To Juice or to Blend – Juicing Vs. Smoothies – Part I

I first recall reading about juicing from Ann Wigmore, she promoted juicing of wheat-grass for health benefits.

Australian, Joe Cross was the next person that I became aware of who promoted juicing. He’s known from the 2010 documentary, Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead in which he chronicled his 60-day journey across North America on a juice fast. Joe says he lost one hundred pounds and turned his health around strictly by living on green juices and a plant-based diet.

I’ve done the ‘Master Cleanse’, juice ‘detox’ by Stanley Burroughs many times. It’s a juice drink made with lemon, maple syrup and cayenne. I have done the protocol from twenty-four hours to twenty-one days. I always feel much better – more energy, less pain and stiffness and Type II Diabetes blood glucose numbers become in alignment in the ‘normal range.’ But I’ve never really shed a lot of excess weight like others do.

Juicing

I like the concept of juicing to get the most nutrients into one’s system as quickly as possible without having to wait through the body’s digestion process because there’s nothing really in the juice that has to stop and be masticated and digested.

Juice pretty much goes straight through one’s bloodstream and into the various areas where one’s body needs the nutrients.

Benefits of Juicing

Juicing provides a glass packed with the nutrients, enzymes, vitamins and minerals from a pile of fresh produce without having to cook and/or sit down to a heaping plate of veggies.

As most people don’t eat enough fruits and veggies, juicing allows one to increase their intake of fruits and vegetables in greater quantity with ease.

• Juicing can be quick and easy for a way to start your day.
• Some people experience extreme weight loss, improved health, increased energy and well-being.
• Juice takes very little to digest.
• Juicing might be a way to kick start weight loss and revitalize one’s health.

Here’s a website that lists 271 Health Benefits of Juicing. (Although that’s misleading because there really weren’t nearly that many benefits listed.) I don’t know if this would be considered a scientific list or just someone’s bias.

Downfalls

• You don’t get the fibre from juicing as one would from consuming fruits and vegetables in a more traditional whole-food format.
• Seems like a lot of waste; however, you can save the pulp to add to soups, or muffin batter. I actually saved and froze the pulp until I had enough to made crackers with the pulp. Meh. I wasn’t overly impressed with the texture.
• Some juicers can be hard to clean.
• Not everyone on a juice fast reports great amounts of weight loss – myself included. This may have something to do with the proportions of fruits to vegetables, or it may just be one’s metabolism and body type that inhibits weight loss.
• The downside of juicing, especially for a diabetic, is that it goes straight into one’s bloodstream, possibly spiking one’s blood glucose. However, I have many recipes that are diabetic-friendly that use less fruit and more vegetables and greens. Many of the recipes for diabetics call for a tart green apple rather than oranges or other sweet fruits to create less of a blood glucose spike. Also, many of the diabetic-friendly recipes use cabbage as their base.
• Some people can’t feel full enough on just juice.
• Juicing is not necessarily sustainable over the long haul.

Special Equipment for Juicing

Juicers can be expensive, ranging from $50 to $400. Some more expensive juicers will break down a lot of the fruit by grinding the core, rind, and seeds.

I bought a medium-priced centrifugal juicer for my first juicer, but am considering selling it and saving for a more expensive masticating or twin gear juicer that will do a better job on greens and hopefully get into juicing wheat-grass.

 (Source)

One could use a blender and then strain the juice. I would recommend removing the core, rinds and seeds if you’re using a blender.

See Blender Drinks (Smoothies)

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