When living in a humid city, getting a glass of blended drink can be such a refreshing relief. But, apart from being a great refreshment option, blending food has also been known to be one of the easiest ways to eat our healthy food and making them more attractive. Because of the popularity of blending as a diet craze, it has also been met with a lot of apprehensions, including its impact on the actual nutrients contained by the fresh food.
Let’s take a look at the benefit and some cons of blending your fruits and vegetables.
Benefits
One of the best things about blending food (compared to juicing) is that you retain the fibre, which is essential in aiding proper digestion. As already established, high fibre food is essential for weight loss, and also keep risks of diabetes at bay. Fibre also makes you feel full easier and sooner, so for those who are on a diet, chugging a glass of blended fruit will already make you feel full like you have eaten a meal.
Of course, smoothies and fruit shakes are also fun to consume. You can consume as it is, or mix it up with other ingredients to make it more interesting, such as adding milk, yoghurt, almonds, and chia seeds. This can already serve as your meal replacement.
Lastly, blending is pretty straightforward, not to mention that blenders are significantly cheaper than juicers. Blending takes less preparation and can be done in as fast as five minutes.
Disadvantages
Unfortunately, in our effort to make shakes and smoothies more enjoyable, we are also gradually adding up more calories to that single glass drink. To address this, it is important to be strategic with the ingredients that you include in your smoothie and make sure that it stays within a conservative amount of sugar and calories. Moreover, the shelf life of most blended drinks is also shorter than juices and sliced counterpart. This means that they lose calories faster, so you may have to consume it within 15 minutes or less.
So does blending the nutritious food really take out their nutrients? The simple answer is no. Although a lot of factors will have to be considered in order to make the most of these nutrients, including timing and choices of ingredients. Otherwise, having a healthy drink of fruits and vegetables is still better than going for processed, sugary drinks. You get the fibre plus dense nutrition in one glass.
Other Alternatives
Apart from blended drinks, juicing is, of course, another excellent option for a quick nutrition boost. Most juicers work fast enough now, so you do not have to do much to extract the juices. They are best consumed with an empty stomach so your body can efficiently absorb the nutrients. If you need want to be more creative with your healthy meals, fruits and vegetable slaw is also a good option. You can play with its flavours and even mix and match it with your other meals.
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