Fruit Smoothies & Sugar ??

[lennyb]

So at the beginning of this year I totally dropped alcohol, which I am not regreting and seeing/feeling the difference. I also started having fruit smoothies every morning.

These consist of usually the following

1 banana
3 strawberries
blackberries
blueberries
1 kiwi
The juice from an orange
The juice from half a pomegrante
Semi skimmed milk

It makes about a pint I think roughly. So anyway I was thinking this is great getting my fruit intake and good carbs also; however then I started wondering about the sugar (natural) content of the fruit and am wondering if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Any answers Andy? would be good to know if I am doing a good thing but at the same time adding to my workload of burning off.

[Andy]

hey bud,

Fruit is better than your normal breakfast cereal. The amount of fruit you are using is probably a little too much. use half a banana rather and drop the kiwi. I would persoanlly bud have the fruit as is instead of blending.

Are you getting any protein for breakfast as well? If so what? If not get some in there - eggs, chicken, turkey, yoghurt, milk.

By al means have the smoothies but a pint is probably a little too much especially first thing in the morning when really the body needs protein to get the metabolism going.

Chris is the guy for nutrition - he's doing a degree chris?

[Mister_C]

If you added up the calories in all that, it might be quite high. Also, the carbs in the fruit are fairly quick-release, especially in the fruit juices. Having said that, you have all the fibre in the fruits which slows down absorption, which is an advantage over the shop-bought ones which have all the fibre removed to make them smoother and more acceptable to shoppers.
I would tweak your recipe a little. Add some more protein - powder is good here, but not that cheap sadly. And add some slower-release carbs - I chuck oats into my smoothies. Also have some fat in your breakfast, a handful of nuts ought to do it.
At the moment you are having carbs, carbs and carbs, which is quite a big hit for you to metabolise first thing and may muck about with your insulin levels. If your meal consists of protein, carbs and fat it will slow down absorption and should give you more even energy levels.
Saying that, your smoothies are much better for you than booze!
Hope that helps mate.

[eddie]

I have smoothies for breakfast since going no grains. i used to have porridge as my only grains in the morning but was curious to see if i'd be fine without them.
i have 4 blocks with 2x fat:250mls milk(1c+p), 120g yogurt(1c+p), 100g frozen fruit(1c), 150g strawberries(1c) 10g whey(1p), 27g pumpkin seeds(8fat+1 for fat free p sources) and a lump of cheese on side.
it's yummy!