To Juice or not to Juice? That is the question!

Ever wonder which is better for you? To juice or blend your fruits and vegies? Well the answer is simple – BOTH! Both juicing and blended smoothies have their benefits, and ideally both should be included in your daily diet. Blending/Fruit and Vegie Smoothies When you blend your fruit and vegies you are using the whole piece and therefore retain ALL vitamins, minerals, fibre. During the blending process, the cell walls of the fruit/vegetable are broken down, thus making the nutrients much easier to absorb. Blended fruit has benefits for your blood sugars as the fibre helps keep your energy levels sustained for longer. Especially when using vegetable blends over fruit blends which can contain high amounts of fructose (the sugar found in fruit). Blending aids detoxification, as the fibre (especially soluble fibre) binds to and helps excrete toxins from the body. For time poor people, blending your fruits and vegies means you can down more than if you were to sit and chew, oh and there is less cleaning to do! Juicing Juices are easier to digest, very cleansing and no fibre means the nutrients are readily absorbed into the body. Juices give the digestion a good rest from other foods that are hard to break down. Juices are particularly soothing on the digestive tract. Juices gives you a super dose if vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, You’ll be able to drink the juice of more Superfoods than eat them by chewing or blending. Did you know that 95% of the vitamins and enzymes our bodies need are found in the juice of raw fruits and vegetables? We would need to eat almost a kilo of carrots, 10-12 apples, or 3.7kg of spinach to get the same amount of nutrients you receive in 2 cups of juice. When you drink juice, highly concentrated vitamins, minerals and enzymes rapidly enter the bloodstream absorbing all of the nutritional benefits of the fruits and vegetables and giving your digestive organs a much-needed rest. There is lots of research that shows the healing properties of juicing. Not only will juicing facilitate weight loss, increased energy levels, strengthened immunity, strong bones and a glowing complexion, it may also reduce chances of heart disease, cancer and strokes, three of the leading causes of death. Getting started Remember when juicing it is important to use a good quality juicer. Use a juicer than doesn’t heat your ingredients like a cold pressed juicer. Cheaper juicers rotate to fast and heat the juice, this can damage all those great nutrients and emzymes! A good juicer will also juice things like wheatgrass. When you start to incorporate juices into your daily diet you may experience some slight detox symptoms such as headaches or fatigue, this is nasty toxins being released and eliminated from the body, this is a good thing! Try to use more vegetables than fruits as fruit contains a fare whack of sugar, especially those dark green leafy ones! To start which you may need to dilute with water. Eventually you’ll be drinking 2-4 glasses a day – the more you drink the better you will feel! The best time to drink juice is on an empty stomach or at least an hour before eating a meal. This maximizes the amount of nutrients absorbed into the body. Love Thy Juice If you’re not sure if you would use a juicer or not yet up for buying an expensive juicer, you could test out your Juicing romance with Love Thy Juice (LTJ)! LTJ is Darwin’s very own 3 day juice cleanse. LTJ prepares 4 juices and 2 smoothies made from organic produce fresh for you each morning using a cold pressed juicer! Each juice is designed to target a different reason to receive a whole body cleanse! The cleanse runs from Tuesday – Thursday each week and can be booked in through Laura at lovethyjuice@gmail.com