Smoothies are all the rage and when you drink one, you feel awesome. You just consumed enough fruit and vegetables to get you through the day!

The goal is wonderful, but the vehicle isn’t.

Here’s the thing. Liquids process so quickly in your body, your body hardly knows they’re there. That’s true no matter what you drink which is why water is always your best bet.

But you drink smoothies partly for the fiber they contain. Doesn’t that take a little longer for your body to process? Nope.

In a smoothie, the fiber is so fine it passes into your system without much digestion which is very different than eating fruit or vegetables. Picture fiber in fruit and vegetables as a large block of ice and think about what would melt faster – a large block? Or crushed ice? You want to consume that large block of fiber, like a large block of ice, to give your stomach time to digest rather than have the fiber pass right through you. Fiber is kind of like a sweeper our bodies use to clean out junk from our systems. If the fiber isn’t big enough to carry waste, waste continues to circulate in your system.

And because the fiber in a smoothie is all chopped up, you get hungrier faster after you drink a smoothie than if you ate a piece of fruit or sat down to consume a veggie salad. Packaged smoothies can also contain a lot of ingredients you don’t want in your body, like added sugar. Always read those labels…

And be sensible. You wouldn’t sit down and eat an apple, a bowl of spinach, a banana, some berries and a cup of yogurt in about 5 minutes, so why consume that much at once in a smoothie? Why not take your time and give your body the time and fiber it needs to process?

Bottom line: You want to be healthy to stay focused and be productive. And shortcuts, while tempting, are not usually a great way to stay healthy or to get your best work done.

We’re finally having summer in Maine and it’s delightfully hot. I love the contrast of the seasons. It makes you deeply appreciate first for some heat and later for the cold. I’ll leave you with a recent sunset at Kettle Cove, ME. Deep breath. 🙂

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