Juicing and Smoothies- How Healthy Are They?

Smoothie vs juicing Fruit and veg is good for you. No one would argue with that.

There has been a great deal of research in recent years to support the claim that eating more fruit and veg may be able to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer, while also helping to manage your weight. It can be a challenge to eat five portions of fruit and veg each day, even when you like vegetables. And now a new report suggests that eating 10 portions is what we need to stay healthy for longer. Most people don’t come nearly close to having enough, and I bet you’re wondering how on earth you’re going to manage that!

You’ve probably heard about the benefits of juicing and smoothies. Both are trending right now and there’s a huge debate. But what is better for your health – and losing weight- and are there any downsides? I’m going to give you the lowdown on both so you can get the hard facts from a nutrition professional and make an informed choice.

SMOOTHIES

The Benefits of Smoothies

When you make a smoothie, the whole lot is whizzed up in a blender. The juice and the pulp go in. This means that smoothies contain fibre. Fibre is good for you for so many reasons. It’s great for the digestive tract, helping to bulk out stools which helps you ‘go’ more regularly. Fibre supports weight loss because it helps slow down the absorption of sugar into the body, meaning that fruit and sugar-rich vegetables like beetroot and carrots are less likely to give you a blood sugar spike – ­ albeit a natural one. Fibre absorbs cholesterol in your digestive tract and flushes it out of your body, which is helpful for reducing risk factors for heart disease.

Dietary fibre also activates a few hormones really helpful in weight loss (called PYY and CKK and GLP-1, since you ask). These are appetite suppressors, meaning you’ll want to naturally eat less the more veg you consume. Fibre also decreases levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin, and increases another hormone called leptin, which tells your body you’re full. So, all in all fruit and veg are the good guys.

Fibre isn’t the only good thing in a smoothie. In a 2012 study in which scientists blended and juiced grapefruit, researchers found that the blended fruit had a higher concentration of the beneficial phytochemicals than juices because that compound is primarily found in the fibrous membranes of the fruit.

Given a smoothie can be packed with fibre, it can even serve as a meal replacement if you’re smart about what you add in it- more on this next (breakfast would be the perfect example).

The Downsides to Smoothies

When you eat fruit and veg you have to chew them which helps breaks down the fibre This in turn slows down the release of the sugars, helping to prevent a blood sugar spike which can lead to fatigue, low mood, increased hunger, weight problems, sleep problems etc.

On the other hand, when you blend fruits and vegetables in a machine, although the smoothie still contains fibre, it’s been broken down (literally pulverized) super-fast during the blending process- basically, the blender is doing the work your digestive system should be doing, which takes both energy and time to digest.

Even if you’re making your smoothie at home, using only fruits and vegetables with no other added ingredients, you can drink it in just a few minutes, compared with the time it would take to eat the same fruits or vegetables whole. It’s very likely that you are also getting more calories and sugar when you drink a smoothie than when eating whole fruits or vegetables. Research shows that we don’t register liquid calories as accurately as food we’ve chewed. So, smoothies enjoy a “health halo” that can be misleading.

The Best Way to Have Smoothies

If your idea of the perfect smoothie is only fruit and some liquid … Well, that’s a sugar bomb waiting to happen and is likely to upset your blood sugar balance. Plus, if consumed too frequently, this will have you start piling on the pounds.

But, if you combine a little bit of fruit and mostly veg, with a healthy source of protein such as yoghurt, a handful of nuts and seeds, nut butter  or a protein powder that would be best. Why? Firstly, with the addition of protein you’ll have a healthy, nutritious and filling meal to take with you on-the-go. And secondly, you’ll help avoid the blood sugar spike.

Also, quantity is important. To give you an idea, according to the national Eatwell Guide, we should only be having one serving of smoothie or juice, which is 150ml. That’s the same as a “mini” can of cola and less than half the size of a standard can of soft drink. If you’re using mostly veg in your juices and smoothies, and adding protein to your smoothies then the amount can be increased.

JUICING

The Benefits of Juicing

When you juice, your juicers extract the water and nutrients from what you feed it, leaving behind the pulp. Many juicers will also have a filter attachment, so you can remove even more ‘bits’ from your juice.

Given the lack of fibre, juices provide an almost immediate energy boost. The bulk of the vitamins and minerals found within a fruit are typically in the juice rather than the fibrous pulp. And without the fibre, the nutrients are absorbed into the body more efficiently. Additionally, the digestive system doesn’t have to work hard at all to process what you’re consuming. The cherry on top is that juicing allows you to eat a far higher range of nutrients from leafy greens and vegetables you wouldn’t normally eat in such quantity or blend – like cabbage and wheatgrass! Typically, juices (rather than smoothies) are a great way to detox.

