Smoothie question (not a recipe thing)

[flyinion]

Just had a question about an effect I've noticed smoothies having. I've only made two so far but noticed it both times. That's that I get a wide awake "wired" feeling sort of like if I was to drink coffee or espresso. Is this from the natural sugars in the fruit hitting right away or something else? If it matters the smoothie yesterday was a green smoothie with two bannanas, about 1 1/2 or 2 cups of mango, and about 1/2 a head of parsley. Today was bananna, strawberry, blueberry, and a little almond milk.

[Jackie1995]

I always noticed a feeling of energy after a smoothie. I use less fruit than you, and a lot more greens, plus flaxseeds, and I get a neat surge of smooth energy that lasts hours (5 hours minimum!).

I don't get the "caffeine" type *zing* but more of a steady flow of energy.

It might be the fruit - or maybe just the fact that since it's all blended up your body gets to use the nutrients quicker. If you don't like the feeling, maybe add more greens to slow it down. If you do like the feeling, hey, GREAT!

There's so much to learn, it's a lot of fun finding all this stuff out by experimenting. Just keep having fun!

[flyinion]

Oh yeah I liked the feeling. I guess I should be more clear, it wasn't a caffeine type jittery effect just that it made more feel more awake like caffeine used to. The one I made Friday I had gotten home from work and felt tired and sluggish all day. After I had the smoothie I was more alert and felt awake. Don't really know how to explain it any better.

[StrawberryFields]

Same here. I feel more awake and energized right away. Kind of like Popeye when he would open a can of spinach. LOL . I do notice it lasts longer the more greens I add.

[dreamrawalwz]

hmm, I wish! I never get that feeling and I wonder why :confused: Usually my body wants to rest after my smoothies or anything.

[Arky]

Flyinion, I'd suggest 3 things on the basis of what you have said:


1) Blending fruit does make the fructose (fruit sugars) more rapidly assimilable by the body so a sugar 'hit' is extremely plausible (the body does not have to work so hard to break down the fibre/guar/pectin in order to release the fructose). If eating a considerable quantity of fruit in each smoothie, rapid assimilability of all that fructose is not ideal for your insulin response so I'd suggest:

2) Dramatically increase the proportion of greens in your smoothies. Not only will this provide more healthy minerals and chlorophyll but it will also slow down the fructose 'hit' to your system.

3) Do please remember to neutralize the sugar/acids in your mouth afterwards, to avoid potential dental erosion. This is incredibly common in raw-foodists and I also speak from personal experience!! Rinse your mouth thoroughly with water (if you can, it's a good idea to stir in a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda). Make it a regular habit to chew on a chlorophyll-rich leaf or two after every fruit consuming occasion, irrespective of whether the fruit was fresh&whole, blended, or dried. Also regularly monitor the appearance of your teeth, as well as how they feel (any unusual sensitivity) to catch any potential problems early. Chewing gum is also useful to bring mouth acidity back down but many chewing gums contain artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and/or saccharin which are neurotoxins and thus to be avoided at all costs (I value my teeth very much, but I value my brain and sanity even more!).

Incidentally, it is one of life's little ironies that consumption of fat with sugar slows down the sugar 'hit', but consumption of too much fat in one's diet actually impedes one's insulin response, making sugar issues even more of a concern.

I love fruit but I have learned to consume it carefully and not to neglect my greens which are balancing in so many ways.


J.

[flyinion]

Flyinion, I'd suggest 3 things on the basis of what you have said:


2) Dramatically increase the proportion of greens in your smoothies. Not only will this provide more healthy minerals and chlorophyll but it will also slow down the fructose 'hit' to your system.

J.

Thanks, yeah I'm still experimenting on making these. Since I've never made any kind of smoothie until now it's been a learning experience finding out not only what fruits taste good together but then how much greens to throw in as well.

[flyinion]

note to self.......do not make peach/kale smoothies or at least not with so much kale :(

LOL it was bad. I don't think adding more fruit would have fixed it. It could have been that I used frozen peaches though. It wasn't too bad at first but after getting through about half of it, well that was it. It's not that I don't like kale, never had it till yesterday but pulling pieces of the leaf off to try after washing it, it was fine. Just didn't make the right smoothie combo with it :o

[desertroadrunner]

I make my green smoothies using 1/4 of a pineapple, 1 1/2 frozen bananas and 1/3 to 1/2 head of collard greens. I prefer collard greens to kale. Collard greens seem less bitter. I can have that instead of a meal. It usually lasts me the same amount of time energy wise. I usually have one every day and miss it when I don't. You're brave to try the green smoothie as one of your firsts. Most people are turned off by the color or even the idea of a green smoothie. The first time my husband tried one he said it tasted like his lawn clippings, but has since become accustomed to the taste and enjoys them with me!

[flyinion]

yeah this was actually the 3rd one, but as you can tell from my last post I'm still trying to get the greens to fruit ratio right. I actually made one with kale yesterday right after I'd bought it and it was fine, actually probably could have used another half a leaf or a small one. That was with a quite ripe banana and two pears that were in the same state though. The banana, mango, parsely one on Friday was good too but probably needed more greens. So yeah I think I just need to get the balance right, I think I"ve got it now though.