Smoothies have long been considered a kind of superfood – but now the accusations are piling up that they have been hyped for free and consist only of sugar . But is that also true? Are these allegations justified, or is it actually a superfood? We will discuss this and a few other questions about smoothies in more detail in the following article.
The history of smoothies
The trend of smoothies originated about 40 years ago – more precisely in 1973 , when the American Stephen Kuhnau , considered a pioneer of smoothie marketing, opened his first store. Initially, he mainly sold energy drinks and dietary supplements, but gradually he began to produce and sell a variety of smoothies.
However, he wasn't the only one selling smoothies. Smoothies were also bestsellers in some juice bars . The first of these already existed in the 1920s, but these stores were rather marginal phenomena and did not drive their marketing in a comparable way.
In the meantime, smoothies can be bought in almost every grocery store – usually already processed and bottled. But there are also juice bars. Here, the drinks are still freshly prepared in front of consumers.
But is it healthier to buy fresh smoothies or prepare them yourself, or is it better to buy pre-filled drinks? To answer this question, we need to take a closer look at the term smoothie .
What is considered a smoothie in the first place?
As the name suggests, smoothies are a special kind of fruit juice because, unlike classic fruit juices, the smoothie is characterized by its smooth and creamy consistency . This is mainly due to the fact that many smoothies process the whole fruit, often even with the peel.
Thus, fruit pulp forms the basis of every smoothie . The choice of fruit used for this depends on the smoothie variety. There is now an unmanageable variety of flavors, but they can be divided quite well according to their colors or ingredients.
For example, there are so-called green smoothies , which often consist of green leafy vegetables, thus giving the drink its green color. The same applies to red smoothies , but these do not contain green leafy vegetables, but mostly red berries , beets, or the like. If you do not look at the color but at the ingredients, there are mainly two types of smoothies: vegetable and fruit smoothies .
In addition, there are a few different types of smoothies. For example, some of them contain a ground grain form in addition to the fruit pulp and the liquid
to round off the shake nutritionally. The grain provides an improved
supply of long-chain carbohydrates, proteins
and a
decent load of fiber
,
which promotes
your digestion and allows your blood sugar level to rise slowly and steadily. This gives you
plenty of energy
over a longer period – in addition, the shake is ideal as a
protein source
and ensures strong muscles.
How smoothies are made
Homemade smoothies are best made using a smoothie blender or stand mixer. To make it, all you have to do is add the desired fruits or vegetables to the blender with enough liquid and then puree until the drink has reached a creamy consistency.
Water can serve as a liquid , but coconut milk also goes very well with some recipes. Milk and milk alternatives are also suitable. The choice of liquid you actually use should depend primarily on the processed fruits or vegetables. While pineapple, for example, works well with coconut milk, milk goes very well with fresh berries.
Ultimately, it is up to your own taste as to what you prepare your smoothies from.
Recipe: Iced Breakfast Shake
Ingredients
- 35 g breakfast shake
- 100 ml milk or plant drink
- 100 ml water
- 1 Kiwi
- 25 g watermelon
- 25 g strawberries
- 2 ice cubes
Preparation
-
Place all ingredients in a blender and mix well.
That's why smoothies are considered healthy
While smoothies taste good is largely undisputed, opinions on nutritional value and health sometimes diverge widely. We will now take a closer look at why this is the case.
Consuming plenty of fruits and vegetables is essential when it comes to a balanced diet . This is undisputed – but opinions differ when it comes to the processing of these foods.
While some experts believe fruits and vegetables should be consumed raw as much as possible, others swear by smoothies or other processing methods. The great advantage of smoothies is the fact that you can easily take your daily fruit and vegetable intake in liquid form at once.
Thus, you can cover the need for a wide variety of micronutrients very well and do not have to worry about it. Depending on the type of fruit and vegetables, you can cover many different vitamins and minerals, but fiber is also sufficient in smoothies if you also process the peel.
So it almost sounds like there are no criticisms at all – but that isn't true. Because the main criticism is usually that smoothies contain too much sugar and therefore cannot be classified as healthy despite their nutrient density. But is that true?
Sugar bomb smoothie – that's really behind it
One serving (250 ml) of smoothie contains up to 29 grams of sugar. If you now consider the recommended amount of sugar of around 60 grams, which you should eat a maximum of every day, you already cover a good 50 percent. However, 60 grams is only a guideline; more precisely, it is about not consuming more than 10 percent of the total calories in the form of sugar . Thus, with a total calorie requirement of 2000 kilocalories per day , this would mean 50 grams of sugar. However, this value should be regarded much more as an upper limit rather than an optimum. *
Thus, the criticism here seems to be quite justified. However, it should be noted that not every smoothie necessarily has to be that high in sugar . Because while some types of fruit such as bananas contain relatively high amounts of sugar, berries come with significantly less sugar.
Porridge Smoothie Bowl Strawberry-Raspberry - Sugar Free
Ingredients
- 50g Verival Porridge Smoothie Bowl Strawberry-Raspberry
- 120 ml water, milk or plant drink
- 30 g strawberries
- 20 g raspberries
Preparation
-
First, add 50 g of the Verival Porridge Smoothie Bowl mixture in the strawberry-raspberry flavor to a bowl.
-
Next, add about 120 ml of a liquid of your choice (water, cold or warm milk, or plant-based drink) to the bowl and mix well.
-
Then let the porridge smoothie bowl swell for a minute.
-
Now you can refine the smoothie bowl with different toppings of your choice. For example, fresh or frozen berries go perfectly with this smoothie bowl. You can also use different seeds or nuts as a topping.
Thus, the sugar content is primarily dependent on the fruits and vegetables used . If you also replace the slightly higher-sugar cow's milk with unsweetened milk alternatives , you can also save sugar here and thus create a much healthier smoothie.
Conclusion
Smoothies contain plenty of vitamins and minerals , which is why they are considered healthy. What is problematic, however, is the sugar content . In principle, fruit should be consumed as a whole and not processed as a drink. 1
However, if you occasionally use the blender and prepare your own smoothie with lower-sugar fruits, this is of course also fine and can even help you to feed your daily ration of fruits and vegetables.
-
*https://www.dge.de/presse/pm/empfehlung-zur-maximalen-zuckerzufuhr-in-deutschland/
-
1.Boulton J, Hashem KM, Jenner KH, Lloyd-Williams F, Bromley H, Capewell S. How much sugar is hidden in drinks marketed to children? A survey of fruit juices, juice drinks and smoothies. BMJ Open . Published online March 2016:e010330. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010330
