Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whole fruit is good for you, eating several pieces of liquid blended fruit at one time is more than what is good for glucose homeostasis of many people. Some people could have that smoothie every day of their life with no issues. For some people that would expedite metabolic dysfunction and insulin resistance, and eventually lead to pancreas burnout and diabetes.

This seems like your are overthinking it. A smoothie in the morning with a banana, a few chunks of mango and pineapple, maybe 2-3 strawberries, and some milk (I usually use non-dairy milk but whatever) is not going to give anyone diabetes or burn out their pancreas. Maybe if you did that three times a day. But that's basically a daily serving of fruits but concentrated in one meal instead of spread out over multiple. The only downside would be that your body might not absorb all the nutrients because it's getting them all at once, but if it's daily, the body will take what it needs and the rest will be expelled as waste, not big deal. If you don't already have an underlying condition that might make consuming that much fructose at once a problem, that smoothie is not going to harm you and will have a lot of vitamins and fiber that will benefit you.

Not everyone processes sugars the same. Drinking that amount of fruit in a short amount of time would be disastrous for my blood sugar all day long, as someone who is genetically predisposed to insulin resistance. Even with all the fiber and even if I added plenty of fat and protein. Yes, having it every single morning would hasten the progression of my metabolic dysfunction. As I said, someone else could have it every day, or even a candy bar first thing every morning, and be perfectly healthy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.businessinsider.com/are-smoothies-healthy-2019-4

"The reason I usually recommend eating whole vegetables and fruits, rather than drinking them, is that the fibrous and pulpy parts contain valuable nutrients, and also serve to fill you up," Dr. Alka Gupta, co-director of the Integrative Health & Wellbeing Program at New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine told INSIDER. "Soluble and insoluble fibers are crucial for the digestive process — they ensure that we digest and absorb nutrients and sugars slowly, avoiding a quick spike in blood sugars. They also add bulk to our stool, and help to keep our gastrointestinal system moving regularly."

This is about juice, not fruit that’s pulsed in a blender for 20 seconds. The fiber is still very much there in the fruit in your blender. It hasn’t been strained out as it is with juice, and it is not changed enough to make it any different for your gut than eating the fruit before you put it into the blender.

Juice and smoothies are not at all the same.

I mean, did you even READ the article?? It's not about JUICE, it is about SMOOTHIES.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.businessinsider.com/are-smoothies-healthy-2019-4

"The reason I usually recommend eating whole vegetables and fruits, rather than drinking them, is that the fibrous and pulpy parts contain valuable nutrients, and also serve to fill you up," Dr. Alka Gupta, co-director of the Integrative Health & Wellbeing Program at New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine told INSIDER. "Soluble and insoluble fibers are crucial for the digestive process — they ensure that we digest and absorb nutrients and sugars slowly, avoiding a quick spike in blood sugars. They also add bulk to our stool, and help to keep our gastrointestinal system moving regularly."

This is about juice, not fruit that’s pulsed in a blender for 20 seconds. The fiber is still very much there in the fruit in your blender. It hasn’t been strained out as it is with juice, and it is not changed enough to make it any different for your gut than eating the fruit before you put it into the blender.

Juice and smoothies are not at all the same.

I don't know what to say to someone who makes such a declaration. Did you not take BIO100 in college? Things do not stay in the same form when they are sliced and diced by high speed blades, even for 20 seconds. This level of ignorance is hard to fathom or counter. I think you just maybe don't understand anything at all about how your gut processes food.

Anonymous wrote:I believe fruit is good for you. I think some fruits are better than others and portion size for things like grapes matters. FWIW, I've had a dietitician tell us to severely limit fruit for kids (family history of diabetes) and a pediatrician who vehemently disagrees. I've heard that smoothies dilute the benefit of the fruit's fiber. The dietitician who wanted us to limit fruit is more forgiving of fruits like berries.

Ditch that dietician. Get a copy of Mastering Diabetes from your local library or bookseller of your choice. FRUIT is God's gift to us, truly. As are most vegetables.

