This is a much talked about subject! Should you juice and should you blend? My opinion is, do both! Both techniques have their wonderful health benefits and should have a place in your daily/weekly routine.

Juicing

I think the infographic above does a great job at showing us the differences between the two! The main one being, juicing veggies and fruits removes the indigestible fiber requiring little digesting & can be assimilated immediately into the blood stream, allowing the digestive system to rest. This type of juice is important for people with severe nutritional deficiencies or irritable digestive systems who often cannot tolerate any fiber. I personally prefer juices immediately after a weights session (due to the high starch & sugar content) to replenish my glycogen stores. There’s a cafe across from my gym which makes great fresh juices, so a couple of times a week I will have one of them with a scoop of protein powder.

The best juicers are: The Angel, The Champion, The Norwalk

Blending/Smoothies

Smoothies are probably my favourite of the two, and I have one daily in the form of a green smoothie. Like juices, it gives you an instant hit of energy and mental clarity. When we consume enough fiber from smoothies, we take a load off our bodies by improving our bowel elimination. Toxins build up in the colon & fiber cleans it out, allowing your body to improve the absorption of nutrients thus improving digestion and weight loss. Humans could not live on juices alone, whereas green smoothies are a complete food. Smoothies also fill you up and are much easier to prep and clean up! I also like the variety of smoothies, by adding in different superfoods and superherbs for extra taste and goodness 🙂

The best blenders are: VitaMix, Vitacrush, Tribest Personal Blender

Things to remember

• Veggie/fruit combining is very important! Except for apples, it’s best not to combine fruits and veggies together due to the different enzymes needed to break each down. An exception to this rule is leafy green veggies which seems to combine well with fruit. I still only choose one type of fruit in my smoothies and juices. So just apple or just banana for example.
• Always have a ratio of more veggies to fruit due to the high sugar content in fruits.
• It is best to drink juices straight away but smoothies last for several hours. Just keep the smoothie in an airtight, dark, BPA free container.

Slightly off subject but still very relevant, is the principles of food combining. Julie Peláez from Conscious Cleanse recommends the following basic food combining principles:

1. Vegetables combine well with nuts and seeds.

2. Vegetables combine well with legumes and beans.

3. Vegetables combine well with non-gluten grains.

4. Vegetables combine well with animal protein.

5. Choose one category of protein (nuts/seeds, legumes/beans or animal protein) per meal.

6. Choose either a protein or a starch/grain per meal, but not both.

7. Always eat fresh fruit alone on an empty stomach with a few minor exceptions (fruit does combine well with dark leafy greens, like in green smoothies)

I hope this has been helpful and you feel confident about your juicing and blending choices! Now blend/juice away my lovelies!

And as always, I’d love to hear from you, so feel free to leave a comment and to share this post 🙂