Pros and Cons of Juicing vs Blending

The United States is undoubtedly the biggest appliance market in the world with a market value of $37.8 billion in 2018, but things were never like that. The import value in the country shows how far the country has become, and the figures above prove that the country is a mile ahead of other giant countries like South Korea, Germany, China, and Japan. The chart above shows the import value of the major household appliances in the United States from 2008 to 2020.

What is Juicing?

Juicing, according to The Whole U, is a process that involves the separation of the liquid part of the vegetable or fruit you’re processing from the pulp or fiber. What you’re left with after every juicing process is a thin concentrated liquid product that heavily features minerals, vitamins, and phytonutrients which have proved to have positive health effects being bioactive plant-derived compounds. One of the greatest advantages a juicer has over a blender is that the blender cannot make such a thin and concentrated liquid product that a juicer can make.

Naturally, when it comes to consuming drinkable produce, the first two things that come to people’s minds are juicing and blending, and that’s how formidable the two processes have become. For some people, juicing is what works for them the most because they find the concept of thin and concentrated liquid produce very amusing, after all, they’ll get all the nutrients they need in the liquid produce minus the fiber, which most people think doesn’t matter anyway.

More Information on Juicing

There are three basic styles involved in juicing and include the centrifugal method, masticating method, and cold-pressed method. Of all the three methods, the cold-pressed method is the most efficient because it has 100% retention of live enzymes, minerals, and vitamins from the product. That’s not to say the other two methods are not also efficient, but the centrifugal method involves spinning and chopping produce very quickly while the second involves grinding the produce in a bid to separate the juice from the pulp.

With the other two methods, too much heat is applied to the produce as a result of spinning and grinding motions, and while this may not be harmful to your health, the resulting heat can kill the vital nutrients your body needs to get from the juice as well the live enzymes that will make the nutrient denser. When you’re juicing or blending to lose weight, you have to ensure you’re using the best available method to make the whole process worthwhile.

For some reason, cold-pressed juicers are not as popular as the other types of juicer, and one of the reasons, we believe, is people’s consciousness surrounding the easy access to the other types of juicers. Masticating and centrifugal juicers are more accessible because they’re generally cheaper. What you should know when you decide to invest in those two juicer types is that you won’t be getting the same value for your money as far as you keep prioritizing nutrient density.

A cold-pressed juicer may be more expensive, but when you use it to process your fruits or vegetables, it’ll help retain all the essential nutrients you need in your juice. If you’re looking to get the best value for your money, try as much as possible to invest in a cold-pressed juicer, although its pricing may be a bit discouraging, at the end of the day, it’ll be worth the investment.

Our pros and cons of juicer vs blender will explore the pros and cons of each process, but firstly, let’s take a quick look at some of the pros and cons of a juicer, particularly the cold-press juicer.

Pros

It leaves you with full nutrients and vitamins

We mentioned earlier that with a cold-pressed juicer, you have 100% nutrients and vitamins retention, and that’s one of the juicer’s most important pros. The juicer works in a way that there’s no pulp leftover at the end of the process, making the nutrients readily available to be used for detoxification after they must have found their way into the bloodstream. As much as many people love fiber, drinking juice without the fibrous parts gives your body enough time to skip the time-consuming digestion process.

Your body doesn’t have to go through the process of breaking down foods as the nutrients from the juice will begin to benefit your vital organs as soon as possible. Juicing is one of the best ways to get enough nutrients, minerals, and vitamins into your body without having to stress much.

It doesn’t take time to consume

Another thing you’ll love about juicing is that you can consume more fruits and vegetables in a bottle of juice than you can physically consume in a day. This means that you can process about five pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables into one bottle of cold-pressed juice, and the fact that it doesn’t take time to consume makes it a great choice for many people.

Cons

You can’t use juice as a meal replacement

One common misconception people have about juice is that they can use it to replace regular meals, and as appealing as that may sound, it’s not in any way healthy. The best way to juice is to naturally complement your meals and not to serve as a direct replacement for them. However, if you’re into a juice cleanse, it may be safe for you to replace a meal with juice, but don’t let it become a practice you have to get yourself involved with every time.

