Drink instead of chew
It is not always easy to eat the recommended two hundred grams of vegetables and two pieces of fruit daily. A smoothie, fruit juice or vegetable juice seems like a quick solution. But is such a liquid variant a full-fledged replacement?
You can make a delicious smoothie by pureeing fresh fruit or vegetables with a blender or mixer. Most people also add water (ice cream), yogurt or milk. A homemade smoothie from fresh fruit contains a lot of vitamin C. In a packaged smoothie you will find slightly less nutrients.
juices
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 a replacement. It does not matter whether you drink freshly squeezed, chilled juice or juice from concentrate. There is still enough in these juices vitamin C.
Freshly squeezed juices contain slightly more vitamin C than the juices from a pack 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 vitamins can be lost due to the oxygen.
Fruit nectar and double drink are not fruit juices. In addition to water, sugar and additives have also been added to these juices.
Half
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 substitute for fruit and vegetables. They are therefore counted for a maximum of half of the recommended amount. So you can drink a glass of orange juice a day if you also have a minimum of a piece of fruit eat.
The effect of fruit and vegetables on health is greater than that of juice. How this works exactly is not entirely clear. We do know that juices are less fiber and vitamins.
sugars
Juices and smoothies naturally contain sugar and therefore energy. If you drink juice throughout the day, you will be taking in a lot of calories. A glass of fruit juice easily contains 65 kilocalories: for a smoothie you should count about 125 kilocalories. This of course depends on the fruits and any additives.
You also get less satisfied 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 sooner.
Finally, in addition to sugars, the fruit juices also contain a lot of acids. Both can be harmful to teeth: the glaze can wear on the teeth.
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