 Downsides to Juicing

When you juice, the fibre is usually removed. And without the fibre slowing digestion of the sugar in fruit, the juice drives up your blood sugar rapidly which can lead to symptoms discussed above. This can also contribute to insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes.

If you juice mostly vegetables, you’ll get a potent dose of phytochemicals and disease-fighting compounds without all the sugar. But do it incorrectly, and you can get more sugar than a soda. Thing is, many “green juices” actually do have more sugar than a can of soda. Why? Because people don’t like bitter green juices and so most contain lots of fruit juice, carrots, and beets. A study in 2014 found that, on average, fruit juices contain 45.5 grams of fructose per litre, not far off from the average of 50 grams per litre in fizzy drinks.  If it has more than 5 grams of sugar, stay away.

Verdict

Which is better depends very much on what your health goal is. Juicing offers the possibility of getting in a greater concentration of nutrients, increasing your fruit and vegetable consumption, and possibly making it easier on your tummy if have a hard time digesting the fibre in vegetables.

On the other hand, fibre IS super important in your diet, and in juices you are missing out – plus you could also be losing other important elements like antioxidants.

For weight loss, energy, mood, PCOS, high cholesterol the added fibre is a huge bonus for balancing your blood sugar levels. Smoothies provide this. They also bring the possibility of adding other beneficial ingredients, like collagen (for arthritis suffers), protein powders, prebiotics, nuts or seeds.

Ultimately, you need to consume more fruit and veg than you are currently eating. Both smoothies and juices give you options to consider.

 HEALTHY JUICES

Green juice

2 apples

4 stalks celery

1 orange

½ lemon

5 handfuls spinach

½ thumb ginger root

Start with the spinach. A good tip is to try to roll it into a ball in your hands before feeding through the juicer. Peel the orange and lemon, then juice. Cut the apples into halves, then juice the rest.

Green goddess

3 cups spinach

6 stalks celery

2 pears

½ cup parsley

½ lemon

Start with the spinach and parsley, rolling them into a ball in your hands before feeding through the juicer. Follow with the lemon (peeled), then juice the remaining ingredients.

Liver cleanse

1 apple

1 beetroot

3 beet leaves (or a small handful of spinach)

4 carrots

1 stalk celery

½ thumb ginger root

Cut the beetroot and apples in half to juice. Add the ginger and celery. Roll the leaves into a ball (makes it easier to juice). Cut the skin from the pineapple (but leave in the core – it has extra enzymes), peel the orange and then juice.

HEALTHY SMOOTHIES

Put all the ingredients in the blender with a cup of liquid (water or almond milk, etc.) to start with and increase liquid to desired consistency.

Berry nice

½ avocado

75g fresh or frozen blueberries

1 tbsp chia seeds

½ tbsp coconut oil

¼ tsp cinnamon

½ banana (ideally frozen)

Small handful of ice

Water, as desired

Hidden greens

25g vanilla protein powder

1 kiwi, peeled

Handful of strawberries

Handful of kale

Handful of watercress

1 tbsp cashew butter/cashews

2tbsp broccoli sprouts

Small handful of ice

Water as desired

Blueberry + kale

Handful blueberries

Handful kale

1 small banana

1 tsp cashew or almond nut butter

1 tbsp sunflower seeds

Small handful of ice

250ml coconut or almond milk

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

What is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome?

Polycystic (literally, many cysts) ovary syndrome (PCOS or PCO) is a complex condition, characterise by hormonal imbalances that affects the ovaries (the organs in a woman’s body that produce eggs). In PCOS, the ovaries are generally bigger than average. The outer surface of the ovary has an abnormally large number of small follicles (the sac of fluid that grows around the egg under the influence of stimulating hormones from the brain).The ovaries are polycystic, with many small follicles scattered under the surface of the ovary (usually more than 10 or 15 in each ovary) and almost none in the middle of the ovary. In PCOS, these follicles remain immature, never growing to full development or ovulating to produce an egg capable of being fertilised.

This means that ovulation (releasing an egg) may rarely occur and can therefore lead to reduced fertility. In addition, periods may be irregular or absent. Other features include excess weight and body hair.

What are the symptoms of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome?

