I receive a lot of emails asking which is better, drinking smoothies or green juice.  Some are debating if they should buy a juicer or a blender; others want to know for health reasons. I did a post on this a while back on this, but I've put more information together not only explaining the differences between blending and juicing, but also the nutritional difference between a smoothie and green juice.

Basically, juicing is an effective way to make healthy drinks, but I'm more for blending. The main reason is because you keep all the pulp and nutrients from the produce, particularly fiber. With a juicer, the water and fiber are extracted. Still, they both have their benefits!

Blending and Smoothies 

With blending, you blend the entire fruit or veggie and its skin, so you get all the benefits from it, including fiber. Unlike juicing, blending promotes a slow release of nutrients into your body to avoid blood sugar spikes. 

We all know smoothies are easier to make! They are ideal to drink first thing in the morning or snacks throughout the day. Drinking on an empty stomach will allow your body to absorb all the nutrients. When making them, you can add in more ingredients like dairy-free milk, nuts, seeds, superfood powders and more. It's not just fruits and veggies.

Smoothies are more kid-friendly because you can make them taste and look like frozen dessert. You can easily trick kids to drink fruits and veggies without them having a clue what’s in them! I've found this one to be a hit with kids. 

Additionally, you can blend your fruits and veggies together until it looks almost like a juice. In short, you can have the best of both worlds when blending because you can easily make juice-like drinks with it. Here is one of my favorite recipes for that. 

Juicing

Juicing is basically for creating juice drinks from fruits and veggies, without the pulp. You separate the juice from the fiber. One good thing about that is the body is able to absorb nutrients faster. That means juices can give you an instant boost of energy! 

Since juices are all liquid and do not contain any solids, they provide more space. You can drink the nutrients of more fruits and veggies in one glass. Just like smoothies, you should drink these on an empty stomach. 

Juicing is great for people with a sensitive digestive system because it makes it easier to break down the nutrients you get from the produce.

This is my favorite juicer.

Blending vs. Juicing

If you're debating which to buy, I vote for a blender. You can use a blender to make so many things besides smoothies and full fruit juices like dips and desserts. With the juicer you can only make juice.  

Also, it’s important that you invest in a good quality juicer or blender. Those that are cheaper don't blend up fruits and veggies very well, which make them taste less than enjoyable. And they easily break.

There are a lot of places that serve pressed juice or you can buy them at the grocery store. Even Target is now carrying organic pressed juice. I think it's much more important to drink smoothies more often because you're body will receive all the nutrients from the produce and fill you up longer. 

Both have their benefits because they are a fun and delicious way to increase your consumption of fruits and veggies. And they are undoubtedly healthier than any other fizzy, sugary drinks!

This is one of my favorite juice-like drinks made from a blender to try. What do you prefer juice or smoothies?