Juicing/smoothies for health

[HappyHiker]

I'm thinking of starting to make vegetable/fruit/nut smoothies to bolster my nutrition, maybe lose weight? Anyhow, before I spend the bucks on a blender like a Vitamix (only cheaper!) does anyone have any anecdotal info to share on whether making these drinks has positively impacted their health?

Or is this another trend I should not adopt??

I eat a lot of salads, raw veggies and bean/veggie dishes, grains, but wondered if juicing/smoothies would prove a benefit?

Thanks for sharing your tales of juicy kind.

[iris lilies]

The juicer contingent is pretty silly, IMHO. Also, everyone I know who did juicing ran through that trend in a couple of weeks.

Why are you "bolstering" your nutrition? You can only absorb so much of each vitimin so when you eat excess it goes in the toilet.

If you are already eating lots of raw veg and fruit, you are getting good nutrition including jaw action and gastro-intestional work outs. Turning everything into "juice" ruins that.

But perhaps you need more measurable amounts of certain nutrients, only you would know that.

Do you have a blender, and if so, whats wrong with usng that?

[ApatheticNoMore]

Juicers have to be a leading thing people buy and eventually don't use. Do you have any other uses for the Vitamax? I bet you can get a relatively cheap juicer at the thrift shop. Will at be as good? Almost certainly not, but it will give you an idea if you are actually going to stick to juicing anyway maybe.

I think most people don't because it's just not practical, most people prefer to eat rather than drink their food - it's just more pleasurable to do so whether it's salad or vegetable soups or whatever (and they are sometimes a pain to clean as well)

[JaneV2.0]

I like blended coffee drinks in the morning. I throw various substances in them, depending on what I feel I'm missing. But unless you're committed to juice (which can be a big sugar bomb) and/or smoothies, it sounds like you're getting plenty of vegetables already. (And I say this as Vitamix owner.)

[ctg492]

I had a "juicer" years ago that spit the fiber and good stuff out and left the juice. Seems kinda strange looking back. Now of the past several Years I use a Ninja and another cheap type almost daily. I personally love it and feel I always will as it has been several years now. I am thinking of investing in to a VitaMix. I eat tenfold more veggies with this way of eating them. And I love my smoothies. I toss in a handful of blue berries or strawberries with every veggie mix I make. I peal nothing I toss in. Yes I feel good. I make my own recipes, almost all have spinach and berries the side toss ins can be whatever veggies I bought this week. Beets are the best. I never at beets before now I eat a few week.

See now I actually feel if every family had one on the counter and whipped up a veggie/fruit drink for dinner each day. Kids and adults would get the daily veggie amount and kids would love them.