These days juicing is all the rage. Juice shops are popping up in cites just like yogurt shops did a year ago.

In a world where Starbucks is on every corner, grabbing a smoothie or fresh juice sounds like the better thing to do.  But is it?  And which one is better?

It would seem like grabbing a smoothie would be an obvious choice over a sugary frappacino. But, that’s not always the case. Sometimes a smoothie can have more calories than a cheeseburger!

In fact, Jamba Juice has a chocolate peanut butter smoothie that has 480 calories, 10 grams of fat, 83 grams of carbs, and 72 grams of sugar in it!!! Wowza!

When going to a smoothie place make sure you check their nutrition guides. All smoothies aren’t created equal. Smoothie does not equal “good for you”.  A lot of problems with the smoothie joints is that the drinks have way too much sugar! Sure it’s natural sugar, but too much of even a good thing is still too much for you.

When it comes to smoothies look for low sugar options on the menu. Some smoothie shops have started adding fresh veggies as well to their smoothies (go for those). 

If you are at home, again the more greens and veggies you can add to your smoothie, the better.

But, what’s better for you, making a smoothie or juicing?

Well their are two camps who fight over this question and to be honest, I’m right in the middle. I believe that if you can blend up greens and veggies and drink it great! If you like juicing up your veggies and greens instead good on ya!

For goodness sakes you are doing something great for your body either way!

People who love to blend (make smoothies) say that when you juice you lose fiber. Sure, but you poop out most of the fiber anyway, and your body works harder to get it through your system than if you just juiced.

People who juice say that the juice absorbs into their system more quickly, but if you blend it will absorb into your system too.

Is there really a wrong way to go here?  In my humble opinion, NO!

The only way you can go wrong with juicing or blending is if you only juice or blend a bunch of fruit all the time.  Even though you would be drinking natural sugars, too much sugar is never great for you.

Whenever you juice or make a smoothie make sure you have more veggies and greens than fruit. If you do this you’ll always have something great for your body.

Here’s one of my favorite personal recipes! (It’s a juicing recipe.)

Green Machine Alkalizing Juice

1 cucumber
4 stalks celery
1 handful of green (spinach, romaine, chard, kale, etc)
1 handful of another green
1/2 lemon peeled
1 granny smith apple (or pear)
1/2 inch ginger
10 parsley stems

Throw in your juicer and enjoy!

 

For more great recipes check out my 3 day juice cleanse.