Both blending and juicing fruits and vegetables are healthy, but if you want maximum detox, weight loss and immune system boosting the answer to this question is easy - a JUICER! I get into this discussion with many people, they argue that there is no difference between a blender and a juicer and I have to explain the “science” behind it. It comes down to digestion, a juicer extracts the juice of fruits and vegetables while leaving the pulp and fibrous materials behind, leading to rapid and easy digestion. A story well known to many is Joe's success of losing an incredible amount of weight living on only juice for over 30 days. He did this mostly on a green juice of kale, celery, cucumbers and other greens. You can watch it for free, Fat Sick and Nearly Dead.
IS IT A JUICER OR A BLENDER?
I told a friend of mine that she should try juicing, she was excited to tell me about her new juicer and sent me a picture. In the picture I noticed that she just purchased a jacked up $200 BLENDER! Letting her know the bad news was not easy, I told her she did NOT buy a juicer - she bought a blender and she would need to return it. Marketing for some of the expensive blenders can be misleading, they are eluding to also being a juicer, but they are not.
THIS IS A JUICER
You will notice to the left their is a gray plastic part, this is where the fiber and pulp are deposited while extracting the juice into the plastic holder on the right. If your “juicer” does not have a trough that holds the pulp and fiber then it is NOT a juicer.
FIBER DEBATE
There is an ongoing debate between holistic nutritionists and scientists…how much fiber do we need? Of course we need fiber, just how much we need is rather mysterious. Big name health conglomerates have many articles out about juicing having no scientific evidence of health benefits - I would like to see them write more about why fast food is bad, or loading kids drinks with HFCS is detrimental to health. If you want to dive further into this check out Google.
CONDENSED RAW GOODNESS
The first example is simple carrot juice. Take a look at the amount of carrots here (second picture), these are large carrots and it is going to make one glass (about 10oz of juice pictured). If you were to eat those manually or blend them it would be a lot to consume. You would be full before you could get a massive amount of carrots in your system. Carrots are rich in Vitamin A and good for you in so many other ways.
This is the pulp that was left, that is a lot to digest!
Final product, 8 oz of pure carrot juice.
Below is a green juice - kale, celery, green apple and a pepper. This juice is a little bitter, but it is a good way to get some shots of kale. Kale is normally difficult to digest and this streamlines it for you. I did not use the froth stopper on this so it is a bit foamy at the top. Most important, look at the amount of food involved to render 8 oz of pure juice. Not only that, the plate with the remaining pulp is piled high on a 16 inch plate. That is a lot to eat.
That is a lot!
Final product, 8oz of raw green goodness.
JUICER SUGGESTIONS
Over the last 8 years I have went through several juicers. Breville is my choice for quality and you can buy them in various sizes. They can be pricy, but well worth the investment. The juicer I used for this post is the Juice Fountain Multi-Speed Juicer which is great if you are juicing for more than one person. At my studio, I have a Breville Juice Fountain Compact. This juicer is only $99 and is perfect for one person or keeping at your office for lunch. I find I use it more than the big multi-speed.
Multi-speed
A lot of parts but worth the effort.
SUMMARY
My vote goes to a juicer. I would have loved to dive more into the many health benefits in this post but I am not a nutritionist. Many times when I need energy or want to drop some pounds I turn to juicing and it works. Replacing one meal a day with raw, pure juice will have great effects on one's health. If you want to really go for it you can try a juice fast or go 30 days on juice only. You can find dramatic results all over the web to back this up. Happy juicing!
