Here is another guest blog post by my friend Tina Pruitt, The Healthy Lifestylist, and a three-time cancer survivor and living foods advocate. If you enjoy this article by Tina, share your comments below at the end of this article. ~Sherold
What is the Difference Between Juicing and Blending?
Great question! And, as the “Green Juice Coach”, one I hear quite often!
So there are two different appliances you can use to prepare your green drinks – one is a juicer, and the other is a blender.
A juicer extracts liquid nutrition from vegetables and fruits, leaving the pulp behind. Juicers like the Breville (see link on SHOP page), Champion, or Green Star totally rock green juices!
A blender purees vegetables and fruits into a drink that retains all the fiber of the produce. High speed blenders like the VitaMix totally rock green smoothies!
Which is better? They are both great, but here are some benefits of each:
Some benefits of juicing:
- Large consumption of vegetables.
- Fast nutrient consumption.
- Easy digestion.
- Curbs appetite.
- Great recipes!
Some benefits of blending:
- Great source of fiber.
- Regulated sugar absorption.
- Filling and satisfying.
- Easy to add extras supplements such as spirulina, wheatgrass or protein powders.
- Yummy recipes!
So Which is Better, Juicing or Blending?
It’s really your personal preference. Both options provide a fabulous end result of getting raw produce to nourish your body in one beautiful glass! The important thing is to START DRINKING GREEN DRINKS – be it a green juice or a green smoothie!
And, of course, you don’t have to pick just one or the other – you can always do both by alternating them! I personally juice more than I blend, but definitely do enjoy both methods, and am glad I have a choice! Just remember the 3:1 ratio of veggies to fruit to minimize your sugar intake. We want to glow, not take in a bunch of sugar (note: this is a discussion for another day!).
Here is a green juice recipe to get you started today!
“The Simple” Green Juice by Tina Pruitt
Ingredients
2 medium cucumbers
4-6 kale leaves
6 stalks of celery
1 garlic clove
1-1.5 inch of fresh ginger
Optional: Pinch of cayenne pepper
Optional: Sunflower (or other) sprouts
Preparation: Juice all ingredients in juicer. ENJOY!
Notes: If using a centrifugal juicer, wrap the garlic in 2 kale leaves to juice. Ditto for the ginger. If you have a masticating juicer, consider adding a couple handfuls of sunflower or pea green sprouts!
Thanks Sherold and Tina for these tips. We have the world’s tiniest blender and use it for smoothies. It doesn’t blend quite as well as it should so they are more chewy than smooth, especially if we use spinach or kale! I think we are still erring on the side of too much fruit. Will have to give the 3:1 ratio a try.
Christie – just using your tiny blender for smoothies is the best way to add veges to your diet. I don’t add fruit to my juices – I go for the pure green glow;)
Yay for juicing!! I recently bought a juicer after a year of green smoothie making and I’m realizing that I looooove me some green juice. Even though the clean-up process is longer for juicing, it’s easier for me to down my greens in that juicy form. And my dog loves the foam
Yum!
Jenny – I am in love with my green juice at LEAST once a day. My body loves it too. I love the foam too!
Thanks for the helpful info. Looking forward to starting a 21 day group cleanse this Monday!!
Jami – good to see you yesterday;) I look forward to hearing about your progress on this cleanse. Spring is a great time to do that.
Wonderful post, as always, Tina! Thanks for sharing your juice recipe – sounds delicious! (Green juice) cheers to you!
What a fantastic article! Thanks for the distinction, I have me a Vitamix blender and absolutely love it. Now, that summer is almost here I’ll definitely be trying your simple green juice Tina. I need to get more veggies in our diets!
I’ve just started making blended green drinks. I use lots of Kale and now I am putting them in a Mason jar to sip on through lunch. I crave my green smoothies now, which had not happened before. I am a convert Tina! Your work is done!
Laura – I love our Tina in B School and look how many of us are juicing now;)
Thank you for this guest post, Sherold! I have such respect for Tina Pruitt’s work! I am so glad for the answer being BOTH!! I think that is what I want. I haven’t juiced for a long time so waiting to get a good juicer, but I used to do LONNNNNGGGGG fasts… but not on such wonderful juice blends as these! in the old days we did carrot juice fasts or apple juice…. can you imagine? then there is the master cleanser! which though has good elements there is NO WAY it can touch a green juice drink.
My main concern IS the sugar as well. I am touchy with sugars at my age. So thank you for toning it down. Many people use WAY TOO much sweet fruit!
Thank you for being the voice for this, Tina!
Kathleen – I hear you with the sugars. I only use two carrots, then always have kale, a head of romaine, juice of one lemon (who knew lemons were alkaline?), two cucumbers, celery stalks and sometimes I add spinach. This is a green drink flavored with the lemon and carrots. I love this and have it daily.
Thank you for coming over here this week. Love to you.
This is exactly a topic I’ve been wondering about. Tina has such great insights and resources – I just love her simple, straightforward juicing advice. I’ve been hesitant to go the juicing route full on, so I was curious about smoothies. This puts it all in perspective – and I have a great blender so no more excuses to not getting started!
Jennifer Peek
Find Your New Groove
Left-Brained Strategy for Right-Brained Businesses
Wonderful guest post! Now that I’m adopting a healthy vegetarian lifestyle (ok I confuse I still eat bacon shhh) I am discovering the beauty in blending and juicing. The way I feel after a raw soup, a wildly blended salsa or juice is INCREDIBLE. Its like getting an energy boost! AND AND AND with the pulp I make amazing breads, muffins oh yes and even putt it in pancakes! YUM YUM YUM and thank you for the recipe as well!
juicing vs. blending is something that I go back and forth between. Blending is an easier clean up afterwards. Both methods are energizing and rewarding. Lately, I have been focusing on ‘greens’ as a third and independent division of the ‘fruits and vegetables’ group. (kales, chards, sprouts, herbs). They are dense in micronutrients and lack the starches that are in many vegetables.
Hi MK – there is a good resource on this subject by a woman who has done research on green juice, smoothies and a variety of health issues. Check it out. Thanks for visiting here.
http://greenforlife.com/
I was looking for something like this and I am so glad that I finally found it
Lou – I will also share this link for you as well. http://greenforlife.com/ Thanks for visiting and commenting.