Discussion Board

For those interested Dr Ess commented on his FB page about how smoothies and juices are problematic. He says, among other things, that the surge in blood sugar from drinking the fruit promotes inflammation and damages the endothelium. He also repeats a lot of what Jeff has already said, like how we get enough nutrients on a plant-based diet and there is no need for juices/smoothies to force more nutrients in.

https://www.facebook.com/Dr.Esselstyn/p ... 9196901650

http://happyherbivore.com/2012/01/why-i ... smoothies/

I read this also....I stopped my daily juice..I do have a small frozen banana chunks, few leaves of kale and a half of a carrot with some almond milk in the morning I go to work...3 days a week....tides me over until I can eat my oatmeal around 10....hope this isn't to much ...it just get's me to work......

Tell that to Jay "The Juiceman" Kordich!

Now, I think vegetable juices are different from fruit juices, as they don't contain the same amount of sugar. Many alternative cancer therapies, like the Gerson Therapy, rely on juicing to heal their patients.

Is there somewhere else to get this info? I tried clicking on the facebook link and it says it is unavailable, but I'm really interested in more about this after reading the blog link. Thanks so much for sharing about this here!

I can see how fruit juices would cause blood sugar to surge but I'm not convinced about smoothies as you are taking the fiber in with the sugars. And a lot of people use greens which also has helps digest and assimilate the sugars slowly.

I read the second article and found it interesting. I did used to do smoothies nearly every morning and haven't for a while but not because of the reasons above - I guess I just got 'burnt out' on them. So once in a while I have a smoothie.

The thing about needing to chew your food - well, I hardly chew my oatmeal, mashed potatoes, baked yams, squash and soup....many items I make are already mashed up or pureed, so there's not a huge difference - I know I don't drink my food like a smoothie but they go down a lot quicker than solid food.

They had to take down the post as for some reason it got really nasty!

That doesn't surprise me. I flirted with raw foodism a while back and I vividly recall the fanaticism with which quite a few raw foodists defended their green smoothies and juices. Personally, I could never get into either of them. I very rarely drink juice, even when it's just plain fruit juice, and in restaurants here in Israel where the "business lunch" comes with either a cold drink (i.e., juice) or a hot one, I always choose the hot one because I just don't enjoy any drink besides water with my meal. As for green smoothies, I tried to get into them after I read Victoria Boutenko's "Green For Life" which raves about the benefits of green smoothies. But somehow the idea of "drinking" my greens (and, for that matter, my fruit) just didn't appeal to me. I'd much rather eat the salad!

Djuna

My smoothie:
one carrot
garlic clove
large tomato
cup of purselane
large bunch of parsley
4 cups assorted greens, mostly kale
Tbs flax seed
lime juice
tabasco
water as needed

This is more nutritious for me than a salad.

Ginger, I don't understand how that recipe is more nutritious for you than a salad. It is a salad and sounds delicious.

I prefer to chew my food but I will admit that a couple of smoothies I really really like a lot are grasshoppers, pink squirrels and brandy alexanders.

Didi

Jeff addresses this issue in this post:

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=10234

I know Jeff and others think that, but when I drank smoothies daily for over 7 years I never experienced these problems. I felt full for a long period of time and didn't experience blood sugar problems. And I was drinking nearly a quart every morning. That was my own personal experience with it.

The healthy librarian has a post on smoothies--date was Jan 24 2012

Happy Healthy Long Life: The Green Smoothie Controversy - To Smoothie or Not? The Argument for a Greens and Vegetable heavy Smoothie

The Healthy Librarian's Vegetable-Heavy Smoothie - Mostly Kale (8 cups), 2 carrots, 1 orange, and 1 cup of berries

http://www.happyhealthylonglife.com/

I love her blog. Here's a permanent link to the post on smoothies
http://www.happyhealthylonglife.com/hap ... versy.html

This is quackery at its finest

If you want to start an internet fight, mention food;)