Help!!
Okay, I am reading all of the posts and different topics, and am getting more and more confused. Some posts say not to juice, but instead just to blend veggies to make a green drink. Others say to juice and not blend.

On top of that question - I am so confused as to what I need most to start out. I can buy ONE product, such as a vita-mix, or champion juicer, but I am not sure what I will need most. At the time, I have a really cheap blender and a really cheap juicer. I make green drinks/veggie drinks with my juicer currently but know that I should or would like to upgrade at some point. My question I guess is should I upgrade the juicer first, or can I do what I need to do with a vita-mix instead? I have wanted one for a long time, but am unsure that this is going to be the answer to my current needs.

Also, does anyone use the vita-mix to "warm" soups? (warming to a certain temp is fine as long as it isn't fully heated and destroys the enzymes, correct?) And, if I do get a vita-mix, how the heck do I choose one!?!? I feel like I am back to square one with all of this information complicating my decision. If someone could help me sort it all back out again it would be great! Thanks!!

veggiefreak Wrote:
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>I can buy ONE product, such as a vita-mix, or champion
>juicer, but I am not sure what I will need most.

It all depends on your physical condition and
what you're trying to do. If you're in the Healing Mode, the
Juicer is best. If you're Building, then go with the Blender.
The more 'liquid' your food the easier it is to digest......WY

Hmm. Well, I am recovering from an ED, and definitely in the healing mode. So...you think the Champion is what I need? Is that the best juicer? And, what do you mean by "building?" Thanks for the response

veggiefreak Wrote:
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> So...you think the Champion is what I need? Is that the best
> juicer? And, what do you mean by "building?"

No, I wouldn't recommend the Champion. I use an Omega 4000
for Carrot Juice because it's so easy to juice a Quart at a time.
Clean-up isn't too bad either. A twin-gear would be a better juicer
but the cost is more and it's more difficult to use.

I'd say 'Building' means you have no Health Issues to deal with......WY

Okay - so I realisically need a really good juicer such as the Omega 4000, or the greenstar - correct? And then I would want the vitamix (for instance) to blend my "juiced" juice along with flax seeds,blueberries, or banana, etc? Correct? I am still trying to figure this all out. I have been juicing for quite some time, but have a bottom of the line juicer and really haven't experimented that much. I do the "Green Lemondade" most days from Natalia Rose's Raw Detox Diet book.

I know that I need to upgrade my juicer, but am just not sure what my needs are going to be the more raw I get. And, with the price of these machines, I don't want to end up with one that isn't going to fit my needs. Is there a juicer that can "juice" wheatgrass, and also juice other veggies - or does wheatgrass need a seperate juicer?

Sorry to keep asking the same questions - I have been reading other threads, but haven't really found a definitive answer (and I know that it is a matter of preferance with brands, however, my main goal is to try to understand the differences between a vita-mix and an actual juicer. I have a friend who recently told me they started juicing - by using a vita-mixer. So, I am even more confused!?!?)
Thanks so much in advance!

I've been looking into these things too. It all depends on what you want to juice and what you want to blend.

Some types of juicers are best for vegetables and leafy greens. Others are best for carrots and apples. Yet others are best for citrus.

If I was buying a juicer (I don't own one) I'd go with the Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite as being the best all around juicer for the best price. The Breville has a wide, 3-inch chute which makes juicing easy and fast. You can put in apples whole. It's a centrifugal juicer and it's my understanding that this is the best type for carrots. (Since you mentioned carrots). But it will juice most other things too including leafy greens. Not sure about wheatgrass. I thought I read that it would juice wheatgrass but maybe not. Centrifugal juicers normally won't juice grasses as far as I know.

You can get a relatively inexpensive manual wheatgrass juicer.

From what I've read, juicing carrots with a Green Star is time consuming and fairly difficult (you need a bit of strength to push on the carrots to get them in, and you may need to cut them up first). The GreenStar will juice wheatgrass and all vegetables but needs an attachment to juice fruit well.

The Vitamix won't juice carrots as far as I know, even with water added to thin it. Vitamix doesn't really juice - it blends. So anything that isn't already juicy like pears etc would need water or juice added to it.

Some people (Wheatgrass Yogi?) feel the Omega 8003 is the best all around juicer for the money, but you would need to cut up your vegetables. The Omega 8003 and Green Star should have higher quality juice than the centrifugal juicers meaning more nutrients and less oxidation of nutrients (the juices should keep a bit longer.)

There is a trade off for ease of use and time. The extra work (of cutting things up) and the extra time may be worth it if you want to make sure you are getting the most nutrients from your juice. If you want to juice larger amounts, then the Green Star and Omega 8003 might not be the best choice.

There is a difference of opinion on whether juice or smoothies is best. Some feel that the fiber blocks the nutrients from being absorbed completely. Others show statistics that a lot of nutrients are thrown out with the fiber, and feel the fiber is a healthy addition to your diet (fiber helps clean out toxins). Luckily we don't have to do one or the other exclusively. You may want to do both.

Your Vitamix question - which one to buy - is one I've been struggling with as well. There are older models on the market that are less expensive.

The carafe of the 5000 model is made of polycarbonate - there is a question of whether this is a safe plastic since some polycarbonate leaks Bisphenol-A. The 5200 model is made of a purportedly safer plastic - copolyester - that doesn't contain bisphenol-A.

There is an older model with a stainless steel carafe, but then you can't easily see what you are blending. The vitaprep-3 is a higher end commercial model that only has a 1-year warranty but has a motor meant for continuous restaurant use and should last the home consumer many years. It's carafe is made of polycarbonate. They all get rave reviews, but people tend to like the extra power in the newer models.

