High Performance Blenders Destroy All Smoothie and Soup Raw Nutrients
By Thomas Fox
The most-sought after high performance blenders are the Vita Mix 5200, 4500 Turbo Blender, the Vita Prep 3 hp blender, Waring commercial 3.5 hp blenders, and Blendtec HP3A blender, Total Blender, EZ Blender, 20 AMP 3.5 hp Smoother, etc. Theses blenders are so popular among raw food enthusiasts because their 2 hp, 3 hp, and 3.5 hp motors create 25,000 to 45,000 rotations per minute (RPM). It is almost a rat race for power, torque, RPM, speed, and who has the fanciest raw food emulsifier.
High RPM in these high performance blenders, the blade torque, and cutting power lead to the shear reduction of all ingredients in the blender container during the smoothie or raw food soup blending cycles. It has been suggested that the ingredients are hacked down into a cellular-size level, which enhances nutritional absorption. Digestion is becoming easier with foods that are consumed as a liquid. Of course, chewing action is an event that creates enzymes that help the digestion of foods. If only liquids are taken in, perhaps imitated chewing action can fake the body into thinking that it is time to produce these enzymes.
Ideally a raw smoothie is consumed within minutes or perhaps even seconds of its completion. Other meals in liquid form may have been previously processed and cooked to death. There are hardly any valuable live-nutritional ingredients left. Even when a smoothie is prepared from fresh and raw ingredients but consumed later on, perhaps hours later, the nutritional freshness will dramatically decline according to the exposure of air, it is still better than consuming non or these pre-cooked vegetables.
Some raw food experts have suggested that raw smoothies can be stored in the refrigerator in a canteen or vacuum container a.k.a. thermos containers. We have seen vacuum pumps that suck out the air from a canteen so the nutritional levels of raw ingredients last longer. Oxidation however occurs when oxygen gets into a liquid during the blending process. Oxidation will destroy or age the food nutritional value faster. The longer foods are exposed to this oxidation the smaller its value becomes in less time. A vacuum pump can not pump out the air that is already emulsified and blended into the smoothie itself. Such pump can only create a vacuum in a container in respect to the net space left.
Oxidation apparently even occurs during the blending cycle process within the smoothie liquid. You may have noticed your self that air is being added to the smoothie substance while blending. This is evident in the volume of the ingredients expanding during the blending. You can also see some foamy substance once the blending cycle is finished. Some ingredients create more foam than others. But there is just not enough scientific evidence of oxidation affecting a smoothie nutritional quality as early as the raw ingredients are blended. If there is some kind of a derogatory effect, it has certainly not been measured yet, or it is really insignificant. More scientific research is needed.
Ideally one might want to jug down a smoothie during the blending to prevent any nutritional value losses. That is not possible yet. And feeding raw smoothies or soups fresh with a tube directly from a vacuum container into the stomach may really be an over-reaction with your oxidation concerns. When the smoothie is finished, perhaps it should be consumed fresh and completely in a comfortable manner, not saving anything for later.
The fresh consumption of raw vegetables and fruits is already a huge improvement over not eating these vegetables or fruits at all. Some raw enthusiasts have reported that they are taking their smoothies to work for later consumption. That too is still better than not drinking this nutrient-rich (though quickly dying) meal at all. Or perhaps even a Break Room blender sponsored by your employer may increase the fresh raw smoothie or soup intake so you don”t have to carry around a thermos canteen, a vacuum pump, and an old smoothie inside it.
It is true that blenders and the blending with high performance blenders of raw fruits and vegetables can destroy the ingredients. But nutrients are enhanced during the blending cycle to its fullest potential. Phyto-nutrients are released. The raw vegetables and fruits finished-blended into soup or smoothies are completely energized to give you all of its values available, subject to harvest ripeness. These blended ingredients become also vulnerable to the elements of death in every form and very quickly.
We suggest that you consume the smoothies or fresh and raw soups in a timely manner so you get the most out of its nutrients. Waiting too long simply means that it was better to drink the raw smoothie in the time you had than consuming only precooked meals or not eating vegetables and fruits at all. And waiting too long also means that you simply have reduced the nutrient value by the time you have waited for consumption.
The timely manner specifically in respect to freshness of its nutritional worth is difficult to determine. Drinking the smoothie too rapidly without the imitated chewing action, gushing it down, is not good either. But it is still better than waiting too long and allowing oxidation to darken your nutrition (visible when the smoothie changes color). Ideally you should chew and slowly drink or consume your meal while enjoying it with your favorite company. But don”t take too much time.
Whatever too much time really means cannot be scientifically defined either. Perhaps experience will tell what is too fast or what is too slow of a soup or smoothie consumption. Hopefully you are not quitting your fresh raw smoothie or soup intake with your first experience.
About The Author
T. Fox researches healthy smoothies ,a mix of blenders and health ingredients, at the at the workplace , resulting in work collaboration. People perform better when they are healthy.