How Healthy Are Smoothies?

You may think me un-American, but I just can’t jump on the smoothie bandwagon. No matter that, as AOL Health, with Web MD reported, Americans will guzzle a whopping $6 million this year of these blended, sugary, calorie-laden, often super-sized concoctions.

It’s simply dangerous to load your body with so much fruit juice, calories, and sugar. Just about any smoothie you make — unless it’s made with veggie juice and some protein source — will probably give you a tremendous sugar buzz and put you into what I call SUGAR SHOCK!

If you’re a smoothie fan, I’d suggest investigating this subject further. Check out this series of AOL Diet & Fitness articles about smoothies.The first article, "How Cool Are Smoothies?" gives an overview. The writers report:

"What we learned, in brief, is that less is more — in terms of ingredients and volume — and also that good taste does not necessarily mean good health. So, our advice is stick to basics and share: Even a small smoothie can pack a caloric wallop so give some to the one you’re with."

Good advice. In fact, I always encourage my clients to eat whole, fiber-rich fruits rather than a too-sweet, mixed juice.

When deciding if you’re gonna go for smoothies, listen to renowned nutritionist Marion Nestle’s advice:

"They’re usually juice, yogurt and fruit. Those are all good things, but when you mix them together you forget how many calories they have — and they’re bigger than they need to be," says nutrition expert, Marion Nestle, author of What to Eat.

Dr. Nestle also points to an important theory about liquid just not doing the trick the way food does:

"…There’s some evidence that the body computes liquid calories differently than the way they compute food calories." According to Nestle, drinking a smoothie may not fill you up like it would if you ate the same smoothie ingredients whole, leading many to eat more food in addition to the blended drink. "If weight is a problem," warns Nestle, "it’s going to be a problem."

Hurrah to AOL for helping people realize the truth about smoothies: Pay close attention, for instance, to the huge amount of sugar in smoothies from Jamba Juice.

Or check out the abyssmal report card of smoothies from Dunkin’ Donuts, The two drinks flopped, with an "F" and a "D-" ranking. (I just love this line: "Is `Dunkin’ Donuts’ and `healthy smoothie’ an oxymoron or just moronic?")

You also can see reports for smoothies at Haagen Dazs and AOL’s own Time Inc. cafeteria.

Again, I favor — as do many nutritionists and physicians — eating whole, fiber-filled veggies and fruits and skipping the fruit-filled drinks.

However, one of the articles does spotlight an intriguing drink. Pat Cocker, a home economist, culinary herbalist, and author of The Smoothie Bible, suggests a "smoothie" dip or sauce of soy milk, celery, whole tomato, a pinch of fennel, curry powder, turmeric, and cumin. Now that I might like to try.