Blending foods oxidizes it and makes it lose it's nutrition?

[Firicia]

Ok I heard somewhere that blending greens actually destroys the nutritional value. This just sounds odd to me considering how many people have totally transformed their health by green smoothies. Can anyone shed any light?

[RawKnitster]

I've read that somewhere. I think that person simply doesn't like blended greens. Here is another, more prevalent opinion. http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=61599 Breaking the cell wall (only a high speed blender will do it) to release more nutrients from greens is a favorite topic of Victoria Boutenko. I wonder if Joel and Victoria got this info from the same source, and what the source is, or if they are quoting each other.

[SevenKindsOfCookie]

Yeah, Brian Clement is the one who started the whole "blending is bad" thing. He claims that Anne Wigmore started to serve blended soups instead of juices at the institute for cost reasons only and that they were actually less nutritious. And he also claims to have the research to prove it.

I say, whatever. It's just nitpicking to me. I love both juicing, blending and chewing. It might be that blending destroys nutrients, but at the same time it makes them more available so you'll probably assimilate more of them anyway. The same goes for juicing really.

[Aleesha Sattva]

i say YEAH RAW no matter what form it's in.

[sport]

adding water reduces the oxidation.
Oxidation also requires time so drinking it as quickly as possible will also help.
Having said that I believe that green smoothies are good even if they are 24 hrs old and Victoria proved that.

[klomasius]

I agree with sport, and actually, she proved in conjunction with a university laboratory that blended greens actually oxidise less than fresh green juices. In fact, the fibre can form a layer, keeping out oxygen and allowing the blended green smoothie to retain significant nutrients for up to 5 days (I believe that's the amount of time she mentioned at the talk I attended). Not that, optimally, you'd want to drink a 5 day old smoothie.

To me, having a science background this really makes a lot of sense. I'd really like to see if Brian Clement has any research to back up his claim that blended greens are inferior.

Also, CHILAX!!! It's GREENS! Any way you get them into you, you are doing your body a favour!

[Seductive Arts]

I agree with sport, and actually, she proved in conjunction with a university laboratory that blended greens actually oxidise less than fresh green juices. In fact, the fibre can form a layer, keeping out oxygen and allowing the blended green smoothie to retain significant nutrients for up to 5 days (I believe that's the amount of time she mentioned at the talk I attended). Not that, optimally, you'd want to drink a 5 day old smoothie.

To me, having a science background this really makes a lot of sense. I'd really like to see if Brian Clement has any research to back up his claim that blended greens are inferior.

Also, CHILAX!!! It's GREENS! Any way you get them into you, you are doing your body a favour!

Tell me about it. The fiber collects on top of my smoothie drinks like some thick sludge.

[klomasius]

hehe, yup, and the sludge goes grey if you leave it long enough (meaning it's oxidised) and it's protecting the lower (still green) levels.

[Aleesha Sattva]

Yeah, Brian Clement is the one who started the whole "blending is bad" thing. He claims that Anne Wigmore started to serve blended soups instead of juices at the institute for cost reasons only and that they were actually less nutritious.

from Ann's site:

Energy Soup
The cornerstone of the Living Foods Lifestyle® is Energy Soup, a blended mixture of greens, sprouts, vegetables, Rejuvelac, and dulse. Energy soup is a complete meal, containing every nutrient in a balanced form that the body needs. When she developed the Hippocrates diet, Ann Wigmore advocated juicing fruits and vegetables as a way to obtain optimal nourishment. However, in her later years, she became a proponent of blending foods rather than juicing them. The only juices she used were watermelon and wheatgrass. She believed that juices can be too cleansing for most people's bodies. "Blending helps the body to clean itself and thus it restores health much quicker than just eating the foods as salads, yet it does not overtax the system with the rapid cleansing action of juices," she wrote. "Also, juices do not contain fiber. Separating the fiber and other elements from the juice results in a food that is not as balanced as Nature would have it."

[Raw Angel Mom]

The trick is not to blend too long. I tend to very blend them for i like my smoothie smooth but then i tasted the energy soup from the Ann Wingmore staff and my good heaven the difference. You taste the life and it is so much better. They just pulse with the blender. It is more chunky but the taste is far more delicious then over blending.