Symptoms that occur if you do not ovulate

  • Absent, irregular or light periods– periods can be as frequent as every five to six weeks, but might only occur once or twice a year, if at all
  • Fertility problems – you need to ovulate to become pregnant. You may not ovulate each month, and some women with PCOS do not ovulate at all. PCOS is one of the most common causes of infertility.

Symptoms that can occur if you make too much testosterone (male hormone)

  • increased facial and body hair (hirsutism): usually found under the chin, on the upper lip, forearms, lower legs and on the abdomen (usually a vertical line of hair up to the umbilicus) .This is the only symptom in some cases.
  • Acne: which may persist beyond the normal teenage years.
  • Thinning of scalp hair (similar to male pattern baldness) occurs in some cases .

Other symptoms

  • Being overweight or obese: a common finding in women with PCOS because their body cells are resistant to the sugar-control hormone insulin. This insulin resistance prevents cells using sugar in the blood normally and the sugar is stored as fat instead
  • Miscarriage (sometimes recurrent): one of the hormonal abnormalities in PCOS, a raised level of luteinising hormone (LH – a hormone produced by the brain that affects ovary function), seems to be linked with miscarriage. Women with raised LH have a higher miscarriage rate (65 per cent of pregnancies end in miscarriage) compared with those who have normal LH values (around 12 per cent miscarriage rate).
  • Depression or poor self-esteem may develop as a result of the other symptoms.

Diagnosis

At least two of the following occur in PCOS, and often all three:

  • At least 12 follicles (tiny cysts) develop in your ovaries.
  • The balance of hormones that you make in the ovaries is altered. In particular, your ovaries make more testosterone (male hormone) than normal. The main hormones that are made in the ovaries are oestrogen and progesterone – the main female hormones, but the ovaries also normally make small amounts of male hormones (androgens) such as testosterone.
  • You do not ovulate each month. Some women do not ovulate at all. In PCOS, although the ovaries usually have many follicles, they do not develop fully and so ovulation often does not occur. If you do not ovulate then you do not have a period.

Therefore, it is possible to have polycystic ovaries without the typical symptoms that are in the syndrome. It is also possible to have PCOS without multiple cysts in the ovary.

Incidence

PCOS is relatively common among infertile women. If affects up to 10 per cent of all women between the ages of 15 and 50. In the general population, around 25 per cent of women will have polycystic ovaries seen on an ultrasound examination. But most have no other symptoms or signs of PCOS and have no health problems. The ultrasound appearance is also found in up to 14 per cent of women on the oral contraceptive pill.

What causes polycystic ovary syndrome?

The exact cause is not totally clear. Several factors probably play a part. These include the following:

1. A small increase in the amount of insulin and cellular resistance to its actions– insulin is a hormone that you make in your pancreas and its main role is to control your blood sugar level. Insulin acts mainly on fat and muscle cells to stimulate them to take in sugar (glucose) when your blood sugar level rises (as excess levels are toxic to cells). Insulin also stimulates the ovaries to produce testosterone (male hormone).

Women with PCOS have what is called insulin resistance, meaning that cells in the body are resistant to the effect of a normal level of insulin. Thus, more insulin is produced to keep the blood sugar normal.  Raised levels of insulin in the bloodstream are thought to be the main underlying reason why PCOS develops because this causes the ovaries to make too much testosterone. A high level of insulin and testosterone interfere with the normal development of follicles in the ovaries. As a result, many follicles tend to develop but often do not develop fully. This causes problems with ovulation: hence period problems and reduced fertility. Increased testosterone levels in the blood cause excess hair growth on the body and thinning of the scalp hair.
2. Raised luteinising hormone (LH) in the early part of the menstrual cycle- This hormone is made in the pituitary gland and stimulates the ovaries to ovulate and works alongside insulin to promote testosterone production. A high level of LH is found in about 4 in 10 women with PCOS. A high LH level combined with a high insulin level means that the ovaries are likely to produce too much testosterone.

3. Lower amounts of the blood protein that binds to and carries all sex hormones (called sex-hormone-binding globulin)– this  means that testosterone levels are higher and therefore more active. Sex-hormone-binding globulin levels are reduced in insulin resistance (meaning there are high insulin levels).

4. Hereditary factors- one or more genes may make you more prone to developing PCOS. PCOS is not strictly inherited from parents to children, but it may run in some families.

5. Weight– Being overweight or obese is not the underlying cause of PCOS. However, if you are overweight or obese, excess fat can make insulin resistance worse, a contributing factor to PCOS. This may then cause the level of insulin to not only rise even further, but high levels of insulin can contribute to further weight gain, producing a ‘vicious cycle’.

