Juicing 101
A beginner's guide to getting started with juicing

Is juice the same thing as a smoothie?

No, these are two very different things. They're both very healthy for you, and one isn't better than the other, necessarily.

A smoothie is made in a blender. It's blended, not juiced. With a smoothie, you retain the pulp (which is insoluble fiber). This can be either gross or good depending on what you're blending. A blended drink yields a lot more because of the pulp, and some people like that, but others find it difficult to drink all of it.

Juice is juiced with a juicer. Juicers 'juice' your produce and separate the pulp (the insoluble fiber) from it. You discard the pulp and drink the juice. You still get fiber in the form of soluble fiber. I know, crazy, right? You just learned something new today.

Juicers are things like a Breville juice fountain, Omega VRT350, Omega 8006, etc. Not a nutribullet! A nutribullet is a blender that blends. Those blades chop things up like every blender works. It has pulp in it no matter how much you blend it. It can't turn into juice unless you separate the juice from the pulp or you apply magic to it (like their marketing team does).

If you only have a blender and still want to juice, you still can! If you get a cheese cloth or something similar, you can strain your blended drink and turn it into juice. It's a little more work and wont yield as much as a good juicer, but it's something.

If you want to read more about juicing vs blending, take a look at our article on Juicing vs Blending.

There's nothing wrong with smoothies. We love those too, and we even have a separate site dedicated to smoothie recipes because we consider the recipes to be so different. This isn't a battle of "what's better? Juice or smoothies?", it's a battle of "what do you like best?"

My friend said juicing isn't healthy because you don't get any fiber.

Fiber is what helps move food through the digestive system, but it's not digested. There's two types of fiber: 'soluble' and 'insoluble'.

When you juice, the pulp you see in the 'pulp bin' is mostly the insoluble fiber.

You're still getting plenty of soluble fiber in your juice. Even if your juice gave you 0 grams of fiber, it would still be very healthy for you.

It's like saying that your water isn't healthy because it doesn't have fiber in it. Juice is a healthy beverage and shouldn't be relied on for your insoluble fiber.

What's the difference between soluble and insoluble fiber?

Insoluble fiber is the left-over pulp after juicing. Only a small amount of this makes it to your juice. If you were to mix insoluble fiber in a glass of water, it would sink to the bottom, absorb the water and puff up. If you imagine that moving through your body, you can picture what it does for you. It's beneficial to help get things 'moving' and prevents constipation.

Soluble fiber will make it to your juice. Soluble fiber is 'soluble' in water. Soluble fiber (like gums and pectins) will partially dissolve in water and form a type of gel. Soluble fiber absorbs digestive bile made by cholesterol, which creates even more digestive bile, which then helps to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol. Soluble fiber also can help moderate your blood glucose levels because it helps sugar to be more slowly absorbed, which is why some diabetics report juicing to be helpful to them.

We personally love the consistency and the great flavors we can make with juice. We can put weird things like sweet potatoes in our juicers and create a delicious dessert-like juice, but we sometimes feel a bit limited with flavors in our smoothies.

What's the easiest way to get started juicing?

Take one of our Juice Challenges.

Our Juice Challenges were created by us to make this whole juicing thing as simple as possible while still allowing you to challenge yourself to get into a healthier habit/lifestyle of juicing. Our free challenges aren't juice cleanses, they're a challenge to drink a minimum of 1 glass of juice a day, every day, for the length of the challenge. You still eat normally.

The reason why it's suggested for a beginner is because we supply you with a shopping list and we tell you which recipe to make every day using that shopping list, so we've taken a lot of the thought out of juicing so you can just focus on enjoying it.

After a challenge, you'll have a new sense of how flavors come together in your juice and you'll be able to start experimenting with your own recipes. People have lost weight and feel great after going through a challenge. Give it a try!

Other Fun Things

If you get a weird vegetable from the market, you can see if it exists in one of our recipes on our ingredients page or check out the nutrients in it by visiting our juice builder page.

Also, be sure to check out our collection of juice recipes at the top of this page. You might find it's exactly what you're looking to start with.