Mixed Up? Me too!
Blending vs Juicing
by Nikkola Daniel
If like me, you are one of the many people that love to create the perfect mix of veg and fruit to nourish and quench the body, then fantastic…good for you. Keep it up! It’s a great way of giving ourselves the valuable nutrients that we need to encourage good health, wellness and wellbeing. Whether you are a seasoned juicing fanatic, or a wannabe smoothie blending master there may well still be that niggling question at the back of your mind. What’s better, blending or juicing?
Don’t be confused. The main thing to know in the great war of juicing vs blending is that juicing removes fibre whereas blending keeps the fibre in. Fibre plays a massively important role in protecting certain antioxidants in vegetables and fruits from early digestion in the stomach and small intestine, effectively escorting them to the large intestine where absorption occurs. It’s simple really.
In juicing, it’s the norm for the fibrous pulp to be discarded meaning two things. You are missing out on the fibre and you are also missing out on valuable antioxidants (particularly polyphenols) that the fibre protects during their transit in the digestion system.
Polyphenols (micronutrients) bind to fibre in plant cells and it’s the process of fibre protecting polyphenols, helping them get to the colon, that means that all of the good nutrients that we so desperately want and need may be more bio-available when we blend or eat the vegetables and fruit whole.
Increasing fibre intake can cause constipation in some people, but the way to avoid this is by drinking lots of water, so blending is a fantastic way of up-ing your fibre intake without having to worry about getting ‘bunged up’ as you can mix your smoothies with water and fibre has so many great benefits for the body.
So, to wrap up, I’d say there is nothing wrong with literally mixing it up and incorporating a combination of both blending and juicing into your diet. If I’d have to go for one or the other, I would advise most people to lean towards blending, however, if adequate fibre levels are being achieved as part of a healthy, nutritious diet, juicing certainly won’t hurt. They key to remember is that no two bodies are alike and you may need more or less fibre in your diet, pending on the current state of your nutritional requirements. To find out more about health scans and how nutritional therapy can help you, click here.
Happy blending! Or is that juicing????