I’m a fan of smoothies & green juices. Both provide a large amount of vitamins and minerals and antioxidants, it’s an easy way to add more fruits and vegetables into your day. They give our digestive system a well-deserved rest. Our digestive system is very busy and hard-working, which requires high amounts of energy; in fact, the digestive system can even drain the energy needed for healing, repair and general maintenance of the body.
Juicing is a process where the liquid part of the fruit or vegetable is separated from the pulp or fiber. You get a thin liquid that will be concentrated with vitamins, minerals, and many nutrients but no fiber. You will need a juicer to make these.
With smoothies (blending), the whole fruit or vegetable is used: what you put in the blender is what you consume. You can use a standard blender to make these.
There are pros and cons to both juicing and blending. Juicing provides a very nutrient-dense beverage in a smaller amount of liquid. For those who need a low-fiber diet, juicing may be a better option.
With smoothies, you retain the fiber, which can help you feel fuller and improve your digestive health. In addition, you can add other types of foods to smoothies like superfood powders, protein powders, nut butters, seeds, avocado to increase your intake of healthy protein and fats.
Either process can help you to increase your fruit/vegetable intake.
Some tips for juicing and/or blending:
Use about 1 C of fruit in both juices & smoothies. You can also add sweet vegetables such as carrots & beets.
Add plenty of green veggies like kale, spinach, parsley, cilantro - surprisingly do not taste very intense in smoothies or juice, so load up on those! In smoothies, you can even add a vegetable such as cauliflower and not taste it.
When juicing, use high water content vegetables like cucumbers and celery to help add volume and nutrients
When blending smoothies, add regular or coconut water to make it less pulpy and blend well.
Too make a smoothie bowl, be sure to use frozen fruit and ice. This will make the consistency much thicker. Top with unsweet coconut, chia seeds, raw nuts.
