Monday, November 26, 2012

What's Better Juices or Smoothies?



As I sit here, at my in-laws house, after Thanksgiving #1 with my family and Thanksgiving part duex with Marc’s family I’m looking forward to Monday. It’s not what you think; we’ve had a great time. I am excited because we’re testing out a cleanse from my favorite juice truck The Squeeze. With juice on my mind, I thought about this question I received from a client.

What is the difference between smoothies (drinking the roughage) and juicing (no roughage) in terms of my diet? 
I was posed a similar question for a Refinery29 article.
For starters, smoothies are made in a blender (for me that means Vitamix) and juices in a juicer (love my Breville). My client who posed the question was correct. With smoothies the fiber from the fruits, vegetables, herbs or spices are retained. Whereas when you juice the pulp (which contains fiber) is extracted leaving just the liquid behind. Fiber has such a healthy reputation that there can be a rush to judgment that higher fiber has to be better but it’s not that simple.

Juice and I'm talking primarily veggie juice, with the bulk removed, enables quick energy. Juice doesn’t play hard to get and your body doesn't have to "unwrap" or digest in order to access the nutrients. For those of you who enjoy spinning, juicing is akin to riding with little resistance (fiber) so you can go (or get your nutrition) faster. Eating a salad or drinking a smoothie is more like riding with tension or resistance. You’ll go more slowly perhaps in a more controlled, even manner.

There’s also the issue of quantity. When I juice in the morning I cover a large cutting board with greens, ginger, lemon, pear or whatever I have on hand. You’d have to eat 9 cups of kale to get the potassium, calcium and iron in two cups of green juice. I think of a daily juice almost like a multivitamin. Smoothies, on the other hand, don’t require as much in terms of quantity. My typical smoothie is approximately 1 cup of frozen fruit, a handful of greens, protein powder and then other random ingredients (cacao, yacon, coffee extract are current favorites). I digress, the point I’m making is that there’s a fraction of the produce in a smoothie versus a juice. From a calorie perspective, green juices hover around 150 per 16oz. Smoothies made with fruit, protein, some sort of liquid (almond milk or coconut water) and a little good fat can be double but you’ll get more staying power. 

I think I answered the “what’s better?” question in the most annoying manner that is saying “it depends” but it really does. I hate to be "bi-vegetable" but there are benefits to juicing and “smoothing”. Juice is a megadose of nutrients and smoothing is better for satiety, better for post workout recovery. Most days I’ll have one of each. So if you’re in the market for a Vitamix or a juicer, I can’t sway you either way. It’s like choosing between my family and my in-laws and let’s just say diplomatically that I’m “thankful” for both.
Do you juice or "smooth"? Which do you prefer? What are your current favorite ingredients? And after a holiday weekend, how was your eating? Parents or in-laws?



18 comments:

  1. I still tend to recommend smoothies over juice, and the reason is that most of my clients wouldn't be caught dead drinking kale and ginger juice, they want apple and orange! So..I steer them towards the smoothies. But, if they can make Lauren-like juices, I'm all about it! You make some excellent points here.

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  2. You raise such a good point Gina. I have been surrounded by green juices that yes, I should clarify the "lauren like juices" are all veggie with 1 fruit maximum.

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  3. I'm a vitamix girl, so I'll say smoothies (until I get a juicer). But when we go out to the country, we always stop by this one organic farm and grab beet juice with ginger!

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  4. I'm smooth all the way, but coming down with a cold and a Lauren "mostly veggie" juice elixir sounds like the answer to my sniffles. I've been in love with my Vitamix for the last year and a half, but perhaps it's time to add a juicer to my repoitoire too. Perhaps a birthday present for myself :-)

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  5. beet/ginger yum. Everyone thinks they can't love a second child as much as their first. Once you go juicer you'll share the Vitamix love.

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  6. gold- you need ginger/turmeric/lemon/grapefruit/kale/cucumber....go get the juicer, tweeted you one I have. When is your bday?

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  7. i enjoy juices and smoothies for different reasons as well... Although this is not always true, I do think that most smoothies have the ability to taste better than some juices do..like you said, i look at juices as a multivitamin, whereas I look at smoothies as "healthy snacks" that are sometimes more like "dessert" if anything

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  8. I used to juice religiously every day but have since been on a TIGHT grocery budget (among other things since quitting my job) and let's face it; juicing requires lots of produce. SO I'm doing what I can. But yea , I used to love the energy boost I would get from juicing! In the spring/summer I'll get back in to it when produce is cheaper and I have my farmers markets back!

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  9. I never thought of the distinction until this post. I thought of juices like fruit juice-a sugar drink. I'm glad you posted this. BTW I throw kale into my blender for my smoothies and don't mind that I have to chew my smoothies, but it gets old fast!

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  10. I am so healthy-jaded that I didn't mention it matters what you juice! I love "green smoothies" you just need to floss after. Frozen or fresh kale Caron?

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  11. Good point Erin. I sometimes see making my juice as less pricy than buying a juice-bar juice but it is a good portion of my CSA in one cup! As long as you have juicer great for when produce is going to turn, can use it all up.

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  12. Agreed. My mint chocolate smoothies are treatier than my green juices but different uses.

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  13. good answer and I have the same juicer :-)

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  14. Loved this post. Informative, as always! Personally I prefer juice because of the lighter-feeling I have afterwards. But it also depends on what the situation is. After a workout, smoothies usually do the trick.

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  15. I can see that sam and post workout the protein is perfect.

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  16. And what do you juice, anything exotic?

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  17. Fresh. I've never bought frozen and only recently discovered it frozen. Bonus: I have two friends who supply me with some straight out of the ground at times. I assume frozen is OK for everything. Does it behave in the juicer/blender/VitaMix? Of course my blender only shreds the fresh stuff into tiny pieces I have to chew!

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  18. I usually prefer smoothies, probably because they are a great breakfast option when I'm crunched for time. Also, cleaning my Vitamix couldn't be easier. Not sure I could say the same for a juicer, but I do appreciate that I can pack in a lot more veggies in one shot so I tend to buy juices when I'm out and about!

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