Juicing vs blending – let’s get it! FEMPIRE I have to admit. I have a huge obsession with liquifying things. Food. Food would be the things I speak of. That came out borderline creepy.
I love throwing ingredients in my blender or my juicer and watch the power of the machine completely incinerate it. Come on I’m not the only one. Still sounds serial killer-esque doesn’t it?
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Whats the Difference Juicing vs Blending & Why Should I Do Either?
I’ve loved smoothies for as long as I can remember. Long before I was vegan. I remember when Dunkin launched their smoothies. (Where my New Englander’s at?) I thought it was the same thing as me blending some strawberries and milk in my blender only, I didn’t have to do it. WRONG. Are there ANY real strawberries in preprocessed smoothies? Probably not.
It wasn’t until I was already dabbling in vegetarian lifestyle and flirting along the lines of becoming vegan that I discovered the magic of a JUICER. Game changer.
I’m now the proud owner of my very own Vitamix and a beautiful Breville juicer. But who do I love more? Who do I spend more of my time with? Truthfully? My Vitamix has my heart. For reasons, we’ll get into here. Juicing vs blending!
Blending 101
My beloved Vitamix. My most favorite of all my kitchen appliance children. I swooned over this blender before I actually dove in and bought one and ended up buying a refurbished one with a really great warrantee for myself as a birthday gift. Mentality- f*ck it I want to blend greens into my smoothies without having to pick them out of my teeth. I have a wicked texture thing. And I’ll say it every time I turn it on, “This thing could liquify a rock.” So yes, if smoothies is a potential avenue for you on your vegan journey – which it SHOULD be, do yourself a HUGE favor and invest in one of these bad guys right now! There’s a ton of different models and price ranges, and like I said I bought a refurbished one and fast forward 5 years and she’s still goin’ strong.
I started really learning about blending when I was reading Kimberly Synder’s Beauty Detox Solution. Her first book. I was entirely obsessed with her mindset and the beauty of her lifestyle. She praises and preaches the amazing-ness off her famous GGS. Also known as the Glowing Green Smoothie.
Kimberly introduced me to the commonly tossed around word fiber, what it meant, and why we need it. I thought I knew what fiber was but I never knew the massive roll it plays in the body. Theres two types of it, soluble and insoluble. Insoluble slows our digestion down. It can actually help us sustain energy throughout the day, as well as keeping us feel fuller – longer. Greens are LOADED with fiber for our bodies!
Bring. On. The. Fiber.
Because I feel like Kimberly sparked my vegan lifestyle for me, I’m going to be referring to her two GGS recipes throughout this post. Though I don’t follow her food pairing techniques anymore and I still drink coffee ( I would truly truly I think die without it), I do live a fully vegan life, balanced my thyroid disease, still drink my GGS ALL the time, practice yoga weekly, beginning to learn to embrace meditation, and implementing all of these things because of the spark she gave me.
Going a little off track here but for good reason. Our FAVORITE smoothie recipe ever I’m going to link here for you guys. This little treat helped me to lose 50 pounds! I tell you my story HERE to hear more about that in detail!
SO back to our blending.
Blending is your standard smoothie. Think ALL ingredients are whole being BLENDED together. ALL of the fiber is being consumed. Therefore, you’ll be fuller for much longer with this method. Also, the absorption of nutrients and sugars into the body will be slower than that of juicing.
For those of you wondering what kitchen appliance is needed for “blending” it would be a blender. You never know guys, you never know. I still might have someone hangin’ on wondering what in the world my beloved Vitamix is anyway?! YES quality matters with this.
We talk more about kitchen appliances in our post, Our Favorite Kitchen Appliances in Our Vegan Kitchen HERE.
Kimberly Snyder’s Famous GGS:
2 cups very cold, filtered water + 6 cups chopped romaine lettuce + 2 stalks celery, 1 apple, cored and chopped.
Avocados & Bananas
Another cool blending incentive is that you can use the ingredients – bananas and avocados. The texture of these two fruits (yes avocado is a fruit it contains a pit- fight me) wouldn’t make for a very good juice or consequently, a very good time cleaning it up. Not advised guys.
