpful to bear in mind when you are looking to lose some body fat. These things have certainly caught me out in the past, especially saying “ach it’s fine to guzzle a litre of fresh orange juice it’s healthy afterall….”
Just one final point. Teeth! It is advised to brush your teeth after sugary drinks because it is one of the main causes of tooth decay. Drinking fruit juice and smoothies is no different, because that’s right. Sugar is sugar. So look after your waistline and teeth by being aware of the amount of fizzy juice, fruit juice and smoothies you are drinking but don’t cut them out completely.
Not only is balance key but so is happiness. Looking after your health doesn’t have to equal being miserable.
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