Juicing Vs. Green Smoothies - Which Is Better For You?

Our family has been working hard to get lots of healthy greens into ourselves and our kids - and with picky eaters abounding green smoothies and juicing have been our greatest go-to. But the debate still continues - which is the healthiest choice?

In the green smoothie camp, you have Green Smoothie Girl who is passionate about acheiving health with green smoothies. She believes in using them as meal replacements (as do I), and in the wonderful alkalizing benefits of getting all those greens down.

Here are her problems with juicing:

1. Messy - juicers require a lot of cleanup.

2. Expensive - lots of veggies needed for a small amount of juice.

3. Lose all the fiber from the fruit, which prevents the sugar being absorbed too quickly.

But then you have those firmly in the juicing camp, like Dr Mercola. One of the most popular doctors in natural health, Mercola has these problems with green smoothies over juicing:

1. Hard to digest - juicing puts the nutrients into an almost effortlessly digested form, whereas the blended raw vegetables can be more difficult to digest, espeically if you have any gut problems to begin with.

2. Not as many nutrients - sure you're drinking less juice than a whole blended pitcher, but you are getting 2-3 times+ the nutrients in 6 oz of juice versus a green smoothie.

3. Destroys some nutrients with heat - many people use high powered blenders (because they're the best!) but the problem is that these high speeds heat the veggies and nutrients are lost. All that work for nothing!

Mercola advises people to eat the pulp after juicing by doctoring it up with some butter, hymalaian salt and even a poached egg or two to still get the fiber. Also, he strictly recommends GREEN juicing, keeping out most fruits except raspberries or green apples (for their low glycemic index) and using stevia to sweeten the juice if necessary. Also add in coconut oil to still get the healthy fat intake.

Where do you fall? Our family has been doing green smoothies for a while, but we just invested in a juicer and are going to try that as well. By adding in at least one juice a day I know we'll see results!