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Smoothies and fruit juices are a new risk to health

theguardian.com

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Re: Smoothies and fruit juices are a new risk to health

#41

Post by xd »

s_q_b wrote: post #33

We need a social-shift that treats sugary drinks more like we treat alcohol. I'm not saying let's only sell Coca-Cola to 21-year-olds, but rather that the social stigma should be different. A sugary beverage should be a celebratory drink, reserved for special occasions, like beer or wine, not a staple of our diet.

I don't see society conforming to your ideals any time soon. Hell, I love nothing more than celebrating the end of a hard days work with a beer.

IMO people need to worry about sitting down all day way before worrying about sugary drinks.

Re: Smoothies and fruit juices are a new risk to health

#42

Post by hrkristian »

meerita wrote: post #17

Everything will be killing us in the future. Now it's the smoothies and fruit juices. I don't know what this health-society pretends, if ending all kind of consuming substances or really wasting time producing FUD. No offense to anyone.

Why would anyone be offended? For some odd reason you're just exaggerating as if you haven't even bothered reading the article, or the valuable comments here either for that matter.

Re: Smoothies and fruit juices are a new risk to health

#43

Post by crazygringo »

jonnathanson wrote: post #5
sudomal wrote: post #3

It is kind of obvious advice. By drinking juice, you are consuming an unusually large amount of processed fruit. I hardly touch the stuff. Stick to water or tea or whatever.

It seems obvious, but you'd be amazed how many people don't do the mental math. I've actually had this conversation while waiting in line with someone as he got a Jamba Juice. Friend: "Why aren't you getting one?" Me: "Too much sugar. I'm trying to eat better these days." Friend: "What?! This is a smoothie! There's nothing healthier!" Me: "But you just saw them grind up 8 oranges, 5 bananas, and 2 pounds of strawberr…

Heck, I'm amazed when I see people drink a 24oz orange juice. I mean, are you ever going to eat that many oranges?! For the amount of sugar, you might as well be drinking a Coke...

Re: Smoothies and fruit juices are a new risk to health

#44

Post by s_q_b »

xd wrote: post #41
s_q_b wrote: post #33

We need a social-shift that treats sugary drinks more like we treat alcohol. I'm not saying let's only sell Coca-Cola to 21-year-olds, but rather that the social stigma should be different. A sugary beverage should be a celebratory drink, reserved for special occasions, like beer or wine, not a staple of our diet.

I don't see society conforming to your ideals any time soon. Hell, I love nothing more than celebrating the end of a hard days work with a beer. IMO people need to worry about sitting down all day way before worrying about sugary drinks.

Hell, I love nothing more than celebrating the end of a hard days work with a beer.

No disagreement from me. I would simply suggest that people think the same way about a Coke.

There's nothing wrong with celebrating the end of a day with a beer, but most people would look askance if you were drinking them all day at your desk. So why is it considered normal to do the same with a caffeine and sugar concoction that we know is highly dangerous?

As to the standing desk issue, I think it's most an issue of being sedentary in general than standing vs. sitting. There's nothing particularly natural about standing in a single place for hours either.

Re: Smoothies and fruit juices are a new risk to health

#45

Post by pyre »

jonnathanson wrote: post #5
sudomal wrote: post #3

It is kind of obvious advice. By drinking juice, you are consuming an unusually large amount of processed fruit. I hardly touch the stuff. Stick to water or tea or whatever.

It seems obvious, but you'd be amazed how many people don't do the mental math. I've actually had this conversation while waiting in line with someone as he got a Jamba Juice. Friend: "Why aren't you getting one?" Me: "Too much sugar. I'm trying to eat better these days." Friend: "What?! This is a smoothie! There's nothing healthier!" Me: "But you just saw them grind up 8 oranges, 5 bananas, and 2 pounds of strawberr…

> "too much of a good thing" logic.

How many people are having two or three smoothies a day vs. just a single smoothie? How many of those people would eat the amount of fruit in that smoothie over the course of a normal day? There might be something to be said for getting your daily dose of fruit at once instead of spread out over the day, but I doubt that we're talking about people that are overdosing on fruit.

> sugary smoothies and fruit juices

How is a smoothie more sugary than eating the equivalent amount of fruit? Do you claim that someone eating a bowl of strawberries is having a sugary snack?

> That's what makes smoothies particularly dangerous

How dangerous are they really? Plenty of people will drink > 2 litres of soda over the course of a day. On the other hand, do you think that anyone is drinking more than even a litre of smoothie in a day?

> But you just saw them grind up 8 oranges, 5 bananas, and 2 pounds of strawberries and put them in a single cup.

Really? I make smoothies at home, and it's more like: 2 leaves of kale, protein powder, a banana or two, and a handful (or 2) of frozen strawberries (and maybe an apple or pear). This makes enough smoothie for 2 adults and a child. Are you really don't to claim that this isn't something that could be eaten in a sitting by 2 adults and a child?

Re: Smoothies and fruit juices are a new risk to health

#46

Post by pyre »

crazygringo wrote: post #43
jonnathanson wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems obvious, but you'd be amazed how many people don't do the mental math. I've actually had this conversation while waiting in line with someone as he got a Jamba Juice. Friend: "Why aren't you getting one?" Me: "Too much sugar. I'm trying to eat better these days." Friend: "What?! This is a smoothie! There's nothing healthier!" Me: "But you just saw them grind up 8 oranges, 5 bananas, and 2 pounds of strawberr…

Heck, I'm amazed when I see people drink a 24oz orange juice. I mean, are you ever going to eat that many oranges?! For the amount of sugar, you might as well be drinking a Coke...

There is a difference between juice and a smoothie though. Smoothie still has the fiber in it, while orange juice is mostly just juice even if you get it with 'lots of pulp.'

Re: Smoothies and fruit juices are a new risk to health

#48

Post by a8da6b0c91d »

alan_cx wrote: post #36

Cant people just eat actual fruit? Is that really so inconvenient these days? All that energy wasted to process, package, transport, etc. Just eat a damn fruit. I'd love to know how much of this pointlessly processed food contributes to environmental problems compared to cars, for example.

This is what I don't get about the soylent thing. You can walk into any drug store or corner store and buy a few canned foods that together offer complete nutrition. How the heck is mixing a special powdered drink any easier than opening a can of oysters and a can of sauerkraut and downing the contents? There isn't even a glass to wash with the latter.

There is some sort of odd cultural glitch going on in favor of drinks as "healthful." Drink foods make people think of the medicinal brews of yore? I don't know.

Re: Smoothies and fruit juices are a new risk to health

#49

Post by jmccree »

crazygringo wrote: post #39
iamshs wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I would like to know more about. Other day I picked up a 32oz smoothie, which said this is equivalent to 40 strawberries, 1 banana and 6 apples. How is that possible in only $5? Do they get fruits so cheap to make up for other costs? And true enough, there was strawberry puree, banana puree but apple juice concentrate and apple puree in it.

From what I understand, fruit is a LOT cheaper at the "source" -- before they're shipped, individually sold, etc. Which is why it's SO much cheaper to buy jam, than to make it yourself. However, if you think of it purely from a volume standpoint... if you stuck 6 apples and 40 strawberries in a blender, I have a feeling that's gonna add up to significantly more than 32oz. Maybe they're really tiny apples...

Also, they can use fruit that doesn't look as pretty or is lower quality. Fruit used for juices are those not pretty enough to sell, fruit used for concentrate is those not tasty enough for "pure" juice.
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