Yes, I have evangelical zeal about this topic. It comes from the anger I feel over decades of misinformation fed to me by dieticians and physicians alike.

I'm quite sure that most Americans don't realize that medical schools DO NOT TEACH NUTRITION SCIENCE, not even in 2024 when there is a global health PANDEMIC of diabetes, heart disease, and cancers all linked to DIET and most reversable through DIET.

But there is little profit in preaching fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds - even though you can build a delicious diet out of these foods that will promote physical and mental health.

Also Dr. Robert Lustig, pediatric endocrinologist who spent decades treating pediatric diabetes and obesity including in children as young as SIX MONTHS OLD (it's got nothing to do with willpower, folks!) has written three excellent books; start with his most recent which is a call to arms for physicians and lay people alike to recognize that Big Ag/Food is doing the very same thing to us that Big Tobacco did.

Metabolical is the book, and diabolical is most definitely a word that accurately describes the current food and healthcare industries in America, and everywhere that we have exported them.

Anonymous wrote:Whole fruit is good for you, eating several pieces of liquid blended fruit at one time is more than what is good for glucose homeostasis of many people. Some people could have that smoothie every day of their life with no issues. For some people that would expedite metabolic dysfunction and insulin resistance, and eventually lead to pancreas burnout and diabetes.

This seems like your are overthinking it. A smoothie in the morning with a banana, a few chunks of mango and pineapple, maybe 2-3 strawberries, and some milk (I usually use non-dairy milk but whatever) is not going to give anyone diabetes or burn out their pancreas. Maybe if you did that three times a day. But that's basically a daily serving of fruits but concentrated in one meal instead of spread out over multiple. The only downside would be that your body might not absorb all the nutrients because it's getting them all at once, but if it's daily, the body will take what it needs and the rest will be expelled as waste, not big deal. If you don't already have an underlying condition that might make consuming that much fructose at once a problem, that smoothie is not going to harm you and will have a lot of vitamins and fiber that will benefit you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.businessinsider.com/are-smoothies-healthy-2019-4

"The reason I usually recommend eating whole vegetables and fruits, rather than drinking them, is that the fibrous and pulpy parts contain valuable nutrients, and also serve to fill you up," Dr. Alka Gupta, co-director of the Integrative Health & Wellbeing Program at New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine told INSIDER. "Soluble and insoluble fibers are crucial for the digestive process — they ensure that we digest and absorb nutrients and sugars slowly, avoiding a quick spike in blood sugars. They also add bulk to our stool, and help to keep our gastrointestinal system moving regularly."

This is about juice, not fruit that’s pulsed in a blender for 20 seconds. The fiber is still very much there in the fruit in your blender. It hasn’t been strained out as it is with juice, and it is not changed enough to make it any different for your gut than eating the fruit before you put it into the blender.

Juice and smoothies are not at all the same.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.businessinsider.com/are-smoothies-healthy-2019-4

"The reason I usually recommend eating whole vegetables and fruits, rather than drinking them, is that the fibrous and pulpy parts contain valuable nutrients, and also serve to fill you up," Dr. Alka Gupta, co-director of the Integrative Health & Wellbeing Program at New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine told INSIDER. "Soluble and insoluble fibers are crucial for the digestive process — they ensure that we digest and absorb nutrients and sugars slowly, avoiding a quick spike in blood sugars. They also add bulk to our stool, and help to keep our gastrointestinal system moving regularly."

Most smoothies at home will retain most of that pulp. I always aim for it to be smooth enough to drink and give it a little froth with the milk (because that's just nice) but I don't blend it so long that it turns the whole thing to juice. One of the reasons I like smoothies is that they have some weight to them and fill me up.

Most Americans are ignorant about food in general.

I have a type 1 diabetic son. So many people make random ignorant comments about him eating sweets. It was really terrible when he was going through puberty and had a weight gain. The doctor said that was perfectly normal because boys usually expand out before shooting up... and sure enough, he did just that. But a woman at a restaurant scolded me for my son having a dessert. "He wouldn't need to poke his finger and check his sugar if you weren't a lazy mom."

