To Juice or to Blend?

Do you Juice or do you Blend?   This is a question I am being asked a lot lately. In my opinion, why do you have to have one without the other?  Both juicing and blending serve equally important roles in building and maintaining health.

This year I’ve been completely immersing myself in health and different regimes to maintaining well balanced health.  After doing my first ever Juice detox earlier in the year I’ve becoming a juicing lover, whereby I like to incorporate a juice a day into my diet.  But what about the blender… I’m lucky enough to have been given an amazing blender as a gift and since that day of opening the box I was almost converted to blending. Why do I need to choose one of the other though?  I don’t and that’s why I don’t – I do both.

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What’s the difference?

Juicing is a process in which water and nutrients are extracted from produce (fruits or vegetables), removing the indigestible fibre.  Without all this fibre the nutrients in the juice become more readily available to our bodies and more often than not in large quantities too.

Juicing can be especially helpful to people with sensitive digestion or any illnesses relating to difficulties of processing fibre.  Jason Vale calls this a ‘nutrient express’ where the fibre from produce helps slow down the digestion process, provided a steady release of nutrients into our blood streams.

Drinking freshly squeezed or juiced vegetables/fruits is one of the most healing and detoxifying programs we can give ourselves because juices are not only nourishing but extremely highly nutrient rich helping our bodies restore at a cellular level.

Juicing is a great way to provide essential nutrients to our bodies.

On the other end of the scale Blending provides smoothing of the entire fruit or vegetable, the skin, the seeds, and the fibre – the LOT.  The process of blending breaks down this fibre which creates a slower more even release of the nutrients into our blood streams.  Smoothies keep us fuller for longer due to the slow release of nutrients. Unlike juicing, making a smoothie is a much quicker and convenient process, hence why many people find Smoothies more lifestyle suitable.

+ TIP:  Smoothies are great as a quick morning breaky on the go or mid day snacks.

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3 Juicing and Blending TOP TIPS:

No one likes rules, but when it comes to nutrients it’s best to know how to get the most out of what your doing – either juicing or blending.  So I’m calling these TOP TIPS.

1. Drink your juice or smoothie straight away, why? Because after around 15mins light and air destroys many of the nutrients. Don’t stress though, if you want to keep your super drink for longer keep in in a dark airtight container.

2. Unless your using apple it’s best not to combine fruits and vegetables.  Green’s are generally ok, but when it comes to carrot + beetroot + broccoli + zucchini avoid mixing them with fruits due to their high starch levels.  Combining the two can affect how well your digestive enzymes function.

3. Clean up after yourself! I know we are always in a rush but make sure you keep your stuff clean, you don’t want pulp left in your machine causing oxidization and ruining your next super drink.

The Equipment

If your reading this I know you want to get the most out of your Juicing and Blending, so it’s simple to get the most use the best. Investing in good quality equipment is a huge key factor in producing the best quality.  Some cheaper centrifugal versions of juicers can introduce heat and oxygen possibly destroying all those nutrients you think your getting.  Cold-press juicers produce premium quality juice and they extract more from your fruit and vege too.

It’s the same with blenders too.  Make sure your doesn’t heat up killing the enzymes and ensure that it’s gentle on your produce too.

I strongly believe, ‘you always pay for what you get’.  Invest in your wellbeing and get equipment that is going to last and serve you well over and over again.

What’s your favourite, Juicing or Blending?  I’d love to hear from you – share with me below in the comments box 🙂

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Article Source Link:  http://foodmatters.tv/articles-1/juicing-vs-blending-which-one-is-better