Bad news. I don’t know that from experience or anything. I wasn’t the kid who busted her brand new juicer out of the box and juiced everything in sight. Nope. I didn’t have to clean it for over an hour because I most DEFINITELY did not juice a banana. So don’t like, ask me questions about it or anything.
Juicing 101
Juicing was a foreign concept to me until I watched the Fat Sick and Nearly Dead documentary on Netflix with Joe Cross. I was determined to do begin introducing juicing into my life after watching that. Living in your parent’s house when you begin this juicing journey is another story.
I own the model from the documentary, the Breville Juice Fountain Plus. To the people still wondering what appliance you’ll need to create a juice. That would be called a juicer. They’re two different types of juicers. Centrifugal and Masticating. Head to our Our Favorite Kitchen Appliances in Our Vegan Kitchen post to learn more and which type is right for you!
Okay so if blending is a mixture of all WHOLE ingredients, what do we think juicing will do? Remember juicing vs blending! Juicing will extract the insoluble fiber. Remember the stuff that keeps you feeling full and gives you prolonged energy throughout the day? Yeah that stuff. Whats left behind? Soluble fiber.
So what happens without the insoluble fiber? Whats the difference?
Due to the lack of insoluble fiber, the nutrients are able to move faster and more efficiently throughout the body. As a result, a natural spike in energy will happen!
With juicing you also are able to consume the nutrients of a much higher QUANTITY than blending. Again because of that insoluble fiber. You’d simply be too full. With juicing we’re able to maximize the amount of produce we can juice in a single serving. You’ll see a much longer “ingredients” part of a juicing recipe than you would a blending recipe.
Heres Kimberly’s famous GGS transformed into a JUICE Recipe:
8 Cups Chopped Spinach or Kale + 2 1/2 stalks celery or 1/2 cucumber + 1/2 large or 1 small lemon, ***peel lemon before putting through juicer***
DONT. Juice bananas or avocados. Just take my word. Don’t.
So Which One is Better, Juicing vs Blending?
Juicing vs blending – Truth is they’re both amazing. I tend to gravitate towards my juicer in the summer time more. I’m not entirely sure why. Its just been a pattern I think. When I go to the farm (theres an adorable little farm in the town next door to us that we buy our produce from in the spring and summer time) I see all of that stunning produce and I immediately over buy and as a result, end up juicing! Its a win for me really. Freezing these recipes are also GREAT, you guys!! Make big huge batches and freeze them! This is a life saver for me!
A juice is a fabulous mid morning snack or afternoon pick me up. I tend to replace meals with smoothies and use a juice as a snack. Whenever I’m asked about that, thats usually the exact line I’ll give. I see how I feel. A smoothie is a beautiful way to start your day. Helping your body to preserve energy during digestion while serving it predigested clean nutrients! Doesn’t get much better.
Either way, I love them both and I’ve been a fan of both methods for years and years. I have one smoothie recipe that I literally make….every time I ever make a smoothie. Its my favorite. Check it out here- My Ride Or Die Smoothie Recipe. I always loved starting my day off with a green smoothie. Its such a great way to up your greens intake.
My Vitamix is hands down the more used out of both appliances. Its super easy to clean, whereas, the juicer is more of a project to clean up after. I like to bulk juice so I don’t have to deal with the hassle of the juicer all the time.
So, juicing vs blending, is there one better than the other? No. In our opinion, they’re both fantastic ways to nourish your body and make your insides shine. Consuming fruits and veggies will make you insides dance and sing, it’ll give you the clearest skin you’ve ever seen! Listen to your body, if you’re really hungry- grab a smoothie. If you’re snacky or maybe its a beautiful sunshiney morning and you’re feeling’ a juice, grab one!
Our favorite recipe book for smoothies aside from Kimberly’s is this incredible SUPERFOOD Smoothies book by Julie Morris! You definitely don’t have to start off with all the crazy superfood add-ins but they’ll be great additions down the road!
