University Study: Can the Vitamix blender give your body access to hidden plant nutrition?

If you are trying to eat healthy, you probably pay close attention to how much nutrients particular foods contain. It seems to be the ultimate measure of how well you eat. Very few people stop to think about how much nutrients their body actually receives, and this is a question definitely worth asking.

It seems logical that if you consume, for example, fruit or vegetables high in vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, then all of them will flow into your cells and charge them with new vitality. In reality the process of transferring nutrients from the food you eat into the cells of your body is not that straightforward.

Several factors affect the efficiency of food assimilation. One of them is the size of the food particles that enter the digestive tract. Our digestive enzymes work on the surface of the food fragments. That means that the smaller these fragments are, the bigger is the surface participating in digestion, and the more nutrients get absorbed. That is why you often will hear that chewing each mouthful of your food 30, 50 or even 100 times is beneficial for your health (the number differs in different sources).

How many times do you chew your food? Is the number even remotely close to 30? How often do you grab a bite in a hurry and don’t take your time to chew it properly? Each time you are compromising on the amount of nutrients to be digested.

If you care about quality of your nutrition but chewing your food for hours does not really fit in your busy lifestyle, do not get upset. There is a work around. You just need a blender.

It makes sense that a good blender will save your time. Some blenders go beyond this. They will also help you maximize the nutritional value of foods you eat.

The study conducted at the University of Toronto in 2008 compared the effect of the high-speed Vitamix 5200 blender to the results from a standard household blender and to the effects of chewing. Carrot, tomato and strawberry were tested. The study established that the size of food particles produced by Vitamix is significantly smaller than the size of food particles that produced by chewing. The study also concluded that Vitamix 5200 blends food into much smaller particles than does a standard blender.

You might have heard that significant part of plant nutrients are contained in the skin of fruits and vegetables. These skins are also the hardest part to chew into small particles. For example, tomato skins often go through your digestive tract practically unchanged. That is where Vitamix 5200 can help. It will easily liquefy skins, stems and seeds releasing nutrients that your body would not be able to access otherwise.

The study confirmed another valuable feature of the Vitamix 5200. It has the unique ability to break cell walls of fruits and vegetables, which may further enhance nutrients bioavailability. Again, this sets the high-speed blender apart from an average household blender. And it sets it miles and miles apart from the effects of chewing.

Think about the implications of the Vitamix technology for your health. How about a more wholesome soup? A more nutritious veggie dip? Maybe guilt-free ice cream? Two more words that can boost the quality of your nutrition: green smoothie.

Chances are you don’t yet take your greens in liquid form. Still, you may have heard about green smoothies. They are getting more and more popular as more people realize their health benefits and convenience.

When was the last time you chewed on that sturdy raw leaf of kale? Let’s guess. Never? Yet kale is a miraculous source of calcium, beta carotene,vitamins K and C and more nutrients. It is one of those “super veggies”. And like most of them, it is not easy to chew. Traditional kale recipes require cooking. But cooking ruthlessly strips off precious nutrients.

A Vitamix machine in your kitchen will give you a completely new way to get all the benefits of kale (and other hard to chew greens). You can just blend them and drink them! Green smoothies recipes usually combine fruits and vegetables to achieve both delicious taste of a fruit smoothie and health benefits of a green salad.

As a final note, we would like to share one of our favourite Vitamix recipes with you, the delicious Kale-Pear Smoothie.

Kale-Pear Green Smoothie

Servings: 4