Juice or smoothie: substitute for fruit?

1. It is not always easy to eat the recommended two hundred grams of vegetables and two pieces of fruit every day. A smoothie, fruit juice or vegetable juice seems like a quick solution. But is such a liquid variant a full replacement?

1. By mashing fresh fruit or vegetables with a blender or mixer you can make a delicious smoothie. Most people also add water (ice), yogurt or milk. A homemade smoothie made from fresh fruit contains a lot of vitamin C. In a packaged smoothie you will find slightly less nutrients.

Juices

1. Fruit juices are also prepared from fruit or vegetables. Nutrients are lost in this preparation, so a juice cannot completely replace fruit. Orange juice, grapefruit juice and pineapple juice still have enough good nutrients to be substitutes. It does not matter whether you drink freshly squeezed, chilled juice or juice from concentrate. These juices still contain enough vitamin C. Freshly squeezed juices do contain slightly more vitamin C than the juices from a carton or bottle. Orange juice with pulp also contains dietary fiber. After opening a package, the amount of vitamin C decreases, by about 2 percent per day. Even if you shake juice, more vitamin can be lost due to the oxygen. Fruit nectar and double drink are not fruit juices. In addition to water, sugar and additives are also added to these juices.

Half

1. The health benefits of a smoothie are comparable to fruit if you prepare the smoothie with fresh fruit just before use. A packaged smoothie and vegetable and fruit juice are not a full-fledged substitute for fruit and vegetables. They are therefore counted for a maximum of half of the recommended amount. So you can easily drink a glass of orange juice a day if you also eat at least one piece of fruit. The effect of fruit and vegetables on health is greater than that of juice. It is not entirely clear how that works. We do know that juices contain less fiber and vitamins.

Sugars

1. Juices and smoothies naturally contain sugar and therefore energy. Drinking juice all day will give you a lot of calories. A glass of fruit juice easily contains 65 kilocalories: for a smoothie you have to count about 125 kilocalories. This of course depends on the fruits and any additives. You also get less satiated from a smoothie or fruit juice than from eating a piece of fruit or vegetable. This increases the chance that you will get hungry again. Finally, the fruit juices contain a lot of acids in addition to sugars. Both can be harmful to the teeth: the enamel on the teeth can wear out.

Recipes:

1. Strawberry and banana smoothie Apricot shake Ginger and pear smoothie Blueberry shake Pineapple and coconut smoothie