Anonymous wrote:You don't need DCUM to tell you that fruit is good for you.

OP here and of course I don't. But I am curious to hear how many people think it's NOT good for you and why, as this seems to be an increasingly common viewpoint.

The comments about "whole foods" also tracks for me, as something that people have started talking about a lot. I'm not at all surprised to see comments saying that my smoothies aren't as good because they are processed. This is a big thing now. I actually am not sure what to think of that. When I think of "processed" foods, I think of factory foods where they are breaking ingredients down to fine powders, recombining, adding preservatives, and then packaging the whole thing to sit on a shelf for months before consumption. Which I agree is not the most healthy way to eat. But running some fruit through a blender so I can drink 5 different kinds of fruit with some milk is not my definition of "processed foods." But people are obsessive about this now.

I wonder if it will impact anyone's opinion to know that I often used frozen fruit in my smoothies because it's the best way to make sure I always have fruit on hand, plus easier to get a good consistency in the smoothie. Usually mangos, pineapple, and some berries are frozen. I use fresh bananas, oranges, and then whatever we might have leftover from making other things or might have seen that was on sale or looked good at the store.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.businessinsider.com/are-smoothies-healthy-2019-4

"The reason I usually recommend eating whole vegetables and fruits, rather than drinking them, is that the fibrous and pulpy parts contain valuable nutrients, and also serve to fill you up," Dr. Alka Gupta, co-director of the Integrative Health & Wellbeing Program at New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine told INSIDER. "Soluble and insoluble fibers are crucial for the digestive process — they ensure that we digest and absorb nutrients and sugars slowly, avoiding a quick spike in blood sugars. They also add bulk to our stool, and help to keep our gastrointestinal system moving regularly."

This is also why any responsible gastroenterologist will encourage you to get your fiber from WHOLE fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds and NOT from Metamucil, et al.

Anonymous wrote:https://www.businessinsider.com/are-smoothies-healthy-2019-4

"The reason I usually recommend eating whole vegetables and fruits, rather than drinking them, is that the fibrous and pulpy parts contain valuable nutrients, and also serve to fill you up," Dr. Alka Gupta, co-director of the Integrative Health & Wellbeing Program at New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine told INSIDER. "Soluble and insoluble fibers are crucial for the digestive process — they ensure that we digest and absorb nutrients and sugars slowly, avoiding a quick spike in blood sugars. They also add bulk to our stool, and help to keep our gastrointestinal system moving regularly."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, fruit is good for you. Whole fruit is good for you. I'm not sure smoothies are as good, but I suppose it's better than eating processed food.

How is a smoothie where you’ve blended a lot of whole fruits any different than eating the fruits separately? It’s the same fruit, just with some milk or yogurt added.

Because it breaks the fiber down and that changes the rate of absorption through the gut of both the fiber and the fructose.

Either God or the universe designed fruit and human apes in a coevolution - minus blenders. Consider that there might be wisdom in the way we ate for millions of years before blenders and processed food existed.

This just isn’t true. Where are you getting this stuff?

From SCIENCE

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, fruit is good for you. Whole fruit is good for you. I'm not sure smoothies are as good, but I suppose it's better than eating processed food.

How is a smoothie where you’ve blended a lot of whole fruits any different than eating the fruits separately? It’s the same fruit, just with some milk or yogurt added.

Because it breaks the fiber down and that changes the rate of absorption through the gut of both the fiber and the fructose.

Either God or the universe designed fruit and human apes in a coevolution - minus blenders. Consider that there might be wisdom in the way we ate for millions of years before blenders and processed food existed.

This just isn’t true. Where are you getting this stuff?

I believe fruit is good for you. I think some fruits are better than others and portion size for things like grapes matters. FWIW, I've had a dietitician tell us to severely limit fruit for kids (family history of diabetes) and a pediatrician who vehemently disagrees. I've heard that smoothies dilute the benefit of the fruit's fiber. The dietitician who wanted us to limit fruit is more forgiving of fruits like berries.