Juicing and Smoothies
The only time a liquid diet is encouraged is for survival due to the inability to chew. If you can chew, please eat your food and do not drink it. When we chew fruit, the fiber is bound to the fructose, slowing down the absorption of sugars. The fiber fills us up with volume, signaling our full receptors – what I call our natural built-in calorie tracker. When fruit is blended, the fructose is separated from the fiber. This makes absorption rapid and can injure the liver and break down endothelial cells.
If you are slim, you may have heard drinking blended fruit and vegetables is health promoting, but it is not. We need to chew our greens to begin the production of nitric oxide to promote our endothelium. If you or your children are struggling to maintain body fat, add more whole starch-based foods into the diet. We cover ideas to increase caloric intake with larger meal portions and having snacks readily available to maintain weight in Protective Diet Education classes.
