Hi,
In a pinch, I had to drink their Green smoothie instead of making my own green smoothies. (I was away from my kitchen for the weekend.) It is flash-pasteurized and cold-pressed. Does anyone know how “unraw” this product is? I actually had more energy on it than after my own smoothies.
Thanks,
Nini
Flash pasteurization is unraw. The food is heated to 160-165 Fahrenheit for half a minute. It preserves the fresh taste but kills everything alive that passes through – including the fruits/vegetables. Remember, higher temperatures are required to kill bacteria than to kill enzymes.
Plus you have no idea how long the product has been sitting on the shelf and even if it’s only been one day, so much of the nutrient content has been depleted. After all, how long would you want your green smoothies to sit in the refrigerator before yuo drank them? You should always drink things you’ve juiced/blended within 20 minutes if possible and you know that bottled smoothie has been sitting there longer than 20 minutes!
More energy right after eating does not always indicate higher quality food. For example, you will have more energy right after eating simple sugars than after eating more complex sugars. Or you will have more energy after eating carrot juice than after eating whole carrots because you’ve stripped out the fiber and dumped all the sugars into your system at once instead of slowly releasing them as your body digests the carrots.
If you’re going to eat flash pasteurized foods, it’s best to stick to only low glycemic vegetables and no fruits or high glycemic veggies like carrots. Pasteurized fruit is especially bad for recovering diabetics.
If you’re away from your kitchen and can’t get your smoothies and there isn’t a quality juicebar nearby, you can still get your greens by “wilting” them. Buy some spinach and put it in a bowl (or if it’s in a tub, you can prepare it right there in the container) and start squeezing and massaging it. The juices will come out and it will start to shrink. A tiny bit of salt will make it wilt faster but I’ve found that you can wilt it just fine without any salt. You can add some fresh lemon juice for flavor, and just keep squeezing it for about a minute and it will wilt down like cooked spinach (but taste so much better!) and the juices will come out (you can drink them. They are tasty!) and when you’re done squeezing, you’ve just turned a pound of greens into something about the size of a couple of side dishes that you can easily eat up with a fork.
Slice up some fruit and eat your wilted greens and you’ve just gotten all the ingredients of a green smoothie without a blender or any other kitchen tool besides your hands and a knife if you sliced the fruit. It’s a great way to get your greens in if you’re travelling or otherwise can’t use your kitchen tools.
Thanks so much, Sparrowrose. I really hadn’t thought it through. Well said. I do love massaged spinach with salt and garlic…mmmmm.