Eating a wide range of fruit and vegetables provides your body with a wide range of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients.

So what is the difference between juices and smoothies and which is better for you? Both are a great way to pack in a lot of vitamins, minerals and nutrients into your diet in a simple and hopefully tasty way. Juices and smoothies help detoxify the body and give the digestive system a little rest whilst also fighting inflammation and other chronic conditions in the body.

One of the main things I love about juices and smoothies is they encourage you to experiment with different fruits and vegetables that you wouldn’t usually eat raw or whole. Eating a wide range of fruit and vegetables provides your body with a wide range of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. There are really no rules about what to put in smoothies or juices. You can be creative to suit your own tastes. Throwing in superfood powders, (spirulina, matcha, maca) seeds (hemp, chia, flax) and herbs are great ways to get these nutrient dense ingredients into your diet.

Homemade is always best. However, there are lots of juice and smoothie bars around and most of these have good quality ingredients. If you do buy smoothies or juices from a shop always read the label! Some shop bought smoothies are packed with added sugars and very little natural goodness coming from vegetables and fruit. People consume them believing they are healthy as they are marketed as a “smoothie” but they are actually just another sugar-laden drink. Look for words such as raw, organic and unpasteurised. If something will last on the shelf for weeks or months it is very likely to contain artificial flavours, additives and preservatives and is not what you want to be drinking!

You also want to look for a ratio of 3:1, vegetable to fruit. Even though fruit is a natural sugar, it is still sugar and that sugar has the same effect on your body if it comes from fruit or sweets, but of course the other benefits you get from fruit makes it a great part of a healthy diet.

Juicing
• Made with a specific juicing machine.
• Juicing separates the pulp from the juice leaving just the soluble fibre which is easily digested and passes quickly into the bloodstream. This gives your digestive system a break and it can concentrate on ridding the body of built-up waste and toxins.
• The nutrients are highly concentrated in juices, allowing quick absorption. This can be helpful to boost energy before or after exercise and also to get in nutrients quickly when you are unwell.
• As there is no fibre in juices (fibre slows down the absorption process) the nutrients and antioxidants go straight into the bloodstream however, this also raises blood sugar levels quickly and can lead to unbalanced bloody sugar levels.
• You can pack a lot more produce into juice as you are removing the “bulky” fibre and skins of the fruit and vegetables. This can be hugely beneficial to your health but also expensive!
• Some fruit and vegetables can’t be juiced such as avocados and bananas as they don’t contain juice. Citrus fruits shouldn’t be juiced as they contain indigestible oils that can overwhelm the digestive system.

Smoothies
• Made with smoothie makers or blenders.
• Smoothies combine all the ingredients together. They contain all the fibre that is in the fruits and vegetables. The insoluble fibre slows the digestion down and keeps you fuller for longer.
• With the fibre slowing down digestion it also slows down energy release and therefore helps balance blood sugar levels.
• Some of the nutrients in smoothies can attach to the insoluble fibre and just pass straight through the body and not be absorbed.
• Everything can be blended. Bananas, avocados and yogurt give smoothies that lovely creamy consistency.
• Smoothies do need digesting. Yes, it is good to sometimes give the digestive system a break as mentioned above, but it does need regular use to continue to work efficiently. Like our minds, it must be kept active in order to keep working at a high level!

So go and enjoy your juices and smoothies but remember they don’t take the place of meals and foods that you chew! They are just a tasty and handy add on to a healthy lifestyle.