Juicers are expensive

This is a common downfall for juicers, and it mostly discourages a lot of people from investing in them, rather, having them opt for a cheaper alternative like the blender.

What is Blending?

Consumption of fruits and vegetables is great for weight management and helps reduce the risk of having chronic heart diseases. However, taking them directly may not be as easy as it sounds, which is why people often use blenders and juicers to process them. Juicing and blending have both proved to be easier than directly consuming vegetables and fruits as a whole. Blending fruits and vegetables puts you in a great place to enjoy your ingredients, turning them into smoothies effortlessly.

The juicing versus blending debate is a hard one to decide because both processes have advantages that give them an edge over the other. Unlike juicing that only leaves you with water-like content that only has the nutrients and vitamins, blending gives you the combination of everything you put into the jar because it blends everything without denying you the opportunity to enjoy your antioxidants and fibers. Also, unlike juice that can’t directly replace meals, smoothies are a great meal replacement because they work great with routine diets.

Blenders have proved to be a cheaper alternative to juicers, and that explains why the former is more popular than the latter and also sells more on the market. A regular blender will help process different compatible ingredients to help you make smoothies, but let’s explore some of the pros and cons of blending below.

Pros

Access to enough fibers and antioxidants

What makes blending different from juicing is that if you’re a big fan of having the full content of your ingredients as a result, you will always love to have your antioxidants and fibers preserved in your smoothies. The fact that you’ll get the full benefits of eating in blending makes blending a great choice because the machine can mix all your ingredients without losing the most important vitamins, nutrients, and live enzymes in your smoothies.

When you blend your fruits and vegetables, you process all the parts including the leaves, seeds, and peels, all of which have their unique nutrients and vitamins. You are guaranteed the antioxidants your body needs to efficiently eliminate toxins with smoothies that are prepared using your blender. This is one of the benefits of blending your vegetables and fruits.

Versatility

You can do almost anything you want with a blender including making milkshakes, crushing ice, pureeing baby food, and every other thing. This is what you can’t enjoy with a juicer because it can only make juice.

Affordability

Juicers, especially cold-pressed juicers, cost a lot of money, but you can get regular blenders for less than $50. When people who are on a budget compare the prices, they’d rather opt for cheap blenders that are versatile than opting for juicers that can only make juice. When it comes to cleaning and maintenance, you have the best option in a blender than you do in a juicer.

Pros

More sugar if you’re not careful

Blending won’t get you the sweet result you’ll get from juicing, and this may tempt you to add more fillers to help improve the taste. When you get used to this, it will defeat the whole purpose of turning to smoothies in the first place, which is to help improve your health. Getting used to the fillers will make you start losing track of the calories you have in your ingredients.

Is it better to juice or blend fruits and vegetables?

It’s hard to tell which one of the two processes is better because, at the end of the day, it’s down to individual preferences. There are factors you have to take into personal consideration to determine which of the two machines is great to have at home. Some of the factors you need to consider include, according to India Kitchen;

• Digestion
• Nutrient absorption
• Calorie intake and weight loss
• Antioxidants and nutrients

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Does juicing take away/remove nutrients?

Juicing doesn’t take away nutrients. However, if you use a masticating juicer to juice, you might lose some of the nutrients you’re supposed to enjoy to the resulting heat from the way the machine operates. This is why we suggest you stick with cold-pressed juicers.

2. Why juice instead of blend?

It’s usually down to personal preferences, but the fact that blenders are more popular on the market than juicers is enough proof that they are highly regarded.

Wrapping Up

The pros and cons of juicing and blenders have always been obvious for people to see. We’ve highlighted some of them in this article, so if you’re looking to purchase any of them, you should take your time to evaluate the pros and cons of each machine before making the big decision. What you should be prepared to do is frequent cleaning and maintenance because it will have a direct impact on your health.