[Tenuviel]

I wouldn't worry about it... oxidation happens over time, and with air exposure. air does get whipped into the smoothie, but chances are you are drinking it right away anyway :). Just think how many more greens you can fit in with them! I know If I never made green smoothies, I wouldn't get close to the amount of greens I need.... would require chewing all day long lol:D

[Tru]

What's funny about this, is that since raw food is soooooo healthy and if blending could do harm it would be so soooooooooo small that it would be like picking "fly sign out of rice."
:)

[Inca_faerie]

Lol. Obsessing much? Funny thing is the people who worry about blending causing oxidation are probably the same ones who let stuff sit in the dehydrator for hours on end and then eat banana leather that has turned black (now that's some freakin' oxidation!) :D

[klomasius]

Sage words Tru and Inca... :)

[Tirza]

I have been having this discussion with myself lately too.
I have a wheatgrass juicer but a vital part has broken. So rather than have none, I am putting a bunch of wheatgrass and some other sprouts in my VM with water, blending for under a minute and then pouring it through a fine mesh strainer and I get a watered-down version of wheatgrass juice.
Although I have loved WG juice for a long time, I was actually finding the full-strength version a little hard to swallow sometimes lately. I would then chase it with water or other juice anyway.
So...diluting with water and drinking it right away doesn't seem like too bad a deal. Even if I juice it in the juicer I still have to drink it very quickly - some say withing 5 minutes, some say up to 15 minutes - otherwise it oxidizes too! So if the full-strength juice is that fragile anyway, drinking the blended diluted version quickly can't be that bad. I just won't let it sit.

[lovenlife]

pickin nits! ugh I detest picking nits!:D

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

Yeah, l agree that blending isn't too good. Try blending apples for 30 seconds and see how quickly it goes brown...takes about a minute.

Eat whole foods compared to blended foods = no comparison. Eating the foods is much more potent. Juicers are much more potent as well.

At the same time l also agree with what Aleesha posted:
"The cornerstone of the Living Foods Lifestyle® is Energy Soup, a blended mixture of greens, sprouts, vegetables, Rejuvelac, and dulse. Energy soup is a complete meal, containing every nutrient in a balanced form that the body needs. When she developed the Hippocrates diet, Ann Wigmore advocated juicing fruits and vegetables as a way to obtain optimal nourishment. However, in her later years, she became a proponent of blending foods rather than juicing them. The only juices she used were watermelon and wheatgrass. She believed that juices can be too cleansing for most people's bodies. "Blending helps the body to clean itself and thus it restores health much quicker than just eating the foods as salads, yet it does not overtax the system with the rapid cleansing action of juices," she wrote. "Also, juices do not contain fiber. Separating the fiber and other elements from the juice results in a food that is not as balanced as Nature would have it".

Anyway...l can't be eating 8 hours a day trying to get all my food down, so blending is my main option. lt's not ideal but it is better than nothing. l feel Brian Clement is correct unfortunately. Still...some of the big guns at Hippocrates mainly blend their foods and look amazing, so that's good enough for me. Once l clean myself out l may consider eating and juicing most of my foods, but l will still blend the most taxing foods to eat such as sprouted grains (l could never eat sprouted grains too much, so they must be blended).

(only found this topic through a random good search after watching some youtube video's)

[James Carmichael]

Brian Clement says when you blend foods for 1:30 then it destroys the nutrition. I don't know about anyone else but i only blend my smoothies for a max of 20 seconds. I'm not conerned personally.

[James Carmichael]

Actually an idea that just popped into my head would be to cut the ingredients in half and make two smaller smoothies that you can blend for less time and drink faster.

[sport]

Actually an idea that just popped into my head would be to cut the ingredients in half and make two smaller smoothies that you can blend for less time and drink faster.
Good Idea.

[RawkinRaw]

I like eating plain greens, but most people don't so smoothies and juices are just a way to get them to ingest greens!
:kisses:

[Dan The Raw Man]

I like eating plain greens, but most people don't so smoothies and juices are just a way to get them to ingest greens!
:kisses:

I like raw greens too. And as a side benefit they clean your teeth!

~~~

As far as blending goes, I don't think its a good idea. Anyone remember that saying "you are what you eat"? No doubt juiced and blended food is way way better than cooking the food. But I don't thinks its optimal.

If you want to be alive then you need to eat things that are alive. Once you've blended or juiced something its not really alive. Its not going to sprout into new life the way an apple would. Essentially I feel that the life force escapes when you break something down in a blender instead of in your mouth.

Of course that just my opinion and what I've observed.