WHICH ONE IS BETTER?

Does one offer more health benefits than the other?

Juices and blended smoothies both play an important role in any health and wellness program. I personally believe that both juicing and blending are very beneficial and in different ways.

What’s The Difference?

Let’s talk Juicing first.

Juicing is a process which extracts water and nutrients from produce and discards the indigestible fiber.

Without all the fiber, your digestive system doesn’t have to work as hard to break down the food and absorb the nutrients. In fact, it makes the nutrients more readily available to the body in much larger quantities than if you were to eat the fruits and vegetables whole.

If you have a sensitive digestive system or illness that inhibits your body from processing fiber easily, this is a big advantage to juicing. The fiber in vegitables helps slow down the digestive process and provides a steady release of nutrients into the blood stream (an infusion of nutrients).

Freshly squeezed or pressed veggie juices are almost always a part of most healing and detoxification programs because they are so nutrient rich and nourish and restore the body down to the cells.

Note: When you remove the fiber from the produce by juicing, the juice is absorbed into your blood stream ore quickly. If you are only juicing fruits (which isn’t recommended), this would cause a rapid spike in blood sugar and unstable blood sugar levels can lead to mood swings, energy loss, memory problems and more!

Also, without alll the fiber, some people tend to get hungry again quicker when juicing.

What about Blending?

Smoothies are made by blending entire fruit or vegetable, skin and all and contain all of the fiber from the vegetables blended in a high-speed blender. 

The process of blending breaks the fiber apart making the fruit and vegetables easier to digest. A bonuse is that it has a slower, even release of nutrients into the blood stream and avoids blood sugar spikes. Because the fiber stays in the smoothis, smoothies tend to be more filling. They are generally faster ansd easier to make than juice. A smoothie in the morning is a great way to start your day and as well a quick and nutritious snack.

By including the fiber in your smoothie, the volume will increase.

Note: you can pack more servings of veggies and fruit into a single serving of juice than you can into a smoothie.

The Rules to good juicing or blending

1. It’s best not to combine fruits and vegetables (unless it’s apple). This can affect how well your digestive enzymes function.

Vegetables like carrots, beetroots, broccoli and zucchini don’t combine well with fruit due to their high starch content. In his book Food Combining Made Easy, Dr. Herbert Shelton explains that starchy foods have to be eaten alone because starches are digested with enzymes different from those used for any other food group. Combining starchy foods with fruit may cause fermentation and gas. However, Dr. Shelton found that green leafy veggies combine well with pretty much everything.

2. Try to drink your juice from a centrifugal juicer or blended green smoothie right away.  These types cause heat during the process which destroys some of the enzymes in the fruits and vegetables you’re juicing. The heat also oxidizes those nutrients, producing less nutritious juice than a cold-press or masticating juicer. After about 15 minutes, light and air will begin destroying much of the nutrients. If you can’t drink it straight away, transfer to a dark airtight container and refrigerate until you’re ready.

UsE The Right Equipment

To get the most benefit from your juices and smoothies, it’s important to use the right equipment. Invest in a good-quality juicer. Cheaper, centrifugal juicers introduce heat and oxygen and destroy the enzymes and nutrients in your fruits and vegetables. While it may cost you a bit more initially, a premium cold-press juicer will produce a superior-quality juice and allow you to extract more from your fruit and vegetables, saving expense in the long-term. The machines themselves will also generally last longer. In contrast to the rough extraction of centrifugal juicers, mastication or cold-press juicers compress fruit and vegetables to ‘squeeze’ out their juice.

The same goes for a blender. You want a blender that is gentler on greens and doesn’t heat up the enzymes as it’s doint its thing. I have learned that high speed blenders break down the food into much tinier pieces than low speed ones and these can be much easier absorbed by our bodies, giving us the most food value per unit of food. High speed blenders also blend so thoroughly that they break down cell walls, unlocking the maximum amount of nutrients, antioxidants and phytonutrients.

Investing in your health by buying a quality juicer or blender is totally worth it. I personal use a Hurom Elite Juicer and also have a Vitamix blender – both investments and well worth it.

Sources: Food Matters, Inc : The Wellness Warrior AU ; Dr. Sears

 

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Cindy Nunnery
cindy@cindynunnery.com
Facebook: Cindy Nunnery
Twitter: @cindynunnery

“I teach you how to Look Your Best. Feel Your Best. For Good.”

P.S. Don’t think you are getting the nutrition you need for vitality and energy? Need a nutrition boost? The Lifestyle Nutrition Program 5-Day Jumpstart program is what you need.

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