Why fruit juice and smoothies might be stopping your weight loss...

Hi Ladies,

I have a massive amount of dietary and nutrition knowledge. I know you wouldn't think it to look at me, but while I do know a great deal, my problem is actually applying it to my life. I just thought I'd share some of my info in case any of you are wondering about the right combinations of food to eat at mealtimes, whether something's as healthy as it seems, and the difference between good and bad fats etc.

This entry is about fruit juices and smoothies. I personally love apple juice, orange juice...pretty much any fruit juice. And I really love smoothies. Most people generally regard these drinks as being very healthy. Obviously, they're more healthy than a milkshake, but you should be careful not to drink too much in a week.

You know when you read the side of an Innocent Smoothie and it says the fruit that's gone into it, eg: 1 banana, 20 strawberries, 1 orange. It all sounds brilliant -
"Yay, 3 portions of my daily fruit and veg in a bottle!" - but I'm afraid the truth is a bit different.

The process to make fruit juice or smoothies is obviously to crush or blend the fruit. It's actually exponentially more healthy to eat the fruit as it comes, because the minute you change the natural form of a fruit it becomes refined. 'Refined' basically means that all the good sugar (fructose etc.) found in the fruit to begin with has been converted to sugar that will take a very long time for your body to break down. If your body's spending more time breaking down this refined sugar, it will take a lot longer to start working on the fat you're trying to get rid of.

In its natural form, fruit is of course extremely healthy (though veg is better, if you really want to split hairs). Likewise, a baked potato carries far, far less refined sugar than if you were to mash it. Mashed potato is actually the least healthy form you can have your potato in. Mad, I know.

Anyway, that was just a heads up. Hope I haven't bored you guys! If anyone's not sure about anything they're planning to eat and want to know if it's nutritionally sound, just give me an email and I'll let you know =) Hope I haven't patronised any of you, I just found this was an extremely important bit of information for me when I last hit a plateau with my weight loss. =)

Hope everyone's week is going well!

xxxx