10 Aug Smoothie versus Juicing
Full disclosure: I am not a fan of juicing. For starters, I can’t get over the fact that most juices are green, and I really prefer to eat my vegetables. That being said, even smoothies have some issues, as far as nutritionally.
The biggest issue I have with juices is that by only consuming the juice of the produce you are missing out on a host of nutrition including fiber. The second issue I have is that you need way more of the produce to get enough juice to actually drink; who eats 2 oranges at a time? But yet it takes 2 oranges to create 4 ounces of juice. So in the end juices provide more sugar and potentially more vitamins with none of the fiber to help moderate the digestion. There is a potential to intake too much of certain vitamins and minerals which carry long term health risks, especially with fat soluble vitamins like A, D, E and K.
Heres a side by side comparison of 4 ounces of orange juice versus 2 oranges. As you can see you get WAY more vitamins and minerals, as well as the fiber by eating the fruit instead of drinking it.
Smoothies on the other hand, retain the fiber because you are consuming the entire fruit. Fiber is so not only beneficial to maintaining a healthy digestive tract, but it also slows down the digestion process so that your body can extract all the good stuff it needs and slows down the absorption of the natural occurring sugars. Be cautious when buying commercially prepared smoothies, since many contain added sugars.
Smoothies also do not really require any expensive kitchen gadgets, you really only need a good blender (I have a ninja and I love it). I like to buy my produce in season and freeze it, then create frozen smoothie packets. All I have to do is add some plain yogurt, a little almond milk and maybe a scoop of protein powder and I am good to go in less than 5 minutes. (special diet note: If I have a smoothie for breakfast, I will refrain from eating any other fruit for the day, or anything else super sugary). Here’s my basic recipe for smoothies. Let me know if you have any questions or if there is any subject you are looking for information on and I will try to tackle it soon!
Basic Acai Smoothie (with protein)
1/2 banana, frozen
1/2 cup frozen fruit (see below for suggestions)
1 packet frozen Acai (I prefer the Acai Roots brand)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup plain almond milk
1 scoop Isopure unflavored whey protein powder (optional)
- Put all ingredients in a blender, blend until smooth. Drink immediately.
Frozen Fruit options (choose one or mix and match)
mango
Strawberries
Blueberries
Raspberries
Blackberries
Pineapple
Peaches
Papaya
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