When it comes to smoothies vs juicing, is one better than the other? Whether you’re looking to improve overall health, gain muscle, or lose weight, an increase of fruits and vegetables can help anyone, there’s no arguing that. Let's find out which one is best for your health and your goals!

What's The Difference Between Smoothies Vs Juicing?

The difference between smoothie and juicing comes down to what is left out while you make them. With smoothies, you get a blender and pop all your ingredients in there and you drink all the ingredients you put in. Juicing is similar, but you’re creating fruit and vegetable waste, while liquidating the nutrients into juice. This is where the two differ.

Smoothies:

• require blending fruits and vegetables
• retains fiber and pulp
• thicker in consistency
• includes all ingredients

Juicing:

• easier absorption
• great taste, high in sugar
• no fiber is retained in the juicing
• more concentrated amount of nutrients

Why Does Fiber Matter?

When you’re trying to figure out which one is better in the matchup of smoothies vs juicing, it’s important to consider the fiber content, pulp, and bulk of the vitamins and minerals in the final product. While yes, juicing creates a more concentrated nutrient drink, lacking fiber can actually destabilize blood sugar levels. Fiber helps with proper digestion and gut health. Vegetables and fruits contain what’s called soluble fiber whereas other vegetables contain insoluble fiber.

• Soluble Fiber: Dissolves in water and slows down digestion to manage blood sugar levels
• Insoluble Fiber: Adds bulk to stool and improves digestion/absorption of food

The best way to get fiber isn’t through juicing, unfortunately. In this case, smoothies vs juicing, smoothies are your best bet for getting the max amount of nutrients from your fruit and vegetable blend. Fiber in smoothies creates bulk/pulp. In this pulp are also phytochemical, which are antioxidants. Research supports that there are a higher amount of antioxidants in smoothies as compared to juicing because they’re tucked into the fiber of fruits and veggies. [R]

Smoothies Vs Juicing - Which One Is Easier To Digest?

There’s some research that suggests juicing is easier to digest because it delivers a high concentration of nutrients without the ‘extra work’ of the digestive system to break down the fiber. Nutrient absorption is still high here, which is important to note. In one study that observed higher levels of beta-carotene (carotenoid) when juiced rather than from a smoothie. The study also suggested that soluble fiber in a smoothie reduces beta-carotene absorption by 30-50%.

So in the argument of smoothies vs juicing, if you’re looking for max absorption of the nutrients in the fruits and veggies you’re making, the juicing is the way to go, especially if you have stomach issues or poor digestion in general. However, since most people in general don’t get enough fiber in their diet on a daily basis, blending has its place in helping get more nutrients and fiber together. For some malabsorptive conditions and diseases, low-fiber/low-residue diets are recommended, making juicing the best option.

If you’re not following a low-fiber diet, then we recommend blending, especially because you don’t get as much sugar and allow for better digestion with the pulp/bulk of blending.

Smoothies Vs Juicing - Which One Has More Sugar?

While we’ve sort of touched on this already, both contain sugar and raise blood sugar, but juicing does it more than blending smoothies does. With smoothies, since there’s more bulk and pulp from the skin and fiber of the contents, you’re going to become fuller faster. However, with juice, this isn’t necessarily the case, and you can get over 50g fructose sugar pretty quickly. [R] Sure, it’s important to note that fructose is the best source of sugar as it’s natural and comes from fruits and veggies, but in moderation.

Should You Add Protein To Your Smoothie

For most people, protein is typically the hardest macronutrients for them to hit on a daily basis. While there's plenty of carbohydrates and fats in our diets, getting a little boost of protein with your nutrient dense smoothie can be a really great thing to do for your body and your goals.

Examples of protein for smoothies:

• Flax Seeds
• Tofu
• Whey Protein Isolate
• Greek Yogurt
• Fortified Milk/Nut Milk
• Collagen Peptides/Protein
• Nut Butters
• Plant Protein Powder

While unflavored tofu and greek yogurt are my favorite whole food sources of protein for smoothies, you may want to consider a high quality protein supplement to add in. We recommend using a protein powder that is proprietary blend free and made with simple, clinically proven, and clinically approved amounts. What does that mean? It means you're getting the best quality of protein with every scoop, without the fillers, dyes, and unnecessary ingredients that don't benefit your health. Here are our favorites:

• Whey Protein Isolate (26g protein per 30g scoop, 30 servings per bottle)
• Collagen Protein Powder (10g protein per scoop, 35 servings per bottle)
• Plant Protein (21g protein per scoop, 25 servings per bottle)

Smoothies Vs Juicing: Takeaway

In the matchup of smoothies vs juicing, in our opinion, both win! Both smoothies and juicing play a position in improving overall health and nutrients delivery, and chances are, you could benefit from either of them. If you’re looking to lose weight, increase fiber, on a weight loss budget, on a budget, and/or want to have protein in your drink, we recommend blending up a smoothie.

If you have digestive issues, are following a low-fiber diet, or are looking for a very concentrated source of nutrients for your body, we recommend juicing. However, the best thing we can advise, is to have a combination of both. Both offer great benefit, and both will improve overall health in otherwise healthy people!

Looking for more protein on the daily? Add some protein powder to your smoothie and turn it into a complete meal.

SWOLVERINE offers 3 different types of protein powders for your daily shakes and smoothies, including Whey Protein Isolate, Collagen Peptides, and Plant Protein Powder. Get the nutrients you need to power your active lifestyle with SWOLVERINE!

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We believe that everyone can optimize not only their athletic performance but their human potential. The way we believe we can optimize performance is through transparency, clinically effective doses, and clinically proven ingredients with evidence-based outcomes. We provide the nutrients you need to power your active lifestyle.