Something about warm weather makes me want to be healthier, take better care of my body and consume all the good stuff that won’t leave me looking anything short of glowy in the summertime. I can’t say I always follow this rule whatsoever (okay, actually barely at all), but my motivation to do so definitely spikes this time of year! 🤣 If you follow me on Instagram you know I’ve been so intrigued by juicing the past few months, and when Justin and I stumbled across the exact juicer I’d been wanting at Walmart (which we pretty much never go to, so it was meant to be), I knew we had to get it. Keep reading for a little taste of Juicing 101, the benefits and true differences between juicers and blenders, as well as our favorite recipes we’ve tried so far!

JUICING 101

I’m no expert, but I did do some research about juicing and the benefits it can have on your body before pulling the trigger. What’s really popularized juicing over the last few months is the celery juice craze, and like many of you I’m sure, I was so intrigued to see what the hype was all about. I’ll let the professionals break this down better for you & here’s what I read online (via Medical News Today):

The advocates of juicing say that it offers people many benefits, which may include those below:

Fruits and vegetables are high in vitamins and minerals. Drinking juices could introduce extra nutrients into the body to boost overall health.

Juices are rich in anti-inflammatory compounds that may boost the immune system and help a person feel more energetic.

The creators of many juicing plans market the ability of their juices to flush toxins from the body, although they rarely specify which toxins the juices remove.

Juices could help improve digestion by introducing healthy enzymes that make the gut work more efficiently.

As you can see, it has so many amazing benefits! Though I love healthy food, fruits, veggies and all of that, I’m not one to ensure that all of my meals are super good for me. I’m quick to grab an “unhealthy” snack because it’s easy, and because I have the biggest sweet tooth known to man. With that being said though, juice is a great way to get an extra dose of fruits and veggies in that I may have gotten otherwise.

JUICERS VS. BLENDERS

Before we purchased our juicer, I wondered what the differences were between it and a blender, and if a juicer was really necessary if I already owned a blender. I did some light Google searching on the topic, but couldn’t really find anything at the time that gave me a definite answer of whether a juicer was necessary. That’s part of the reason why I didn’t buy a juicer immediately when I started to get interested in it, but I discovered that they serve totally different purposes.

The two big differences between juicers and blenders are how they’re used and the type of liquids they create. After some more research, I’ll let professionals on the internet break it down for you:

Juicing involves squeezing the juices from fruits and vegetables and separating them from the pulp. Blending mixes all of the edible parts of fruits and vegetables, including the pulp, or fibrous portion.

BLENDERS

When using a blender to make juice, at least in my experience, you have to water it down with more liquid (like pre-made orange juice, coconut water, etc.) and not use any type of frozen fruits in order to achieve a proper juice consistency. Drinks made in a blender often have more thickness to them and there’s more prep time needed to de-skin and cut the fruit. You also likely can’t use certain types of veggies and fruits, like celery, carrots, apples and cucumbers because they may be too tough or may not properly break down like you’d want them to for a thin, sippable juice.

JUICERS

This is where the juicer comes in. Obviously, it’s made to make drinks at a juice-like consistency and is so much easier to use because you can literally throw an entire apple or lemon in there, skin and seeds included, and it separates all of that for you and unbelievably turns it into juice. It’s actually so crazy to me that it can do that and it saves so much time since very little preparation is needed.

THE JUICER I CHOSE

After some research, I decided to go with the Fusion Juicer because it’s not the most expensive, nor the cheapest one on the market. I’d heard good things about it from a couple people I follow, so I was sold on this one. It’s marketed as being fast and quiet, and it has dishwasher-safe parts to easy cleaning. I like the overall look of it as well and I love the no-drip spout. I HIGHLY recommend it!

OUR FAVORITE RECIPES

We’ve been trying different combinations for the last few weeks, which has been such a fun activity for us to do together — seriously, we’re having a lot of fun with it! We’ve definitely made a couple that weren’t our favorites, but a majority have been really good. You have to play around with it a bit to find out what you like. As a word of thumb, strawberries and oranges make pretty much anything taste good. The super sweetness of the strawberries and citrusy tartness of oranges blend so well with pretty much anything.

On your next grocery trip, here’s a variety of fruits and veggies you can pick up to utilize in making different juice combinations:

Strawberries
Oranges/cuties
Blood oranges
Pineapple
Blueberries
Blackberries
Raspberries
Lemons
Apples
Mango
Papaya
Watermelon
Cucumbers
Celery
Carrots

My Picks

Option 1

Blood orange
Strawberry
Lemon

Option 2

Orange
Pineapple
Strawberry

Justin’s Picks

Option 1

1 papaya
8 strawberries
1 banana
1 scoop of chocolate Muscle Milk protein powder

Option 2

Apple
Orange
Carrot

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That’s all for now! I’m so excited to have fresh-squeezed orange juice and lemonade all summer long. I hope this post provided a bit of insight on juicing and if you’ve been thinking about getting a juicer for a while, maybe this will help you pull the trigger too. Thanks so much for your support of me and my space here on the internet & I hope your week is off to the best start!