Juices And Smoothies 101

As you know if you follow my Twitter or Facebook streams, I drink a TON of juice (and sometimes smoothies).

For my body (NOT EVERYBODY), juicing is better than smoothies at this time. That’s for a few reasons:

– When you make a smoothie, all of the fiber from the fruits and vegetables is still included. With juice, it is NOT. That means you can directly digest all of the nutrients from the fruits and veggies without any hold-up from the fiber. This gives your body a break and creates a nice healing process.

– Because there’s no digestion hold-up, you get an immediate surge of energy.

– With juicing, it’s easier to get important veggies in. If I put kale in a smoothie, for example, the smoothie is NOT going to taste good (in my opinion). The same goes for cilantro, parsley, and dandelion greens. In a juicer, the taste will easily get concealed when other key ingredients are put in.

– I can’t eat a ton of food. Juice is nice and light and doesn’t make me feel weighed down.

– A juice usually has more veggies versus fruit, so you’re not taking in as much sugar.

– There’s a juice I drink every morning (recipe coming) that jump-starts my whole day. I drink it right away and it gets my digestion jump-started and gets me going with lots of focus and energy.

The juicer I use is the Omega 8005 Juicer – Wheatgrass, Fruit and Vegetable Juicer. This is what Dr. Mercola recommends and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it.

The other “holy grail” juicer is the Green Star Juicer. This is what Otto uses (and loves). After using both, I think my Omega is more powerful, but the Green Star makes more juice (because of the blade it uses). The Green Star is more expensive initially but probably cheaper in the VERY long run if you make a ton of juice like I do.

If budget is an issue, you can also get an inexpensive juicer. My friend Mona successfully juice feasted (drank juice alone) for several months with a Jack LaLanne juicer. She just strained out her juices with a bag to remove all pulp/fiber. :)

There are some reasons why smoothies might work better for people:

– Smoothies will keep you fuller for far longer. I think juicing and smoothies take the same amount of time to make, but a smoothie lasts longer. If you don’t have the luxury of time like I do and want a way to get more fruits and veggies in, a smoothie is a great choice.

– Random thing, but spinach is a lot easier to put in a smoothie versus juice (it seems to take forever to go through the spout of a juicer). There are lots of superb minerals in spinach, and I think it’s probably the BEST veggie for smoothies since you can’t really taste it when you throw a banana inside.

– The fiber in smoothies helps cleanse your body out and keeps your bowel movements regular.

– A smoothie usually has more fruits versus veggies, so if you’re easing your way into eating healthier, a smoothie might taste significantly better to you.

– You can throw in tons of supplements with a smoothie. Some things I like to add are bee pollen (FYI: We do NOT need as much protein as people say… and what we really need are the amino acids, not the protein. Bee pollen is an amazing source of every single amino acid needed for our body), MSM (great for de-calcifying the bones), marine phytoplankton, etc. If you’re working out or strongly feel like you need more protein, you can also throw some of that in. Sun Warrior Protein is the best one I’ve found.

I use a cheapskate blender, but most people swear by the Vitamix. I might end up getting that later if I feel the intuitive need for more smoothies.

I think that’s the biggest thing – listen to what your body is telling you. For example, Jaime has been craving tons of fruits lately. It’s what’s best for her body right now. I’ve been craving lots of greens – and definitely a ton of water.

I read a story in Victoria Boutenko’s 12 Steps to Raw Foods about when she and her children started eating raw. At one point, her son asked her to get some blueberries. He kept eating them as fast as she could buy them. At one point she bought a FLAT of them to last him for a while, and he ate them in a day. The same went for her daughter – I think she was eating grapefruit or something. Both of the children had health problems, and when Victoria took them to the doctor, it turns out that both kids were intuitively eating what helped them with their health problems. Her doctor had told Victoria to have her son eat blueberries because they’re supposed to be awesome for asthma (what her son had). Grapefruits were the suggested food for whatever her daughter had.

It never ceases to amaze me at how ridiculously wise our bodies are.

That being said, I’ll post some general recipes soon, since a lot of people have been asking for them. :)