Best Buy Ever

ThailandTom

I am really enjoying something I have bought recently, it is one of those smoothie blender machines, it's great. I have said before that in my life since I have gotten into Buddhism and a little before, most of the major changes to my life style have come after blunt words have been handed down to me, sometimes insults. This time around a Thai friend of mine came over to my place without notice a few week ago and he was a little shocked and said that I was putting on weight and chuckled. I took it without anger but I must admit it did get to me a little. So I decided that is it, I am going to change my diet and start exercising again. My diet before was not that bad to be honest, it just want' balanced. I have been eating at least one meal of rice daily for 3 years normally including vegetables and meat, but not in enough quantity. I had been eating very little fruit as well, but the worst part of my diet was of course alcohol. That was obviously where the most of my weight was coming from.

So today has been a week and a day without alcohol and my diet has been balanced out. I LOVE this smoothie machine, as of today my 2 favourite concoctions are
1. Mango, banana, yoghurt, ice and a splash of milk.
2. Pineapple, purple grapes, yogurt and some ice.

Does anybody else use these blending smoothie machines at all or on a regular basis? I have always had an issues with textures of fruit, not the tastes but the textures which has lead to me never ever being able to finish an entire apple. With this machine it's great.
Also, what combinations do you like and would recommend?

riverflow

Anything with blueberries!!!!!! hahaa

ThailandTom

riverflow said:

Anything with blueberries!!!!!! hahaa

How did I not see that one coming!!? :rolleyes: They have gone up in price in the past week by 13baht! And you don't even get that many so I have not bought any yet.

lobster

Yum.

I am making pink lemonade with two juiced lemons and a sugarless squash/cordial.
Your mango/banana lassi sounds great. Try adding a drop or two of vanilla essence or a raw egg. Meal.

I use a hand blender rather than a smothie blender, as it an be used directly in the container or saucepan and then rinsed.

:clap:

federica

Be careful: Sugar (fructose) overload can lead to weight fluctuations. And too much of it isn't good for you.
Vary ingredients to include carrots, and other tasty less sugary ingredients, such as yoghurt....

ThailandTom

federica said:

Be careful: Sugar (fructose) overload can lead to weight fluctuations. And too much of it isn't good for you.
Vary ingredients to include carrots, and other tasty less sugary ingredients, such as yoghurt....

Who was this aimed at, me or buddha to be? lol I only said that because it rhymed. But I only make one smoothie a day, and that could be say one banana, one manago, yongurt, ice and milk. Not an overload. And then for lunch I normally have tuna salad or something. Rice in the morning obviously cos of the carbs.

Also @lobster my blender is the type you can blend, then unscrew the main part and it doubles it up as mug/cup type thing.

blu3ree

Kale cauiflower broccoli strawberries grapes orange juice some pineapple a banana and a few nuts

ThailandTom

blu3ree said:

Kale cauiflower broccoli strawberries grapes orange juice some pineapple a banana and a few nuts

All in one? Is that going to taste like, well I don't even know lol...

Nevermind

I started using a juicer awhile ago. Mostly making: carrot, apple, celery, orange, and a bit of ginger concoctions.

I think of it more like a kind of detox dietary item, or just cuz it's delicious. It terms of losing weight it's actually not so good, because even though it's 'live' food, as Frederica notes above it still contains a lot of fructose. Though blending is probably better than juicing because with juicing all the fiber is removed.

If you're really interested in losing weight I think the best advice is to simply eat live foods and stay away from anything processed or that contains refined sugar. High fructose corn syrup is the worst. The body processes it like a toxin and coverts to fat, in addition to causing other imbalances.

ThailandTom

Ok, here is the background information, I am 5'11 and I weigh 78KG, hardly overweight by all accounts, but I just would like to tone my body a little and get healthier. What exactly is different from eating 1 banana with some slices of pineapple and yoghurt normally than if you blend it..? People seem to be making it out to be really dangerous due to the fructose syrup, yet that is not exactly a huge portion of fruit is it?

Straight_Man

Fructose highs and lows can cause temporary imbalances.

If you blend, you drink more fructose in easier digestible form. If you eat the same, the body gets the fructose into metabolism slower by some amount. Thus less surging of fructose highs and lows suddenly more.

