To Juice or Blend?

Juicing and blending fruits, vegetables and superfood additions are excellent methods for consuming lots of vitamins and minerals in one quick go. Each method has its merits, with neither one or the other necessarily better.

Juicing is fabulous for packing goodness into one glass by extracting all the vitamins and minerals from your vegetables and fruit and compacting it into a drink. Vegetables are ideal to juice because they are low in sugar yet full of health benefits. To sweeten your juice, add a small amount of fruit like a handful of strawberries, a green apple or a few slices of pineapple.

Blending on the other hand, incorporates all the fibre from the fruits and vegetables to make a rich smoothie. Smoothies let you imagination run wild with combinations and ingredients, such as nut butters, health powders, protein powders, chia seeds and bee pollen. Frozen bananas will also make smoothies extra creamy and sweet.

Here are some of my favorite juice and smoothies recipes:

My Sweet Beet Juice

This juice is colorful and deliciously sweet.

Ingredients:
1 beetroot
2 carrots (either purple or orange)
3 stalks of celery
1/4 cup of coconut water
handful of ice cubes

Preparation:
On high speed, filter in the beetroot, carrot and celery to juice. Pour the coconut water into the juice and mix. Put into a glass and top with ice cubes. 

Body+soul Green Renewal Juice

This is an enzyme-rich green juice. It's great for providing energy, detoxifying and alkalising your body.

Ingredients:
1 bunch English spinach
1 handful mint
1 handful parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 Lebanese (short) cucumber, cut in half lengthways
A few lettuce leaves
4 celery stalks
2–3 cm (3/4–11/4 inch) knob of fresh ginger, peeled
6 ice cubes

Preparation:
With the motor running, feed all the ingredients except the ice cubes into a juicer one at a time. Pour into a drinking glass, add the ice cubes and sip slowly to enjoy its benefits.


The Wellness Warrior Green Smoothie


Ingredients:
3 stalks of kale (discard the tough stalk and use the leaves)
3 leaves of Cos lettuce
1 cup coconut water
1 small frozen banana
A small handful of goji berries or blueberries
1 tsp hemp seeds
1 tsp chia seeds
1 tsp bee pollen
1 tsp maca powder
1 tsp spirulina

Preparation:
Add all ingredients to a blender and blitz until smooth. Use a high speed blender, such as a Vitamix for best results.