Juicing Versus Blending- Which is Better?

Good Evening and Happy Passover/Easter!

I hope everyone is having a lovely day, filled with lots of love, laughter and joy.

So today we are going to dive into the topic- Juicing versus Blending!

I personally think they are both GREAT, but I thought I would share the differences and see what fits into your lifestyle better.

Welcome to the wonderful world of liquid fortification. Juicing and Blending is all the rage right now and the trend couldn’t come at a better time.

Recently. the National Cancer Institute began a campaign to get people to do one simple thing – EAT MORE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. Specifically, the recommendation was to eat five servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables a day, and their reasoning was simple: a diet high in fruits and vegetables will prevent or cure a wide range of ailments.

To put this in perspective, it takes about 1 lb of produce to make a cup of fresh juice, so just one glass insures that you get the minimum daily requirement of fruits and veggies.  Pretty awesome, right?

So let’s dive into the differences between Juicing and Smoothies?

JUICE:

Juicing is the method of extracting juice, and only juice, from fruits or vegetables. All of the pulp and fiber is removed, which allows the nutrients to assimilate very quickly into your body and bloodstream – this gives your immune system an immediate boost and feeds your cells quick, healing nutrition.  I get a juice HIGH after consuming my daily green juice and that is because it assimilates so quickly in the body.

SMOOTHIE:

A smoothie is a blend of whole foods. Nothing is removed (except for non-edible things, like the peel of a banana and rind of pineapple). Smoothies are generally more of a thick, creamy texture than juices.  You can also add in all sorts of extra superfood goodies into your smoothie, like chia seeds, flaxseeds,hemp seeds, goji berries, bee pollen, spirulina, and the list goes on and on.

WHAT’S “BETTER”?

Juices and smoothies are both amazing for different reasons.

When you juice, you can drink the nutrients of TONS of fruits/vegetables in one glass, since the pulp/fiber is left behind. I’ve made juice with 1 head of kale, 1 head of Spinach and 1 head of Romaine, which is way more than I could ever drink in a smoothie! Your digestive system gets a break because there are no solids to break down.

Smoothies leave nothing behind – you drink the whole food. You can jazz your smoothies up with creamy almond butter and avocados for healthy fats and all sorts of extra superfood goodies.  Smoothies are more rich and super filling. While smoothies are easier on your digestion than solid foods, they are not as cleansing as juices.

If you you really want to detox your body and give your digestive system a break then JUICE is the way to go.

If you want an easy way to  incorporate fruits and veggies  fiber and healthy fats to your diet then give SMOOTHIES  a try!

Ideally, you’ll do a little bit of both.  There’s nothing I love more than my Maca Milkshake, and my favorite green juice, pure BLISS in glass. BOTH are amazing!

Here are two recipes to get you started:

SMOOTHIE

I have made it with and without the stevia and could not really tell the difference.

JUICE