How to Choose Between Smoothies vs. Juicing (& Recipes!)

Smoothies vs. Juicing: WHY and HOW?

     There is a ton of talk about smoothies and plenty more talk about juicing.  What are the benefits of each food preparation?  They truly do differ in the value they have for our health and both are very beneficial in their own way.  

Smoothies

     Smoothies are useful in that the ingredients are broken down by the blender in to easily digestible particles.  The blender does for us what our teeth can't really do. If you think about it, chewing greens in to a liquid form in the mouth takes a lot of time and one can't possibly get as many greens in one bowl as can fit inside of a smoothie. Therefore, it's easier to get more packed-in nutrients by drinking a home-blended smoothie.  The blender also breaks down ingredients so that our body can more readily digest and absorb the nutrients. The most important thing to remember with a smoothie is that you still need to "chew" it.  The amylase in our saliva begins to break down our food as a prequel for our stomach.  Swish the smoothie around in your mouth before swallowing and let your saliva do it's work and enjoy the benefits if a nutrient-dense meal.  Smoothies are great because you can also add in power-foods and herbs like bee pollen, raw Cacao, Goji berries and herbal powders like Ashwaganda, Astragalus, and Maca.   Grab a good blender and go crazy! 

Juicing

     Juicing definitely comes across as somewhat of a fad sometimes, but it's for a good reason.  Extracting the fresh juice from produce is beneficial in more ways than one.  By removing all of the fibrous meat of produce, you are left with just the juice which is full of enzymes, minerals, and vitamins.  Drinking this juice within 40 minutes of pressing causes the nutrients to be 99% available to the body!  When the nutrients are consumed with the fiber of the produce, they are less available (especially for those who do not chew their food well).  In two glasses of juice there may be nine or ten pieces of produce! It would be very, very difficult to eat that amount of fruits and vegetables in one sitting.   By extracting the juice, you can reap the benefits of higher levels of minerals, vitamins, and enzymes.  You can safely juice 3-7 times a week as part of your diet plan. Don't forget that it is highly important that all produce juiced is organic!  You don't want the pesticides from conventionally grown produce to contaminate your juice.  

      Juice fasts are useful for giving the over-taxed digestive system a break.  During a juice fast, one must consume only fresh pressed juice and water for 3-10 days.  You can even do it for just one day to give your digestive system a break. Don't over-do juicing, though.  The digestive system can be weakened if it never has to process the fiber from produce.  So, keep your juicing at a healthy balance and enjoy the benefits of highly bio-available nutrients.

    Just some extra notes on juicing: juice from the store is purely sugar water.  It's been heat treated, processed, and has sat on the shelf for who-knows-how-long. In order to properly juice, one must purchase their own juicer (or source from a fresh-pressed juice bar) and drink the juice within 40 minutes of pressing to get the full benefits.  Within one quart of juice, you only want to have pressed one or two pieces of fruit, like an apple or pear. Any more then that is too high in sugar and causes inflammation in the body or an over-taxed liver (though freshly-pressed fruit juice is a better option for the body than sugar!).   But, ideally you want to press mostly vegetables and then have just one piece of fruit to sweeten the mix.  Add in ginger, lemon, or parsley for extra zing and cleansing benefits!  

Recipes!

  Hopefully this information has been useful!  Here is a great green smoothie recipe that I make myself all of the time.  Play around with it and find out what you like best!  At the end I have also added in a juice recipe.  Modify it to your liking, as well!  Enjoy! 

Green Smoothie (Fool Proof)

Feeds 2-3

All Organic Ingredients:

2 cups kale

2 cups spinach

2 cups almond milk (half water, if desired)

1-2 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

1-2 tbsp cacao nibs

2 bananas

1 ½ cup frozen strawberries

1 ½ cup mango frozen

Instructions: Blend everything together in blender until homogeneous.  

Additional Info: You can substitute the banana with avocado.  Make sure to include one of either ingredient in every smoothie, because they are what make it creamy and suspend all the other ingredients.

Rotate out different greens at least every week.  Use spinach, collard greens, dark lettuces, swiss chard, and turnip greens.  Mustard greens and kale are bitter and very beneficial, but you will want to pair them with a sweeter green like spinach or swiss chard.  

Refreshing Juice Blend for Summer Heat 

Makes one glass full

Juice (organic produce):
3 cucumbers
1 apple
1 celery stalk
1 cup fresh pineapple
1 small thumb ginger

Add:
1/2 cup coconut water (not from concentrate)
1-3 Tbsp chia seeds

Instructions:
Gel chia seeds by mixing and letting sit in coconut water for 3-4 hours in refrigerator. Juice ingredients fresh from the fridge and add together with coconut water.  Enjoy!