So, what is a good way of getting more fruit and vegetables – and the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients they contain – into your diet? Juicing and blending can both be useful ways of doing this. While neither should be seen as a replacement for a varied, balanced diet based
largely on whole foods, juices and smoothies can make it easier to increase your intake of fruit and vegetables, experiment with ingredients you might not otherwise eat, and introduce a wider variety of nutrients into your daily diet. The important thing to understand is that juicing and blending do different things, and each has its own advantages.
Juicing: an easy way to increase your vegetable intake.
Juicing extracts the liquid from fruit and vegetables, leaving behind most of the insoluble fibre. This means you can consume a relatively large quantity of vegetables in a single glass without having to sit down and eat a huge bowl of them. This can be particularly useful when it comes to green vegetables. Leafy greens such as spinach, kale and Swiss chard contain nutrients including folate, vitamin K, vitamin C and minerals such as calcium. Juicing can therefore be an easy way to incorporate a greater variety of vegetables into your diet. It can also be a great way of introducing vegetables that you would normally avoid. For example, I cannot stand celery and would never choose to eat it raw, but when it is combined with other fruit and vegetables in a juice, I barely notice the taste. However, there is an important trade-off: when you juice, you remove much of the fibre. Fibre is important for digestive health; helps you feel full and can slow the absorption of naturally occurring sugars. For this reason, vegetable-heavy juices are generally a better everyday choice than juices containing large quantities of fruit.
A useful approach is to think of fruit as a way of adding flavour rather than making it the main ingredient. For example, you might combine leafy greens, cucumber and celery with a small amount of apple, lemon, ginger or carrot. Fresh juice is also different from many commercial fruit juices. Packaged juices may be pasteurised or otherwise processed to improve their safety and shelf life. Processing can affect some heat-sensitive nutrients, although it does not mean that all of the nutritional value has been destroyed. Commercial juices can still provide vitamins and other nutrients, but freshly prepared juice gives you greater control over the ingredients and avoids added sugars and other unnecessary ingredients.
Blending: keep the fibre
Blending is different because the whole fruit or vegetable goes into the drink. Nothing is extracted, so the resulting smoothie retains the fibre as well as the water, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients found in the ingredients. This makes smoothies more filling than juice, particularly when you include
ingredients such as berries, banana, oats, chia seeds, nuts, seeds or avocado. Blending also gives you more flexibility. You can create a complete, nutrient-dense meal by combining fruit and vegetables with a source of protein and healthy fat. For example, a smoothie could contain spinach, berries, unsweetened yoghurt or a plant-based alternative, chia seeds and a small amount of nut butter. This is one of the major advantages of blending: you can build a balanced meal rather than simply making a drink. There is, however, one thing to watch out for. Because smoothies are so easy to
consume, it is possible to put a very large amount of fruit into one glass. Blending fruit does not make the sugar disappear, so a smoothie containing several bananas, mangoes and dates can contain a substantial amount of naturally occurring sugar and calories. For an everyday smoothie, I would therefore favour a combination of vegetables, a moderate amount of fruit, protein, healthy fats and fibre.
Juicing or blending – which should you choose?
There is no need to choose one or the other. They can work very well together. As a general rule, I tend to think of juicing as a way of increasing vegetable variety and blending as a way of creating a more substantial meal.
You might, for example:
Have a vegetable-based juice in the morning.
Have a fruit and vegetable smoothie as a meal or snack.
Use whole fruit and vegetables throughout the rest of the day.
Alternate between juices and smoothies depending on what your body and
schedule need.
There is no hard-and-fast rule, though. If you prefer smoothies, there is no particular reason why you need to juice. And if you love fresh vegetable juice, it can be a useful addition to an otherwise balanced diet.
Don’t forget to eat your fruit and vegetables too
It is worth emphasising that juicing and blending should complement whole foods rather than replace them completely. Whole fruit and vegetables have an important advantage: they require chewing, take longer to eat and provide fibre in its natural form. Eating a whole apple, for example,
is different from drinking the juice of several apples. This is particularly relevant if you are trying to manage hunger or blood-sugar levels.
A juice can be consumed very quickly and may contain the equivalent of several portions of fruit or vegetables. A smoothie containing the whole ingredients, particularly when it includes protein, fibre and healthy fats, will generally be more filling. So don’t feel that everything has to go into a juicer or blender. Sometimes the best option is simply to eat the apple, carrot, berries or handful of nuts exactly as they are!
What about digestion?
You may have heard that you should “chew” your juice or smoothie by holding it in your mouth and mixing it with saliva before swallowing.
There is some logic behind eating and drinking slowly: chewing and saliva are part of the normal digestive process, and eating more slowly can make it easier to recognise when you are becoming full. However, you do not need to deliberately chew a liquid for your body to digest it properly. Digestion continues through the stomach and small intestine, where most nutrient absorption takes place. The more useful advice is simply to drink your juice or smoothie slowly rather than consuming a large quantity very quickly. This can make the experience more comfortable and gives you time to recognise how your body responds. If a particular juice or smoothie causes bloating, cramps or digestive discomfort, reduce the quantity and consider which ingredients may be responsible. Large amounts of certain fruits, vegetables or sweeteners can be difficult for some people to tolerate.
What about juice fasting?
Juice fasts have become extremely popular, often being promoted as a way to “detox” the body, lose weight quickly or reset your system.
