Ask the Expert | What’s the difference between juicing and blending?

I have a lot of questions. Once in awhile, I want the comfort of speaking to an actual expert on the topic that I’m looking into, rather than a chorus of randos on the internet. I know I’m not alone in this, so sometimes I like to Ask the Expert. I’ll take our burning questions and bring them to trained professionals. If you have a question you’d like to add to the list email it to me at jen@cuddlesandchaos.com.

If you’ve read this blog for more than a few months, you know that I’m a smoothie lover. I usually drink one every day and I make sure to pack it with greens and seeds (sometimes the greens/fruit combo makes it a vomit-like color that makes people turn up their noses in disgust. To that I say: you can’t judge a smoothie by its color, people!). They’re delicious and nutritious which sounds perfectly perfect to me.

But then there’s the whole juicing thing. I have heard people talk about juices and smoothies interchangeably, but I know that’s not right. Juices are much more fluid and—from what I’ve heard—much more labor intensive to make. I mean, I just throw some ingredients in a NutriBullet, drink it out of the same cup and am done. All I have to clean is the cup and the blade and the whole process takes maybe five minutes.

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder what the nutritional differences were between the two. Then I got an email newsletter from the amazing Bailey O’Brien about juicing and I knew I had to ask her.

Bailey is the definition of inspirational. Diagnosed with stage-4 melanoma while in college and given a terminal diagnosis, she took matters into her own hands and explored natural cancer treatments. After six weeks of committing to a strict diet and beginning her alternative treatment, Bailey’s “incurable” cancer was cured. She has been in remission for four years. Bailey has gained a whole lot of knowledge along the way through both life experience and getting her BS in Nutritional Science. She has even become a motivational speaker, sharing her message of hope and gratitude to anyone who will listen.

Since whole foods and healthy living are a huge part of her life and since juicing is such a large part of her continued treatment, Bailey seemed like the perfect person to bring my question to. Here’s what she had to say:

A juicer makes juice which has a very thin consistency like water, whereas a blender makes smoothies which are much more fibrous and thick. Juice has virtually no fiber, so it’s really quickly and easily digested.

When you’re looking to get in as many nutrients as possible, juicing is best because the fiber in smoothies takes up a lot of room in your tummy and it takes a while to get digested. When I was sick, I was drinking 13 juices per day (including almost five pounds of carrots). There was 0% chance I could fit all those nutrients in in one day with the fiber included. But, when you’re not that sick and you’re just looking to stay healthy and fit, smoothies might work better for you. Smoothies give you a good dose of nutrients with fewer calories than juice, because fiber takes up a lot of space and has no calories.

So basically juice is much more fluid, contains almost no fiber and is nutrient dense. Blended smoothies contain all of the fiber and are thicker because of it. They also contain less nutrients because you can’t pack as many servings of fruit and vegetables in. Bailey also included a link to this post by Food Matters for anyone looking for more information.

If you’re interested in hearing more from Bailey, you should absolutely sign up for her newsletter and check out her website and Facebook page.

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