Juicer or smoothie?
 

I recently found a juice bar here locally an I've never tried anything like it. I actually liked it. But $5 for one juice adds up and I cannot afford it everyday. So my question for everyone here is do you juice or do you blend for smoothies. If you do smoothies can you share your recipes. I'm a depression eater and have out on 30lbs in the last year and a half. I need help and I feel a juicer or my ninja will help. Maybe. Lol

My boyfriend juices a lot (he just started back up again today). He lost a lot of weight last year juicing for a couple months straight but gained it all back and then some when he quit. This time, he's keeping track of how much produce he's using and the cost...it is still kind of pricey, even if you make the juice yourself.

I also have a good friend who juices for breakfast most mornings. They both enjoy it but to me, it just seems kind of wasteful. You buy a crap-ton of produce and throw away a lot of pulpy stuff. And that juicer takes FOREVER to clean...I'm kinda lazy when it comes to things like that so it's a deal breaker for me...I know I won't use a machine that I have to detail clean after each use. I think I would be more satisfied with making some type of smoothie that has more substance (bananas, flax, chia seeds, yogurt, whatever to help keep you full) anyway than just drinking a juice (although they are tasty :) ).

Also, how do you like your Ninja? I'm slumming it with a Magic Bullet I've had forever...it's not doing so hot these days lol

I use a magic bullet, too, almost every day. I have been eyeing their new "upgrade," the NutriBullet. It is suppose to be just as powerful as a Vitamix but at about 25% of the price.

I make a high-protein smoothie to drink after I work out:

2 x 3oz DanActive light and fit smoothies, strawberry or mixed berry
1 scoop of chocolate NOW 100% whey protein isolate (not concentrate, which is inferior to isolate, so read your labels)
*** mix with magic bullet until blended and smooth
add frozen strawberries until about 1" from the top of the magic bullet glass and process with the magic bullet until all of the frozen strawberries are gone.

You end up with a nice, THICK! frozen drink that tastes like chocolate dipped berries. Very healthy, guilt-free, and low-cal.

Nutritional stats:
Calories - 230
Fat 0.5
Carbs 23*
fiber 5
sugar 10
Protein 32

* There is no sugar added to any of the 3 ingredients, this is the sugar that is naturally in the strawberries and the lactose from the yogurt -- some of which is already gone because the good bacteria (a double dose of healthy probiotics from 2 servings of yogurt) have been feeding off the lactose since it was packaged.

That sounds yummy! I'm going to check out that Nutribullet...that's a great bargain if it's as good as a Vitamix (which I'm not spending $400 on).

I went back and forth on this, too. I liked the idea of the juicer, but decided that it was too wasteful to throw away all that pulp, especially since my plan is to use this more as a meal replacement. I want the pulp to make me feel full.

After going back and forth between the Nutribullet and the Vitamix I ended up buying the Vitamix just because it's more multipurpose. I also liked the 7 year warranty on the Vitamix, especially after reading some not so hot reviews on the sturdiness of the Nurtibullet.

I personally like smoothies. Juicers do not give you the best part of the fruit. The fiber.

At first we bought a Breville juicer. That was fun for about a month. No matter what brand, juicers are a PITA to clean. And yes, lots of waste. Unless you are going to make a compost heap (which I totally kinda want to) it's wasted. And yup, the fiber is what's good, not just the juice.

We have the Magic Bullet. It sucks. I use it only for making tiny batches of stuff, but really it doesn't work well. We went through one name brand blender a month and they all broke until we went and got the VitaMix. So powerful and easy to use. Easy to clean. I think it was totally worth the money. We make smoothies almost every day. We use whatever fruit and veggies are in season and on sale. Plus I add in Greek yogurt with no flavoring (added sugar), flax seeds, and a great way to sneak in kale. Otherwise I would never eat that stuff. YUCK.

ETA: I freeze berries and pomegranets by the tons when they are on sale and have them when they are off season.

You can really do all this in the Magic Bullet? I can barely get mine to grind up garbanzo beans to make hummus! I don't think mine would ever do frozen strawberries. In the Vitamix it takes about 15-20 secs for it all to be super smooth.

I have had my Vitamix for several years. I always love what I make with it, and it's so easy to use. It takes little effort to make a smoothie, takes seconds to clean, and I think it's healthier than using a juicer.

Absolutely. I do it 6 days a week right after I work out. I never use it for anything but my single serving smoothies. My first one lasted a year, but the one I have now is still working after 3 years. I have been wanting it to break so that I can upgrade but it just won't cooperate!

ETA: The only difference I can see between my first and second one is that the blades on the second one are bent at a much different angle, and I think this helped it to do a better job.

I wonder what is wrong w my MB then?

I'm trying some smoothies this weekend and I purchased premade juice from a local juice bar to start me off. The smoothies you can premake a couple days ahead and even freeze if you want. I'll let you know how it turns out and post pictures.