In a high-speed cavitation blender such as a Vitamix, air is pulled in to the mixture. As air is pulled in, the nutrients known as antioxidants get used up by all of the extra oxygen that's flooding into the food.

The antioxidants were there to prevent the food from oxidizing, and browning. When we blend, eventually those antioxidants get damaged or used up. We have all noticed that when we blend food in a Vitamix or similar blender, it changes color, or oxidizes, fairly quickly.

If we did the exact same process but with a stick blender (also called an “immersion blender”), we can see that we don't lose as many antioxidants. Whereas the mixture turns brown very quickly in a cavitation blender, it stays its natural color when the blending is done with an immersion blender. We can see the loss of antioxidants happening, which could be a problem.

But what about the fiber, water, protein, fat, carbohydrates, minerals? All of these nutrients are all still in the smoothie, essentially unchanged. Did we lose 85% of the nutrients? No!

I couldn't keep myself from asking further questions. I asked the speaker, “Which nutrients are you talking about? How can we lose 85% of ALL the nutrients?” And the response began, “When we blend our food in a cavitation blender like a Vitamix for 2 minutes…” But normally if I'm blending a smoothie or a salad dressing, I blend for two, three or maybe five seconds. 120 seconds is a long time to blend—you would have a hot soup if you blended for that long.

When we blend for 2 minutes, certainly some nutrients are lost. Could we have lost 85% of the protein, the fiber, the water, the carbs? None of that could have possibly happened.

Could we have lost 85% of the antioxidants? Maybe if you blend for 2 minutes in a cavitation blender, you lose a lot of the antioxidants, but exactly 85%? How critical is that anyway? Well, unless you're living on blended food, it's probably not that important, because you're getting plenty of antioxidants in everything else you eat. Every time you eat some berries, have a salad, eat a mango or some melon, you're taking in tons of antioxidants because fruits and vegetables are the highest in antioxidants of all foods.

Just because a raw food leader said it, doesn't mean it's automatically gospel.

Be willing to look deeper into whatever you hear or read about. Think about it. Examine what was said. Break it down. Ask some questions and see if maybe what was said was not exactly what was meant. Or ask yourself if maybe the story was slanted, in order to make a point.

What I'm encouraging you to do really is just keep your head on straight. Be willing to listen to what people tell you. But then question the material, even if it comes from me—and ask yourself if what you heard could possibly be true?