Which would you get? Why? What brand/model?

If I could only get one it would be the Vitamix... it can make juice and so much more. You could always strain out the bits if you want clear juice. I have the Champion juicer with the homogenizing blade which makes something like a soft ice cream with bananas then other fruits to taste.

But the Vitamix makes ice cream too, soups, smoothies and juice. I got the 5200 recently and it also cut down on the time I spent cutting and chopping and getting things the right smaller size to blend in my old blender. I had to add each ingredient one at a time make sure it was blended pretty good before I added something else til I was done. With the 5200 I put everything in at once and it is blended to perfection is maybe 1 min. It is an amazing machine.

Go for it.

I use an old blender that my mom gave me, she had it since the 80's. And I'm sure it's not as good as most, but it has 12 settings on it, it is able to juice as well, so that's what I've been using.

[www.healthyfoodrawdiet.com]

Guess I'll go against the grain here;

I love smoothies, & plan on purchasing a V-Mix/other shortly, but if I could only choose one, it would be a juicer, hands down. Simply, because juice can be much more easily absorbed by the body without aid of digestion, whereas smoothies or anything containing pulp requres digestion to occur.

I like the fact that my body can take a rest & use available energy to rebuild/repair instead of putting that effort into digesting food.

Just my .02

Without a doubt, a juicer. I don't even make smoothies (granted I've only been raw for 2 weeks). Its working great for me to make 2 really large juice drinks a day and eat fresh fruit and a salad the rest of the day. I look at veggies now in the produce stand very differently -- pure nutrition to juice. I'd never put something like asparagus, beets, broccoli, etc. in a blender. But I've been juicing them and loving it.

Molli Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I look at veggies now
> in the produce stand very differently -- pure
> nutrition to juice. I'd never put something like
> asparagus, beets, broccoli, etc. in a blender.
> But I've been juicing them and loving it.

That's cool, that is how I view produce as well. It is funny how we see things in a different light what thinking clearly "raw"! However, I would also put all those other things you mentioned in a blender as well.

If powerful enough, it will churn them up into a smoothie! I know, the whole oxidation thing, etc. That is a point to consider - awaiting hard evidence...

sixxmum Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Which would you get? Blender
> Why? 'Total Juice' (juice and fiber) comes closest to the Whole Food
> What brand/model? Vita-Mix 5200 or Vita-Prep 3

Buy the best juicer (for your purposes) that you can afford then buy a cheap blender. I think quality is much more important with a juicer.

OR even better... disconnect your cable TV service, sell your television, and buy the best of both. :-)

Let us know what you decide to do and how you like whatever you purchase!

Lee_123 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> OR even better... disconnect your cable TV
> service, sell your television, and buy the best of
> both. :-)
>
> Let us know what you decide to do and how you like
> whatever you purchase!


well put! Another one I like is - 'Sell your stove & buy a juicer"!

Oh yeah, I'm sure the carnivores in the house would totally go for that stove selling business. I'm all alone on this one folks, so all purchases and sacrifices have to be well argued and carefully considered.

I agree with those who told you to get a juicer. Hands down, the juicer gives a product that is the most bioavailable of anything you can put in your mouth. A person could live on juice. I recommend the Green Star if you make juice from greens. The Green Star can juice anything and it has virtually no waste, the fiber comes out DRY. I know because I have one. I have a centrifugal juicer as well and the only thing I juice in it is melons and cucumbers. Melons and cucumbers junk up the filter in the Green Star and you have to take it out and clean it while you're juicing. Hands down I love my Green Star. I get more juice for less produce and it does not heat up on me and I make a quart of juice at a time. The manual says to run it 30 minutes and let it rest 20. I get my quart done before 30 minutes is up, way before that.

I have a VitaMix Blender and I make blended salads and soups in it. If I had to choose it would be the juicer.

definitely a juicer will give more health benefits because of the large of amount of produce which can be contained in a glass of juice as well as the nearly perfect assimilation and digestion of the pulp free juices.

you can get by with a cheap blender and own a faboulous juicer.

juicin' john

Juicer. Get the best juicer you can and buy an Oster Beehive Blender for 39 bucks until you can get your vitamix. The Greenstar is what I have and I love that it makes juice that will have minimal oxidation for a few days (48 hours, I think). The best thing it did for me when transitioning was make ice cream out of frozen banana, GREAT for cravings. I just recently started using it to actually juice...it takes a while to clean, but as long as you clean it immediately after juicing (so you don't put it off till later, and the pulp hardens on the parts), it works ok. Plus you can make a lot of juice all at once, and then not have to juice every day....the juice it makes is said to be very stable. Unlike a blender's juice, because a blender will seriously oxidize the juice.

The oster makes great green smoothies, and handles really tough jobs. I am about to get my new vitamix, then I can do a comparison to know for sure. But the Oster will get you by wonderfully until you can buy a vitamix. My Oster does almost everything I've seen the vitamix do in the vitamix promo videos.

Sorry for the sloppy writing, I am in a hurry to get to bed!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2009 02:36AM by musicbebe.

