Juice vs. Smoothies

Let’s talk about a controversial subject 🙂

A smoothie is a beverage made from the process of blending fruit, vegetable, and liquid (needed in order to blend properly) into a puree. Sometimes seeds, cores, and skin are removed prior to blending.

A smoothie is basically a salad that you can eat through a straw. A person drinking a smoothie is getting all the same great nutrients that one would get from eating fruit and vegetables. Both soluble and dietary fiber are present in a smoothie, as well as all the nutrients and enzymes. The body does need to work a little harder extracting nutrients from dietary fiber than it does from extracting nutrients from juice.

Juice is the liquid extracted from fruit and vegetables that contains all the good plant stuff like nutrients and enzymes. It’s true that when you make juice you discard the flesh of the produce which contains insoluble fiber. Insoluble fiber, when consumed, aids in digestion by passing through the body relatively intact. In some produce, however, a third or more of the fiber is in the juice itself in the form of soluble fiber. Ingredients with high soluble fiber content include kale, apple, spinach, pineapple, and carrots which are all very common juicing ingredients. Whether or not a person needs the insoluble fiber contained in the plants depends on how much fiber said person is getting as part of their regular diet, and if they need the extra fiber to help with digestion. Most people do not need all the fiber they get from a smoothie.

The fact that the dietary fiber is removed is also an advantage and perhaps the single most important aspect of juicing. Normally the body has to work very hard to extract nutrients out of plants, but in the case of juicing, that process has already been started by extracting the liquid from the fibrous plant cells. This allows nutrients to enter the bloodstream in the fastest way possible, and with the least amount of energy used by the body. Soluble fiber slows this process down.

Is Blending Better Than Juicing?

Not necessarily. There’s no wrong way to eat raw fruit and vegetables. Consuming raw plants is the closest you can get to getting energy directly from the sun. When it comes to juice vs smoothies, the debate should be turned away from “Which is better?” into “Which do I need right now?” Everyone is different, including our dietary needs and lifestyles.

Personally, I love having a mostly fruit (and some greens) smoothie for breakfast, and green juice throughout the day. That just me .. let me know what you guys love?