The wellness world is buzzing
about the need to eat 5-9 servings of fruit and vegetables daily unfortunately
most people hardly have a serving per
day.
Juicing can be a convenient way of
taking the required servings daily especially when you need to eat them raw. Did you say raw? Yucky right? but having to experiment with different
kind of fruits and vegetables daily can be so much fun. To make the task
easier, experts say we can either juice or blend.
The big question is: which is
better? Juicing or blending.
To answer this question, it is
better to tell the difference between the two.
Blending is the process of
thoroughly blending the whole fruits and vegetables into smoothies without
discarding any part of it.
While juicing is the process of extracting the liquid
contents with the aid of a juicer or hand press which automatically separate
the juice from the pulp.
Some experts favour Juicing over
blending while for some it’s the other way round and some say it makes no
difference.
Studies however seem to show that
smoothies are packed with more phytochemicals and are therefore better.
Why Smoothies
1.
Smoothies Provide Whole Food Nutrition – A smoothie is still a
whole food, complete with fiber and all nutrients. Juices, on the other hand,
are not whole foods. The fiber has been removed, along with any nutrients that
are discarded with the fiber. Since dietary fiber is important for proper
digestive function and overall health, it’s better to take your fruits and
veggies whole.
2.
Smoothies Oxidize Slower Than Juices – It is often advised to
drink juice as soon as possible after making it, while smoothies can last up to
72 hours in your refrigerator. The reason for this is that juices are highly
susceptible to oxidation due to the way they are processed. Studies have shown
that juices oxidize at a much faster rate than green smoothies. In a study
conducted by the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center Texas grapefruits were processed using common household
practices such as blending, juicing and
hand squeezing and then analyzed for
their phytochemicals. Result suggest
that fruit processed by blending had significantly higher levels of flavanoids
including compound called naringin. Naringin
is a flavonoid that has been shown to have cancer-fighting properties as well as strong
anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities that
may be beneficial for the treatment of diabetes and other metabolic disorder. This probably accounts for why smoothies do not oxidize
as fast, and maintain the majority of their nutrients for longer periods of
time.
3. Fiber Slows Sugar Absorption – While the sugar
content of sweet fruits are not a health concern for most people, juices made
with sweet fruits or sugar-rich vegetables (carrots, beets) can essentially
become a concentrated sweetener. Smoothies, on the other hand, are loaded with
fiber which slows sugar absorption to a healthy level.
4. Blending Takes Less Time – Blending is much
faster than juicing. You can you’re your smoothie in 30 seconds depending on
your fruit and vegetable combination.. Juicing requires cutting produce into
smaller pieces. Feeding all of those pre-cut ingredients into the juicer is a
time consuming process.
5.
Smoothies are filling – smoothies fill you up
and may keep you satisfied until your next meal. Juices do not. Part of the
reason is that a smoothie contains fiber, as well as all of the other nutrients
that would otherwise be lost in the discarded fiber if juicing.The thick texture of smoothies feels like and
digests like a proper meal, where juices do not. You can swap your breakfast or
lunch for a delicious smoothie. I would advice adding protein powder though, if
its intended as a meal replacement.
The above does not however mean that juicing is bad. While smoothies may be better, your juice is still packed with lots of vitamins and antioxidant.
If you find drinking your juice easier, keep juicing your favourite fruits and veggies and remember to experiment with more fruits/veggies every day.
Still finding it difficult to achieve your 5 a day? try more-than-5-a-day.