It is important to be realistic about what a juice fast can and cannot do. Your liver, kidneys, lungs and digestive system already have sophisticated mechanisms for processing and eliminating waste from the body. There is no good evidence that a prolonged juice fast is necessary to “detox” a healthy person. A short period of drinking fresh juices may help some people temporarily increase their fruit and vegetable intake, but juice alone is not nutritionally complete. In particular, it can be low in protein, essential fats and fibre, depending on what you include. Very restrictive juice diets can also leave you hungry, tired or lacking important nutrients, and any rapid weight loss is likely to include water and some muscle as well as body fat.
If you enjoy the idea of a short juice-focused period, there is nothing wrong with experimenting with vegetable juices as part of a balanced diet. I would, however, avoid treating an extended juice fast as a necessary health intervention. A much more sustainable approach is to make juices and smoothies part of your normal eating pattern while continuing to eat plenty of whole foods. If you have diabetes, take medication, are pregnant or breastfeeding, have a medical condition, or have a history of disordered eating, it is particularly important to speak to a healthcare professional before undertaking any restrictive diet or fast.
What should you put in a juice or smoothie?
One of the best things about juicing and blending is that there are almost endless combinations.
For a vegetable juice, you could try:
Cucumber
Celery
Spinach or kale
Carrot
Lemon
Ginger
A small amount of apple for sweetness
For a balanced smoothie, try combining:
A handful of berries or one portion of fruit
Spinach or another leafy green
Unsweetened milk or yoghurt
Chia, flax or hemp seeds
Nut butter or avocado
Ice or frozen fruit
The key is variety. Different fruits and vegetables provide different vitamins, minerals and plant compounds, so don’t feel that you need to find one “perfect” recipe and drink it every day. And remember that healthy fats and protein are important parts of a balanced diet. A juice made purely from fruit and vegetables won’t provide much fat or protein, whereas a smoothie can easily incorporate ingredients such as nuts, seeds, yoghurt, milk, tofu or a suitable protein powder.
Which juicer should you buy?
If you decide to start juicing regularly, the equipment you choose can make a big difference to how convenient the process is.
There are two main types of traditional juicers: centrifugal and masticating.
- Centrifugal juicers – use a rapidly spinning blade and are generally quick and relatively affordable. They can be a good entry point if you are new to juicing. Many models have a wide feeding chute, which means you can put larger pieces of fruit and vegetables into the machine without having to spend as much time chopping everything beforehand. The downside is that centrifugal juicers can be noisier and may produce more foam
and oxidation. They can also be less effective with some leafy greens and softer produce. - Masticating juicers – or “slow”, juicers crush and press the produce rather than spinning it at very high speed. They tend to be more expensive and slower, but they can produce a good yield and are particularly useful for leafy greens and a wide variety of vegetables. It is sometimes claimed that the lower speed means they preserve dramatically more nutrients because there is less heat. This is an oversimplification. Nutrient levels are
affected by many factors, including the ingredient, storage time, exposure to oxygen, processing and the specific nutrient being considered.
The more important consideration is whether the machine produces juice that you enjoy making and drinking and whether you will actually use it regularly.
There are also newer machines marketed as “cold-press”, “slow”, “low-speed” or similar types. Rather than focusing too heavily on the terminology, look at independent reviews, juice yield, ease of cleaning, warranty and how well the machine handles the ingredients you intend to use.
What about blenders?
Blending is considerably simpler. If you already have a good-quality kitchen blender, you may not need to buy anything else. The most important consideration is whether it can comfortably handle the ingredients you want to use, particularly frozen fruit, ice, nuts and seeds. High-powered blenders such as Vitamix models are well regarded for their performance and durability, but they can be expensive. There are also many more
affordable personal and countertop blenders available. Nutribullet is a popular option because its personal blenders are relatively affordable,
compact and straightforward to clean. The best blender for you, however, is ultimately the one that fits your budget and that you will use regularly.
A few final tips
If you are starting out, don’t make it complicated. Start with one juice or smoothie a day and experiment with different combinations. Gradually increase the variety of vegetables you use rather than immediately trying to create elaborate recipes with twenty different ingredients.
A few other tips:
Use more vegetables than fruit in juices. This keeps the natural sugar content lower while still providing plenty of flavour and nutrients. Don’t automatically add fruit juice or sweeteners. Whole ingredients usually provide enough flavour without needing additional sugar, honey or syrups.
Include protein and healthy fats in meal-sized smoothies. Ingredients such as yoghurt, milk, tofu, nuts, seeds or nut butter can make a smoothie considerably more satisfying.
Drink freshly prepared juice reasonably soon. Once fruit and vegetables have been cut and processed, exposure to air, light and time can gradually reduce the levels of some nutrients.
Wash your produce properly. Fresh juice is not sterile, so good food hygiene and appropriate refrigeration are important.
Clean your equipment promptly. This is perhaps the least glamorous part of juicing, but it makes a huge difference to whether you continue doing it!
Most importantly, don’t think of juicing or blending as an all-or-nothing lifestyle. They are simply tools that can help you eat a greater variety of nutritious foods. If you enjoy a green juice in the morning, great. If you prefer a berry smoothie, that’s great too. And if some days you would rather simply eat an apple and a handful of spinach, that works perfectly well. The goal is not to drink all your food. The goal is to make it easier and more
enjoyable to eat a varied diet rich in fruit, vegetables, fibre, protein, healthy fats and other nutrient-dense foods.
