Blended veggies vs juicing fruits … whether it’s to lose weight or detox, or just for overall better health, which one is better for you?
Here’s a question I get a lot from people who are new to cleanses and detoxes:
What’s better for losing weight, blended vegetables or juicing fruits?
Spoiler alert: the answer by far is blended vegetables.
Here’s why.
Juicing fruits is a good way to get nutrients in a concentrated amount.
But if you’re trying to lose weight, there are two main problems with a juice diet.
Juicing Fruits Problem #1: Too Much Fructose
First, the amount of fructose (fruit sugar) in fruit juice in some cases is almost as high as regular soda. That’s bad if you’re trying to keep your blood sugar level steady. If you want to be able to study all day or function at work, you need to eat and drink things that will keep your blood sugar rock steady.
And juice diets can make your blood sugar fluctuate.
It’s true that the fructose in whole fruit doesn’t skyrocket your blood sugar like regular soda. However, when you’re juicing fruits, you tend to consume more fruit than is necessary.
If you crave fruit, just eat a handful of berries. Later in the day, you can eat an organic green apple. Both these examples equal one serving of fruit.
Without a doubt, fruit plays an important role in helping prevent chronic diseases like cancer. However, you only need to eat about 4 or 5 servings a day to get the benefits of fruit’s phytochemicals (disease-fighting nutrients).
The problem with juice diets is you get too much fruit sugar. Think about how many oranges it takes to produce a fresh squeezed glass of OJ. Instead of that large glass of OJ at brunch, just eat a whole orange. (Though I admit to enjoying the occasional mimosa at brunch.)
In short, you might be getting adequate vitamins from the juice fruit, but you’re also consuming too much fruit sugar in one sitting. And if you consume sugar at a meal, there better be a nutrient to slow down your digestion to prevent energy crashes and weight gain. This missing nutrient leads us to the second problem with juicing fruits….
Juicing Fruits Problem #2: No Fiber
When you juice fruit, you’re missing out on fiber. There are a few huge benefits of fiber for weight loss and detox.
First, fiber helps you feel full. Blending veggies, especially cold-blending them like our Green Drinks preserves the fiber content.
On the contrary, when you juice fruit, even if it’s organic, it lacks fiber. And when you don’t have fiber to slow the blood sugar rush, you will likely feel hungry soon after drinking the fruit juice. If you’re doing a 7 day juice cleanse, it’s going to be a hellish week for you. You’re going to likely feel cranky, irritable, and moody.
Furthermore, when you feel hungry after a blood sugar crash, you might crave foods with lots of carbs like pasta or bread.
I admit I hear people claiming weight loss and detox success by juicing fruits, even on a 7 day juice cleanse. But I really don’t recommend it. As a nutritional therapist and healthy chef, I encourage you to lose weight and detox by consuming foods and drinks with fiber. And juicing fruits provides zero fiber.
Here’s another reason fiber is so important. It’s vital for overall health and a strong digestive system. The 7 certified organic veggies in our Green Drinks contain insoluble fiber. Insoluble fiber adds bulk to your stool. This helps you detox because the bulk activates your elimination. (In other words, it helps you go #2 and when you go #2 you are detoxing!)
Juicing fruits doesn’t help you in the detox/elimination department. In fact, if you’re doing a 7 day juice cleanse, there’s a good chance your elimination will be sluggish. That’s because of the lack of fiber in a juice diet.
To be clear, cold-blended fruit juice does contain some soluble fiber. Soluble fiber dissolves in water. In addition, soluble fiber slows your digestion. This is a good thing because when your digestion slows down, you don’t get hungry as often or quickly. Which means you won’t have cravings.
However, as I mentioned above, there’s a better way to get your soluble fiber from fruit. And that’s eating a whole piece of fruit a few times a day or blending it in a drink or smoothie.
Blended vegetables vs. juicing fruits: the winner is….
Clearly, blended vegetables are healthier than juicing fruits. This is true for overall health, detox, and weight loss.
Cold-blending both veggies and fruits provide antioxidants. If you need a snack, that’s a perfect time for having a piece of whole organic fruit.
But when it comes to drinking your antioxidants, make it blended vegetables.
We’re here to do the dirty work for you. All the veggies in our Green Drinks are grown locally and certified organic. Instead of shopping, washing, chopping, blending, and cleaning up, let us deliver your healthy blended Green Drinks.
The great thing is it costs about the same price as shopping for all these organic veggies yourself. But we save you time and money by delivering Green Drinks to you overnight!
