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Smoothies and fruit juices are a new risk to health

theguardian.com

51–60 of 78 posts

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

#51
post #23
post #6

The problem is not fruit juices, smoothies or sugar. The problem is that if you drink calories in addition to meals, you get too much calories and you will fatten. I've been drinking fruits, fruit juices and smoothies instead of most other carbs for a year now and I feel great without being fat. It's just about calories.

Calories and fat have been the go-to for mainstream publications as the cause of obesity. But I'd highly recommend watching this talk about high-fructose corn syrup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM It makes a great argument that high-fructose corn syrup might be single handily the cause of the explosion in obesity in the USA in the last two decades.

I know this video and he's wrong (HFCS is bad, simple sugar and fruit fructose are not). I would recommend you to read articles on http://dannyroddy.com http://raypeat.com http://andrewkimblog.com backed by a lot of studies showing fructose is awesome.

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

#52
post #27
post #6

The problem is not fruit juices, smoothies or sugar. The problem is that if you drink calories in addition to meals, you get too much calories and you will fatten. I've been drinking fruits, fruit juices and smoothies instead of most other carbs for a year now and I feel great without being fat. It's just about calories.

"feeling great" != healthy; "not fat" != healthy A calorie isn't a calorie. The impact that 100 calories of vodka has on your body vs, say, 100 calories of Kale is significant. The body uses different strategies to break down different types of molecules. There can be toxins. There can be impact on the gut flora. Not to mention the impact that these all have on the feeling of "fullness" (which the article mentions).

If you prefer I've never been that healthy in my life. Every health marker is green.

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

#53
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 dr…

> How the heck is mixing a special powdered drink any easier

Surprising as it may sound, making it just a little harder to prepare can make us value it more (we tend to value our own work). I remember reading about a case of one batter mix that ended up selling more than the "just add water" mixes by asking in the instructions to add the eggs and milk.

> a can of oysters and a can of sauerkraut

that sounds like an awful diet

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

#55
post #6

The problem is not fruit juices, smoothies or sugar. The problem is that if you drink calories in addition to meals, you get too much calories and you will fatten. I've been drinking fruits, fruit juices and smoothies instead of most other carbs for a year now and I feel great without being fat. It's just about calories.

You are grossly oversimplifying a complicated process of digesting food and its interaction with the overal metabolism of the body. Yes, calories play a factor, but also in what form you ingest them. Then there's genetic factors, gut bacteria, physical exercise and probably a whole slew of other things that interact with each other.

The article oversimplify the topic too. Saying that fructose is bad is oversimplying the reality.

Metabolism plays a very important role and even if it's really complex, fructose is very good for the metabolism (glucose is inferior in that regard).

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

#56
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...

> Which is why it's SO much cheaper to buy jam, than to make it yourself.

Thats news to me. I mostly can weird stuff you can't buy off the shelf in America for obvious reasons, like peach rum sauce (basically a boozy peach smoothie) or brandied every fruit you can think of (brandied apples are my favorite)

Anyway buying individual serving fruit is probably going to be as uneconomical as buying single serving jam, pretty expensive.

When I buy a couple shipping flats of peaches, for example, its only a couple bucks each. Ditto crates of apples. At least in season. I think if you bought one apple at a time from a convenience store that could add up, but to keep an apples-to-apples comparison (groan) you'd need to compare that to the price of single serving jam packets, which are kinda expensive compared to an entire jar.

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

#57
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...

There's quite a good amount of fibre waste when you pass a fruit through a juicer. Maybe that explains the 32oz.

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

#58
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calories and fat have been the go-to for mainstream publications as the cause of obesity. But I'd highly recommend watching this talk about high-fructose corn syrup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM It makes a great argument that high-fructose corn syrup might be single handily the cause of the explosion in obesity in the USA in the last two decades.

I know this video and he's wrong (HFCS is bad, simple sugar and fruit fructose are not). I would recommend you to read articles on http://dannyroddy.com http://raypeat.com http://andrewkimblog.com backed by a lot of studies showing fructose is awesome.

I'm appalled by your lack of judgment.

You dismiss the recording of a university class made by a Ph.D in Endocrinology that worked for 20+ years against the whole industry (which shows resilience and belief).

On the other hand you suggest to read articles on 3 websites that looks scammy at best?

I feel insulted.

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

#59
post #45

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…

> "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. > su…

Clearly comparing your smoothie to Jamba Juice's fruit bowl is not the same thing.

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

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 dr…

> How the heck is mixing a special powdered drink any easier Surprising as it may sound, making it just a little harder to prepare can make us value it more (we tend to value our own work). I remember reading about a case of one batter mix that ended up selling more than the "just add water" mixes by asking in the instructions to add the eggs and milk. > a can of oysters and a can of sauerkraut that sounds like an aw…

> that sounds like an awful diet

I wouldn't suggest eating goitrogenic foods like cabbage daily. But other than that what's the problem? Take your varying pick of assorted canned veggies (beets, peas, etc.) and wild sea foods (sardines, salmon, etc.). Instant mashed potatoes and butter for extra calories if needed. The point is all this stuff is at CVS and close to zero prep.

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