Beej

you can put soooo many different things in a blender, and it usally has some taste that identifies over the other less dominant flavors. you can put spinach or kale or other superfoods and never even taste them, yet still reep the benefits. i prefer my smoothies to have a bananna flavor, so i am a little heavier on bananna, but lots of other good stuff is still in there. its so smooth, its smoove.

ThailandTom

I have just done a spot of research and I cannot find much in the way of bad responses to daily smoothies being unhealthy, in fact quite the opposite. As long as you do not already have blood sugar issues and don't use silly amounts of fruit, it is a great source of vitamins and fiber..

Nevermind

ThailandTom said:

Ok, here is the background information, I am 5'11 and I weigh 78KG, hardly overweight by all accounts, but I just would like to tone my body a little and get healthier. What exactly is different from eating 1 banana with some slices of pineapple and yoghurt normally than if you blend it..? People seem to be making it out to be really dangerous due to the fructose syrup, yet that is not exactly a huge portion of fruit is it?

At 5'11," 170 lbs is pretty much an ideal weight. I happen to know because that's my height also. You might only be lacking in mussel development, which is easily achieved with a workout routine or regular sport activity.

A couple of things regarding fructose, for one the possible difference between raw fruit and blended fruit has to do with the fiber. I don't know but blending might damage the fiber to a degree that it's not processed by the body well (doesn't regulate the absorption of fructose well as Straight_Man says, if nothing else). Obviously our species did not evolve with blenders, so it may be somewhat unnatural in that sense.

Fiber has many beneficial qualities and is all but absent in processed food.

There's also a difference between natural fructose and something like 'high fructose corn syrup'. The latter has many different names, so buyer beware. HFCS is made chemically and is so unnatural that the body processes it as a toxin, or rather it can only be processed by the liver. HFCS is only beneficial to processed food producers, but not at all to consumers, because it's sweeter and a lot cheaper to produce, it increases shelf-life, and because of the way it's processed by the body, the imbalances it causes, it has an addictive quality.

ThailandTom

Nevermind said:

ThailandTom said:

Ok, here is the background information, I am 5'11 and I weigh 78KG, hardly overweight by all accounts, but I just would like to tone my body a little and get healthier. What exactly is different from eating 1 banana with some slices of pineapple and yoghurt normally than if you blend it..? People seem to be making it out to be really dangerous due to the fructose syrup, yet that is not exactly a huge portion of fruit is it?

At 5'11," 170 lbs is pretty much an ideal weight. I happen to know because that's my height also. You might only be lacking in mussel development, which is easily achieved with a workout routine or regular sport activity.

A couple of things regarding fructose, for one the possible difference between raw fruit and blended fruit has to do with the fiber. I don't know but blending might damage the fiber to a degree that it's not processed by the body well (doesn't regulate the absorption of fructose well as Straight_Man says, if nothing else). Obviously our species did not evolve with blenders, so it may be somewhat unnatural in that sense.

Fiber has many beneficial qualities and is all but absent in processed food.

There's also a difference between natural fructose and something like 'high fructose corn syrup'. The latter has many different names, so buyer beware. HFCS is made chemically and is so unnatural that the body processes it as a toxin, or rather it can only be processed by the liver. HFCS is only beneficial to processed food producers, but not at all to consumers, because it's sweeter and a lot cheaper to produce, it increases shelf-life, and because of the way it's processed by the body, the imbalances it causes, it has an addictive quality.

Thanks for info on fiber, I personally have not come across any studies that have shown the fiber to be destroyed or tarnished in any way by blending, however I have only done a bit of research. It did cross my min yesterday that the body naturally breaks down food but a lot of that happens in the mouth from the amalayse in your saliva and of course due to chewing. I don't eat processed foods, I have from time to time but never made a habit of it.

I know I am not essentially 'fat' but I did have a kind of beer belly emerging and I would like to tone my muscle, like I have mentioned. So I have been working out every other day giving my body time to repair and eating a balanced diet, quit drinking and already after 2 weeks there is a noticeable change in my gut, slight but noticeable.

Lee82

I have one though I should really start using it more. I had an issue at first with texture but have it sorted now; add ice cubes and natural yoghurt (low fat of course) until you get it to the texture you want, trial and error. They both help to give a smoother texture without adding many calories and help bulk up the amount of smoothie for the same amount of fruit. I usually stick to fairly basic fruits of banana, oranges, grapes and apples, in different quantities and combinations, but I like it that way.