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Nutrition Nathan Young Jr. Nutrition Nathan Young Jr.

Is It Better To Juice Or Blend For Weight Management

Juicing VS blending. The battle of our generation. Who shall claim victory? 

Should you emphasize the world of juicing or should you enter the smoothie realm for eternal intake? 

With all of the talk of results pertaining to dietary displacement, what is real and what is a mirage is difficult to tell, so let’s clear the air and create a less resistant path to health, as well as weight management.

SECTIONS:

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What Is Juicing

In the juicing vs blending discussion we start with the basics: what is juicing. Juicing is precisely as the name suggests: extracting the liquid from a substance. In this case it’s a strong reference to fruit, but vegetables are commonly juiced, as well. For later reference it’s important to mention in the juicing process you keep the liquid and discard the remains. 

Several juicing methods exist from hand-squeezed to cold compress.

Jamba Juice, Smoothie King, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, and the like have the industry in a chokehold, but as a whole the smoothie and juicing industry is bringing in over 2 billion dollars annually [1]. So the nutritional differences between juicing and blending is something we should know if we’re throwing so much money into their collective pots.

*ponders starting a juice company*

The creation and consumption of fruit juice is nothing new. As kids we spent quite a bit of time on orange juice, apple juice, Capri-Sun, Kool Aid, the whole line of sport’s drinks like Gatorade and so on, but fresh juicing is gaining the most steam.

For good reason? 

That’s debatable. 

Its popularity is centered around the appearance of health and fat loss results. For many the decision to juice seems to be a catalyst for sending fat stores packing, yet if you grab a magnifying glass you’ll see more. That’ll be covered later, first the pros and cons that come with juicing.

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Pros And Cons Of Juicing

Like all dietary tactics juicing has its peaks and like all dietary tactics juicing has its valleys. Your job is to understand each peak and valley, so you’ll make informed decisions. With informed decisions unwanted results won’t be able to sneak up on you.. You’ll see them coming.

Pros:

  • High concentration of vitamins and minerals 

  • Ease of absorption, since fiber is removed during the juicing process 

Cons:

  • No fiber, absorption is cool, yet this is a problem 

  • More often than not high sugar content is a strong negative, too

Note: the results of juicing can be worse than soda, but on average 45.5 grams of sugar per liter of juice is the norm and soda is 50 grams per liter [3].

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What Is A Smoothie

On not exactly the other end of the spectrum is a smoothie. Smoothies are drinks developed from fruits and/or veggies through a blending process. All edible parts go in, all edible parts stay in.

I’m the blending king by blood 😏. 

Before a workout I throw coconut milk, oats, strawberries, creatine, and whey protein in the shindig and the party commences.

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Pros And Cons Of Smoothies

Is a juicer the same as a blender? No, but in the ballpark. The biggest split is fiber. When you blend, the whole fruit or veggie goes in. When it’s all in, the dietary friendly fiber is all in.

Pros:

  • Fiber sticks around 

  • Less concentrated than juicing, but the existent vitamins and minerals remain present

  • Potent antioxidants retain the impact that’s diminished when juicing [2]

  • Lower glycemic profile compared to juicing

  • Flexible method of taking in calories since you can throw nearly anything into the mix

Cons:

  • Though fiber improves your blood sugar response, that doesn’t mean your levels are always great. Sugar keeps its VIP pass and can be an issue when consumed in excess

Note: antioxidants fight free radicals that can cause damage to your body. They’re linked to illnesses like cancer, diabetes, and the annual leading cause of death: heart disease. 

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What Does Fiber Do For Your Body

Fiber isn’t to be slept on. Fiber is a carbohydrate your body is unable to digest. Citizenry often ask what does fiber do for your body. The answer is it comes in soluble and insoluble forms, but crucially it provides satiety and when soluble helps stabilize blood glucose levels [4].

Soluble fiber dissolves in water, helping slow digestion.

Insoluble fiber slows digestion, as well and adds heft to your bowels after making food pass more quickly through your stomach and intestines. 

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Why You Should Choose Blending Over Juicing

Now to put some passion behind it.

Blending is superior to juicing.

Bottom line, when you juice it’s like adding vitamin c to a Coke (and whatever other vitamins of course).

The advertisements and such always harp on “added” sugar rather than “total” sugar.. making their tactics misleading. I don’t like misleading.

And don’t brush off the importance of satiety, at least blending can get you full. Think about how much sugary juice can you throw down before your stomach taps out. You can go round after round with freshly squeezed orange juice without having to turn your cup in.

Without the fiber it’s just souped up soda and this isn’t to say blending is the greatest of all time, it has flaws too.

A heavy reliance on blending is a problem if your contents have a tendency to sport high numbers on the glycemic index. All fruit isn’t a benefit to you, learn the differences by being familiar with glycemic profiles.

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Why Juicing Commonly Leads To Weight Loss

If juicing isn’t the best thing to happen to dieting since the discovery of fire, why are there so many success stories?

Dietary displacement.

Dietary displacement is when you exchange a nutritional habit for another.

If you trade high calorie food for food with less calories? You lose weight.

Whether that lower calorie food is M&M Minis, a jar of mayonnaise, or Jamba Juice’s finest.

Weight management is all energy balance.

Want to lose weight? Consume less calories than you burn.

Want to gain weight? Consume more calories than you burn.

Want to maintain? Even it out.

Are there other consequences for choosing poor sources of nutrition? Of course, but you can move weight with any food source.

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My Thoughts

Bonus highlights go to you deciding on moderation when it comes to blending fruits, juicing, drinking soda - all of it. You make fat accumulation occur a lot more easily when your sugar intake is high and your consumed calories refrain from providing the satiety a sit-down meal would grant.

Fruit isn't quite what you may believe; it’s unlike most vegetables. You usually get free reign with veggies, especially the likes of cauliflower or broccoli. The sovereignty is because before you’re able to step way over your caloric intake for the day on broccoli, you’ll figuratively tip over from being too stuffed. Broccoli has plenty fiber and not many calories per gram.

A comparable amount of fruit can do you wrong, as would other sugary foods. Fruits have fructose; fructose is naturally occurring sugar in fruit and is treated by your body similarly to processed sugar. Too much raises the likelihood of fat storage and other issues related to high sugar intake. Fruit isn’t to be completely eliminated, yet be aware; fruit is to be restricted (I like 0-3 servings depending on if it is a high or low carb day).

Learn your calorie intake and consistently maintain awareness. A calorie surplus is a surplus and a calorie deficit is a deficit. Whatever your goal is, your overall calories should reflect it.

When it comes to blending, lifestyle dictates direction. Before my business became more virtual I’d run around the city training and calories were tougher to come by: what did I do? Blend. I’d blend beef protein powder, whey protein, egg protein, and casein protein as needed with fruits before a workout, veggies at other times. Whatever my macros dictated I’d add oats, bran cereal, or rice for carbs, since I’m usually carb cycling.. peanut butter, olive oil, or avocado for fats.

Yes my taste buds are highly disrespected 😆.

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So, It’s About That Time

Fruit has many benefits that we should all aim to consume on a somewhat regular basis. There is no good or bad, there is only what is to be limited and what is to be limited even more. Blending trumps juicing, but juicing trumps excess poor calories. Avoid the excess and you’ll see success, especially if you put those muscles to use. Be Great.

Sources:

[1] ibisworld.com/industry/juice-smoothie-bars.html

[2] ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4103735/

[3] nutritionjrnl.com/article/S0899-9007%2814%2900192-0/fulltext

[4] pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1663443/

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