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I have the same problem brightdoglover.I really dislike the taste of alot of leafy green vegis.That why I love juicing.An apple a lemon and some ginger root really masks the bitterness.And I perfer juicing over blending because you can concentrate alot more nutrition into one glass.
Not so excited there, I just took it out of the box! (and used my old Kmart clunker for a protein smoothie before going to work).
I use water/skim milk, two scoops of Metafuel Protein Powder, a shot of Univera Xperia (tastes vile), frozen berries, some flaxseed and maybe half a banana. Should I just add green leaves/vegetables to this mix in the new machine?
Hmmm... I wonder what happens if you pour a really good Bourbon into a juicer. Will it "extract" only the good stuff?
The Breville juice fountain is a good unit, but the plastic parts do develop a sort of soap-scum appearance on the clear plastic parts after a few months. No problem with that except appearance when you really get down and look at it closely. I also partly cleans up if you run it through the dishwasher. I suspect it's the high velocity impact of the fibers, et.c Their more expensive all aluminum unit would hide this, but the plastic ones, @ about $149, certainly do a great job!
Meantime, the all juice diet is wonderful. The weight does come off ,and fast if you stick with it, even with a modified diet version (I usually have a very light diabetic-type fish or veggy dinner, plus a single home-grown egg and a slice of seed-rich Dave's Killer Bread for breakfast, to satisfy my diabetic need for some complex carbs and protein).
You will be totally surprised at how much greens you can put into a Vitamix drink along with a little bit of fruit and the whole drink is sweet and delicious. You don't taste the kale at all - there are some bitter greens that I would't use but not many. spinach, collard greens, parsley, different lettuces - all delicious. Also with Vitamix you can put in a piece of pineapple, rind and all along with most whole fruits - rind, seeds - everything. And always use organic - if you are juicing everything including the rind/skin - you don't want pesticide residue.
I suggest these books:
GREEN FOR LIFE by: Victoria Boutenko (this is basically an explantion of how juicing changed the health of her family.
GREEN SMOOTHIE REVOLUTION - this is her recipe book
You guys are killin' me. I was just about to pull the trigger on buying a fancy juicer and now I read this.
Since I already have an ok blender for smoothies (not a Vitamix however) I threw some raw fruit and veggies (mostly carrot and apples) in there and gave it go. I'll have to say while it wasn't bad it was pretty gritty and thick. I did add a little apple juice as thinner which seemed to helped some. Maybe with a $500 high end blender it wouldn't be quite so gritty. I don't know. However, I still think the blender smoothies vs. juices from a juicer will always be quite different in both taste and texture. There are many who have both and prefer the the juicer approach for the majority of their raw veggies/fruit drinks. I hear what you are saying though regarding keeping the pulp and minimal cleanup. However I almost need to try both myself to see which I would be more likely to use on a regular basis. That is really key I think. There's not going to be a one size fits all. Maybe if I buy the juicer locally I can return it if I decide to just to blended smoothies instead. The Juiceman lets you test drive his for ~ $15 bucks. Hmm...
Thanks for the 'food for thought'.
Derek
Last edited by MtnSurfer; 07-26-2012 at 11:22 PM..
Well, since juicing isn't necessary, and you can get all the nutrients AND the fiber AND the freshness from simply eating all those foods you're trying to put in the juicer...
Well, since juicing isn't necessary, and you can get all the nutrients AND the fiber AND the freshness from simply eating all those foods you're trying to put in the juicer...
why not just do that instead?
Juicing certainly helps:
Quote:
J Hum Nutr Diet. 2012 Jul 26. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-277X.2012.01279.x. [Epub ahead of print]
Effects of chronic consumption of fruit and vegetable puree-based drinks on vasodilation, plasma oxidative stability and antioxidant status.
George TW, Paterson E, Waroonphan S, Gordon MH, Lovegrove JA.
Source
Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition, Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, UK.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Fruit and vegetable-rich diets are associated with a reduced cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. This protective effect may be a result of the phytochemicals present within fruits and vegetables (F&V). However, there can be considerable variation in the content of phytochemical composition of whole F&V depending on growing location, cultivar, season and agricultural practices, etc. Therefore, the present study investigated the effects of consuming fruits and vegetables as puree-based drinks (FVPD) daily on vasodilation, phytochemical bioavailability, antioxidant status and other CVD risk factors. FVPD was chosen to provide a standardised source of F&V material that could be delivered from the same batch to all subjects during each treatment arm of the study.
METHODS:
Thirty-nine subjects completed the randomised, controlled, cross-over dietary intervention. Subjects were randomised to consume 200 mL of FVPD (or fruit-flavoured control), daily for 6 weeks with an 8-week washout period between treatments. Dietary intake was measured using two 5-day diet records during each cross-over arm of the study. Blood and urine samples were collected before and after each intervention and vasodilation assessed in 19 subjects using laser Doppler imaging with iontophoresis.
RESULTS:
FVPD significantly increased dietary vitamin C and carotenoids (P < 0.001), and concomitantly increased plasma α- and β-carotene (P < 0.001) with a near-significant increase in endothelium-dependent vasodilation (P = 0.060).
CONCLUSIONS:
Overall, the findings obtained in the present study showed that FVPD were a useful vehicle to increase fruit and vegetable intake, significantly increasing dietary and plasma phytochemical concentrations with a trend towards increased endothelium-dependent vasodilation.
What we need is a control of just solid fruits and vegetables to compare. Still I would love to see more published human trials on the effectiveness of juicing...
There are many ways to eat more fruits and vegetables in one's diet. Juicing and smoothies simply provide another vehicle to do that. Most who make juices/smoothies also eat these foods whole as well.
One of the main advantages for me is that it allows me to take in the vitamins and nutrients in greater concentration of things I wouldn't necessarily sit down and eat especially together like wheat grass, beets, carrots, apples, etc...
I decided to give juicing a try and ordered one from Bed, Bath and Beyond. The 20% discount helped make the decision. Since I already have a blender I have been making veggie/fruit smoothies. They are thick but still good.
I found this video helpful in comparing juicing with a blender vs. a juicer:
Congrats on your purchase. Since my purchase of the Vitamix blender, I have almost no use for my Breville juicer. I didn't like tossing the fiberous pulp, and I hated to clean it after each use. I just may give it to my brother.
Ok, I went ahead and purchased the Breville Ikon from BB&B. After giving it a try using a variety of fruits and veggies I along with my wife came to the same conclusion as you did. Although it makes a nice juice we really missed having the 'whole fruit/vegetable' including all the fiber which our smoothies contain. So I returned it to BB&B for a full refund.
This was actually a great learning opportunity and discovery process for us. Now we know the blender is the way to go. Consequently I just ordered a Blendtec from Costco. They have a good special going including two different sized jars. These things even make soups and ice cream. Like most ppl I was intially put off by the higher prices, especially since we already have an ok 'normal' blender. But after extensive review I discovered there weren't too many others similar in quality to the Vitamix or Blentec. I think it will be worth it for us especially if we use it more often to eat/drink healthier. And yeah, the cleanup is of course way easier when blending vs. juicing. This isn't to say juicing is bad. But I do recommend giving both a try to better determine which approach works best for you.
YMMV,
Derek
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Like most ppl I was intially put off by the higher prices, especially since we already have an ok 'normal' blender. But after extensive review I discovered there weren't too many others similar in quality to the Vitamix or Blentec. I think it will be worth it for us especially if we use it more often to eat/drink healthier. And yeah, the cleanup is of course way easier when blending vs. juicing. This isn't to say juicing is bad. But I do recommend giving both a try to better determine which approach works best for you.
