Juice or Smoothie?

That is the question. Both can aid in increasing your vegetable intake, which in turn promotes health. My favorite though, is juice. I love smoothies too but juice always makes me feel amazing. My skin looks better and my body functions better too. Do you have a favorite?

Juicing

Juicing extracts water and nutrients from the vegetables and turns them into juice. This juice can be highly nutritious, especially if you are juicing lots of veggies. I think the best benefit of juicing is that it can contain so many nutrients in one cup. For example, yesterday I juiced 4 small carrots, half a cucumber, and 4 celery stalks. I drank the majority of the juice myself and gave a small amount to my son. In one sitting, I never would have been able to eat all the contents of that one cup of juice, so I was able to take in way more nutrients than normal. Besides quickly increasing your nutrient intake, juicing has been shown to boost energy levels and fight disease. A few foods that are easy to juice include kale, beetroot, beet greens, celery, cucumber, carrot, tomato, ginger, and wheat grass. Most avid juicers agree that staying away from fruit is best because of the high sugar content. Fiber helps our bodies to process the sugar found in fruit, slower. If you remove the fiber, as would happen through juicing, you are left with nutrients and also lots of sugar. This can cause sugar spikes, which may not be beneficial to your health, so sticking to veggies is best.

Smoothies

Smoothies typically include the whole fruit or veggie and all of the fiber. They can be more filling than juice and can even be used as a meal replacement. Smoothies may include several healthy foods like fruits and veggies, nuts, seeds, yogurt, and even spices. They are also a way to increase your nutrient intake, even though their content isn’t as high as juice, and the fiber content can help to eliminate waste. Smoothies are easy to share with little ones and can be a tasty treat that has also been shown to increase energy levels and fight disease. 

I truly believe juicing veggies and consuming smoothies are both important in a healthy diet and can be beneficial to most individuals. If you haven’t tried either yet, I would challenge you to try both consistently over the next few months and see if you notice a difference in your health. Juice and smoothie bars like Clean Juice, that use organic produce are a great option or you can purchase a blender or juicer. I bought a juicer a few years ago on Amazon, that works well. It isn’t available anymore but the Nutribullet also looks like a good option. 

Do you love to juice or make smoothies for your family? I would love to hear your favorite fruit and veggie combinations.