What Makes Smoothie Diet So Different?

Abstract

Be it morning breakfast, mid meals hunger pangs or after workout fuel, Smoothie is a big Yes for all them. Along with filling your tummy it also refreshes the mind. Some people take smoothie in their daily life religiously as along with being tasty, it is very easy and quick to prepare and healthy as well. You can just whip one glass of smoothie with your favorite fruits quickly while leaving your house or when the hunger strikes between meals. Now the question arises is it healthy to take smoothie daily? So this completely depends upon you—how? It’s because you can add whatever vegetable or fruit you want to add in your smoothie, hence taking the variety and usually the nutritious one will be a right choice. In this article we will learn about the large possibilities of smoothies and its health benefits.

Introduction

Today’s lifestyle have become much hectic and faster as compared to the earlier and not everyone have time nowadays to eat all different kind of fruits and veggies daily which is must for a healthy body. For this problem there is diet naming smoothie. Instead of eating them one by one and after a gap of minutes or hours it would be better if you blend them all. Smoothie is the best diet for a “human on go”. Research have shown that the food taken as a whole make you feel full for very less time as compared to the smoothie after which you don’t feel hungry for couple of hours. This makes it amazing choice if you are trying to loose weight. Also do not confuse between smoothies and shakes, both are completely different. In smoothies the ingredients are fruits, nuts and yoghurt while in shakes contents are milk, fruits, ice and artificial flavors are added in it.

There are several benefits of taking smoothies daily and some of them are mentioned below:

1. Including smoothie in your daily diet means that you are taking at least one serving of fruit and sometime veggies at least once a day. Fruits and vegetables are packed with nutrients and vitamins and taking it in the blended form means you gulped up a glass full of healthy nutrients. Also it becomes very unlikely to take all these fruits and veggies daily in your diet as a whole.
2. You can boost your protein intake by adding the seeds, almond butter and good quality protein powder. However the veggies and yoghurt, especially if the yoghurt is Greek than it multiples the protein amount in smoothie to much extent which can help you various ways like if you are trying to build muscles or generally fulfill the daily requirement of protein.
3. It can be used in both the ways for increasing or suppressing the hunger pangs. On one side as you don’t need to chew it which saves your one step of digestion and also it is easily absorbed so even having in between meals, won’t stop you from having regular meals. On the second hand if you add extra protein powder and veggies that are high in protein than these make you feel full for longer time as compared to normal food.

However everything has two sides, positive and negative. I already mentioned the positive side of adding smoothie in your daily diet. Now let’s give a glance on cons as well.

1. Smoothies are loaded with sugar and taking them on daily basis can spike up your blood sugar level. The sugar intake with the smoothie can be worse if you are going for market made smoothies as they contain high amount of sugar and sugar syrups. However if you are making them at home, fortunately you can decrease the level to minimum by adding whole fruits and unsweetened yoghurt. You can also add water in it to reduce the amount of sugar.
2. Never use smoothie as a meal replacer as it is just a complementary snack along with your daily regular meals. As smoothie contains only a fixed and restricted amount of nutrients hence do not skip meals. It should only be taken to compliment your diet not the only diet you are taking whole day.
3. Make smoothie daily for 2-3 times a day can be time consuming along with washing the blender every time. Also we are not always in access to the blender and ingredient when we are at work or out of home.
4. When you are smoothie meals for weight loss than yes it is very effective as you will lose weight at good pace as you are replacing your solid food with liquid diet that too rich in protein and healthy fats unlike your daily diet. But it is not possible to stay on this diet lifelong and as soon as you shift back to your regular diet, you also gain weight.
5. As some people take smoothies as a detox diet, however there are no strong evidences which suggest its mentioned effect. Also the body detoxes itself through excretion and digestion so yet no exact detox diet is confirmed.

Smoothies can also become calorie bomb if you add wrong choice of foods, hence while selecting the ingredients for your smoothie diet you must be careful. Do not add dried fruits which are high in calories and also avoid sugar or synthetic sugar syrups. Instead add avocado, peanut butter and shredded coconut. Always prefer to make these smoothies at home rather than taking them from some food store as in marketed smoothies there is too much of refined sugar which is really bad for your body. Smoothies can be a convenient way to add fruits, veggies and proteins in your diet which nourishes the body and also provides essential minerals and vitamins to your body. Hence, the main focus should be on adding whole nutrient foods in your smoothies.

At the end I will conclude with the advice that always starting any new form of diet consult a dietician so that you don’t suffer any sort of deficiency or get used to any bad dietary habit.