Risk factors for PCOS

  • a tendency in the family towards Type 2 diabetes (non-insulin dependent diabetes)
  • a close relative who already has PCOS
  • a tendency towards early baldness in the men in the family (before 30 years of age).

Nutritional and lifestyle approaches to PCOS

Research has shown that weight control improves many aspects of PCOS. Menstrual cycles become more regular, testosterone levels are reduced, fat and sugar metabolism improves, and spontaneous pregnancy may follow. Obese patients do not have to reach the normal body mass index; a weight reduction of even a few percent has clinical benefits. This is because visceral fat (intra-abdominal fat located inside the abdominal cavity, packed between the organs) is metabolically more hormonally active, and weight loss of a few percent is associated with significant loss of visceral fat.

Weight management through nutrition and exercise is now recommended to all overweight/obese women with PCOS (Kovacs 2006).

So, here are some tips to help reduce the hormonal imbalances associated with PCOS:

1. Research has shown that fat intake should be restricted to not more than 30% of total calories with a low proportion of saturated fat, which is found mostly in animal products such as meat and dairy. Healthy fats such as olive oil, nuts/seeds, avocados, and fish oil, and avocado are important parts of a PCOS–friendly diet however (Farshchi et al 2007).

2. Choose whole grain carbohydrates. The insulin level in your blood goes up after you eat. It increase the most after you eat or drink something that contains carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are found in grains (such as bread, pasta, rice, cereal, and potatoes), vegetables, fruits and drinks such as soda and juice. Even if you eat two foods that have the same amount of carbohydrate, they may have a different effect on your insulin level. This effect has a lot to do with the type of carbohydrate the food has.

Whole grain carbohydrates which contain fibre such as brown rice, whole wheat bread and pasta, oats, barley, etc. have a low Glycaemic Index (GI). GI is a term used to describe how a food affects blood sugar; the higher a food raises blood sugar, the higher the glycaemic index. The benefit of consuming low GI foods is that it helps keep your insulin level down, and also keeps hunger at bay for longer, thus aiding weight management. Sugary foods or refined grains (such as white bread, white rice and white pasta) on the other hand have a high GI and can cause insulin levels to go up and are also not very filling (which means you may feel hungry again shortly after eating them.

3. Always have some protein with each meal or snack– combining a carbohydrate food with protein lowers the GI because protein slows the release of sugar from foods into the bloodstream. This helps reduce blood sugar spikes and therefore helps prevent high insulin levels. Protein can be found in lean meats, fish, poultry, dairy products, tofu, eggs, beans, nuts and seeds. Try to consume plenty of plant proteins which are often high in fibre and low in fat, rather than just sticking to animal proteins.

4. Have balanced meals containing carbohydrates, protein, and fat – combining foods that contain protein or fat with a carbohydrate will help to slow down the absorption of the carbohydrate and keep insulin levels low. For example, have almond butter or hummus on bread rather than just a piece of bread by itself. A typical plate of food should consist of ¼ carbohydrates, ¼ protein and the remaining ½ plate of vegetables!

5. Have smaller, more frequent meals (every 3-4 hours) to help control blood glucose levels. Your insulin will go up much more if you have 3 cups of pasta than if you have 1 cup of pasta. This means it’s usually better to have small meals and snacks during the day than it is to have fewer really big meals to keep your insulin level lower.

6. Exercise– Research has shown that at least 150 minutes of moderate or vigorous activity per week for diabetes prevention. This is because exercise helps  your cells become more receptive to the effects of insulin which in turn helps lower insulin levels (Knowler et al 2002).

7. Supplements– there are a number of supplements which can be very helpful to rebalance hormones. Recommendations are based on your individual health profile and are discussed at your visit.

References

Cahill D (2010) Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) last accessed 21.3.2013 online at http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/womenshealth/facts/pcos.htm

Farshchi H Rane A Love A Kennedy RL (2007) Diet and nutrition in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS): pointers for nutritional management.  J Obstet Gynaecol 27 8 762-73

Kenny T (2010) Polycystic Ovary Syndrome last accessed 21.3.2013 online at http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Polycystic-Ovary-Syndrome.htm

Knowler WC Barrett-Connor E Fowler SE et al (2002) Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin. N Engl J Med 346 393-403

Kovacs P (2006) Viewpoint: Lifestyle Modification is First-Line Treatment for PCOS last accessed 21.3.2013 online at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/522390