Juicing
With juicing you basically get just the juice from the fruits and vegetables minus all the pulp, or fiber. They are very popular with many raw foodists and also those who are into healthy living.
The positives:
- More nutrient dense
- Tend to have more variety of vegetables in green juices
The negatives:
- Generally green juices cost more ingredient wise to make than a smoothie
- Fruit juices can cause blood sugar issues due to lack of fibre
- Juices move quickly through the digestive system due to it being a liquid so nutrient absorption could be compromised
- You can feel hungrier more quickly, after a juice due to the lack of bulk from having no fibre
Smoothies
With smoothies, you get all of the vegetable and fruit flesh including the fiber (pulp). They are perfect for meal times and can keep you going for many hours. Many people attest to their great health benefits especially when they allow people to eat larger amounts of healthy foods that they otherwise could not physically do. Improved digestion and elimination are also benefits.
The positives:
- Tend to cost less to make ingredient wise than juices
- Promote good digestion and regular elimination due to fiber content
- Are a quick and easy, highly calorific meal
- Promote blood sugar stability (due to fiber)
The negatives:
- High speed smoothie makers/blenders can introduce heat/oxygen into the smoothie making process so causing heat damage/oxidation; and so a loss of nutrients
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Nutritional tips:
1. As a low fat raw vegan diet is the healthiest dietary option, it is worth mentioning that when you make a smoothie, adding overt fats to the ingredients such as avocados, coconut flesh, nuts or seeds should always be done within the rules of food combining for optimum health, digestion and absorption. The consuming of overt fats should always be at the last meal of the day.
2. Oxalic acid is a much talked about subject, especially with regards to leafy greens. It is known that consuming too much oxalic acid through the food that we eat can have a negative impact on the body as it chemically combines with other minerals that the body needs, such as calcium and magnesium and so effectively steals the body of their nutritional value. Greens such as spinach, parsley and purslane are some of the vegetables that you should use some caution due to their raised levels of oxalic acid.
3. High speed blenders are very efficient at making smoothies with any consistency you desire, though due to their power they can draw in oxygen to your smoothie which will oxidize its contents and so lower the nutritional value. To avoid this, try using a lower setting that does not make the smoothie ingredients thrash around inside the blender, or perhaps use a hand blender instead.
4. You gain the maximum benefit from freshly made juices or smoothie, otherwise they will begin to oxidize and the loss of nutrients will occur. If this is not possible for you to make and drink the smoothie/juice right away, then keeping them in a cool fridge until you are ready to drink them is another option, although further oxidation does occur this way.
So, as you can see there are a number of positives and negatives with regards to both ways of processing your fruits and vegetables. Fruit or green smoothies with fruits are a great way to get the calories you need every day, including when transitioning to a raw food diet. Other people rave about the benefits they receive from drinking concentrated green juices.
We hope this article has given you something to think about when you next decide to have a smoothie or juice, and so are in a better position to make an informed choice.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Tarbath
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