Is everyone here Crazy, or is it me? Is there anyone who agrees
with me that a Blender is more important than a Juicer?....WY

Wheatgrass Yogi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is everyone here Crazy, or is it me? Is there
> anyone who agrees
> with me that a Blender is more important than a
> Juicer?....WY


I don't agree with you, but its because I want to try to pack in mega quantities of nutrients from veggies and I can do that easier with a juicer then a blender. The only fruit that I don't eat in its pure raw form is a little fruit that I juice with my veggies for flavor only. I just don't have any desire to blend fruit. If I had to consume the entire veggy that I am juicing by just blending them there is no way that I could possibly eat that much each day!

Molli Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't agree with you, but its because I want to
> try to pack in mega quantities of nutrients from
> veggies and I can do that easier with a juicer
> then a blender.
That's good. I'm trying to play the 'Devil's Advocate'
here, and take the opposing view for the sake of argument. There
are Zen Masters who can take either side of an argument, and Win
both sides. Everyone should solidify where they stand.
I know a long-time 100% Raw Vegan who does very little juicing....
Watermelon Rind being an exception, with Carrot Juice on rare
occasions.
Probably, the Purist does neither Juicing or Blending.
I'd be hard-pressed to live without my Wheatgrass and Carrot Juicers.
However, my Blender is my Favorite appliance....WY

Wheatgrass Yogi Wrote:
> That's good. I'm trying to play the 'Devil's
> Advocate'
> here, and take the opposing view for the sake of
> argument. There
> are Zen Masters who can take either side of an
> argument, and Win
> both sides. Everyone should solidify where they
> stand.
> I know a long-time 100% Raw Vegan who does very
> little juicing....
> Watermelon Rind being an exception, with Carrot
> Juice on rare
> occasions.
> Probably, the Purist does neither Juicing or
> Blending.
> I'd be hard-pressed to live without my Wheatgrass
> and Carrot Juicers.
> However, my Blender is my Favorite appliance....WY


I may get there one day (meaning being a purist), but for right now I'm just so impressed that I'm eating so many veggies! Not sure I would eat some of the veggies I'm juicing completely raw. I suppose I ought to see if I can do that because when I travel now and then I'm not sure I want to pack my juicer!

Wheatgrass Yogi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is everyone here Crazy, or is it me? Is there
> anyone who agrees
> with me that a Blender is more important than a
> Juicer?....WY


Yes. I agree with you WY. Blending is the closest process to consuming the whole as it contains both juice and fiber. There can be no argument about that.

sixxmum
If you buy a vitamix or similar then you can easily make juice by simply straining the pulp into a nut bag or sieve.
I have done this with both fruit and veggies. Bit messy but it works fine. I have not tried this with wheatgrass. Apparently its not recommended. I cant comment on that.
It all depends on what you want to do, but the blender opens both doors.
Good luck with your decision making.

The Fruit Faery Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wheatgrass Yogi Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Is everyone here Crazy, or is it me? Is there
> > anyone who agrees
> > with me that a Blender is more important than a
> > Juicer?....WY
>
>
> Yes. I agree with you WY. Blending is the closest
> process to consuming the whole as it contains both
> juice and fiber. There can be no argument about
> that.
>
> sixxmum
> If you buy a vitamix or similar then you can
> easily make juice by simply straining the pulp
> into a nut bag or sieve.
> I have done this with both fruit and veggies. Bit
> messy but it works fine. I have not tried this
> with wheatgrass. Apparently its not recommended. I
> cant comment on that.
> It all depends on what you want to do, but the
> blender opens both doors.
> Good luck with your decision making.


But many argue that the oxidation process via using a blender destroys the whole, and if they are correct, what is the point of eating the whole when it has been destroyed?

Molli Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> But many argue that the oxidation process via
> using a blender destroys the whole, and if they
> are correct, what is the point of eating the whole
> when it has been destroyed?
A Blender does 'whip' a lot of air into the mixture, but
you would know it if it had oxidized. I've never had that happen,
but I consume blended and juiced meals immediately.
I contend that the Teeth are a poor instrument when it comes to
liquidizing our food....perhaps if you Fletcherized (chewing each
bite 32 times), but who can do that?

[en.wikipedia.org]

Molli Wrote:

>
>
> But many argue that the oxidation process via
> using a blender destroys the whole, and if they
> are correct, what is the point of eating the whole
> when it has been destroyed?

And then others argue that pulp free juice spikes the system and has a detrimental effect on ones health.
Many have turned their health around through juice and or smoothie feasting,
So who and or what are we to believe?

All processing will cause spoilage to a certain degree.
You have to accept that if you choose to process.
I expect a paper has been written on the human digestive tract that suggests its a form of processing that has a detrimental effect on fresh produce!
ffx

The vitamix sounds brilliant!!! Thanks for the post guys.

I view juice as having a medicinal value and smoothies from the blender as food.

I'm into both right now.

Lee_123 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I view juice as having a medicinal value and
> smoothies from the blender as food.
> I'm into both right now.
See....that's not Fair. I'm into both too, but the
question was..."if you could only get one?"
I'm saying I can live without my Juicers (wouldn't want to),
but I cannot live without my Blender......WY

Thanks again for all the feedback. My blender and food processor are dying, so I'm leaning toward a blender. Now I just need to talk the spouse into the expense.

sixxmum,

Blender, because it also can be used for making food for the rest of your clan : )

I do have a juicer, but currently I seldom use it. If I want something "thin," I pass the green smoothie made in me VitaMix through a mesh bag or sieve, as The Fruit Faery recommends. Voila! Juice!