Last but not least, I think the vitaprep-3 must have only 1 carafe and 1 set of blades for all types of blending. The Vitamix has 2 carafes (each with it's own type of blades) - one for dry and one for wet ingredients. You'll pay extra for the dry blade carafe if you want it. It's possible to find a good deal on the vitaprep-3 where it is quite a bit less expensive than the new vitamix.

Hope this helps some.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2008 05:44AM by LaPieta.

This definitely helps! Exactly the kind of info I have been looking for.

Veggie,
Turns out the VitaPrep-3 does indeed have a dry container, in addition to it's regular wet container. But please read Baltochef's message under the vitaprep3 question. He more than answered my questions about whether it is worth it to get the dry container.

WY -
when you say that the omega is harder to use - how so? It takes longer? I really want to get the most nutrients out of the things I am juicing, AND I want to be able to have a wide variety of available things to juice. I am sold on the twin gear juicers and do agree that they are going to suit my needs the best. However, I don't have personal experience with them, so don't want to buy one that is going to take me an hour to prepare a juice in the morning.

LaPieta mentioned the Breville fountail juicer, which is also the recommendation of Natalia Rose in her book (raw detox) however, it is centrifugal. The cheap one I have now is centrifugal, and I have been reading that of the two mastication is better. Any advice there?

Maybe I should just buy the breville with a small manual wheatgrass juicer along with it like LaPieta mentioned. Any other input? After just reading Victoria B's book - 12 Steps to Raw - she mentions that the Champion is her fave. I know I sound like a crazy person about all this juicer stuff, but the quality of the juice is pretty important to me, and so is the money. I just want to make sure I am getting a GOOD juicer!! Thanks

LaPieta - thanks for the info about the vitaprep

Veggie,

You asked Wheatgrass Yogi but I may be able to help a little.

I think I may have given you the impression the Omega 8003 is a twin gear. It's a single gear dual action. My guess is that carrots are probably a little easier to juice in it than in a Greenstar, but you would probably get a little more juice from a Greenstar.

You are right, I'm pretty sure Wheatgrass Yogi did say in another thread that that Omega 8003 isn't as easy to use for carrots asthe Omega 4000, which is a centrifugal juicer.

It's my understanding that centrifugal juicers will always be faster and require less effort than either the twin gear or the single gear type juicers. The twin gear and single gear/dual action juices will have more nutrients and less oxidation. They'll also be quieter and take longer to make juice (fewer RPMs). They are also likely to take longer to clean than a centrifugal.

To throw another wrench into things... I remember Juicin John once posting that the best way to make green smoothies would be with a twin gear (or single gear) - using the homoginization blank. (Due to less oxidation & less heat than with a blender). Not sure if anyone has ever tried that.

I'm rethinking my recommendation, I may go with the Omega 8003 eventually. Need to get a blender though first!

Good luck.

PS,
Don't worry about asking questions. I'm sure I'm driving everyone crazy in my quest for the perfect blender. At least I know I'm driving my friends and family nuts, if not the people here (probably people here too).

I don't mean to make you crazy, but my personal feeling is that the Vita-Mix or Ktec blender is the #1 appliance for the kitchen even when healing is needed unless you are SEVERELY compromised and cannot even digest smoothies.

The reason I say this is because you can get very gentle and very healing and very nutritious fiber from the blended smoothies (especially green smoothies) when you use a blender. In addition, you are not wasting hardly any component of the fruit or green (whereas with a juicer pulp is thrown out).

I do love the juicer for healing but it seems less flexible to me, and I really don't like throwing out so much pulp all the time. Also, I am much more likely to USE the blender, which is so much easier and quicker to use and clean. In addition, it is still very much needed when I am "done" with my main healing. It is still there for me for future smoothies, raw soups, etc. whereas the juicer goes down in the kitchen cabinet for months at a time.

HAHAHA! LaPieta - I was just cracking up over your PS. That has totally been me as well!! One minute I am buying a juicer, then the next a vita-mix, nope, back to the juicer, oh, wait, no a blender. One minute I want to stay in fla, the next am planning to move to hawaii asap. (my husband wants to move to Hawaii and I am flip flopping all over the place.) I am driving him crazy, I am totally being a typical woman, changing my mind more than I change my clothes - about blenders/juicers and then much bigger life choices.

Yesterday though, I bit the bullet. And, talk about crazy!! I bought the Vitamix 52oo, with just one container. It was about $450. So, my stepson comes home, and I have just been so wrapped up in what I have to get and what the best thing is to buy, and need, need, need, that I didn't even realize how crazy this purchase is actually. I was so excited that I did it until he came in and I sad, "I just bought a blender that almost cost $500" I literally almost fell over. He looked at me like I was crazy, and he said, "well, does it cook and clean too?" I cannot believe that I spent such an outrageous amount of money on a BLENDER!!!! I must have been temporarily out of my mind. I just keep telling myself that I do have 30 days to change my mind once I have it.

In the end, I am still so excited to get it. I have been making green smoothies in my food processor, and can someone please tell me that the vitamix is going to be worth the extra money and make better smoothies than my Cuisinart is currently making? Today I juiced an apple and a lemon and added that to kale, spinach, carrot and banana in the cuisinart, and it was actually really delicious. I am not sure about the texture thing, but I am definitely loving blended drinks over juices.

Avacado - thanks for that insight. I am not necessarily healing from an ailment, but I am sure I have done a pretty good amount of damage to my body over the years. I feel great after drinking the green smoothies, so far. I hope it continues and my health will continue to get better.

I'm really happy that I spent the extra $$$ on my vita-mix. It's a whole different smoothie then my oster blender. I use mine several times a day; for me it was a worthwhile investment.
...and if you decide to move to Hawaii, you will be happy that you already own it; shipping charges for mine was over $50.

Aloha Nui Loa,

Greg

A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices. - William James

There is no pill that can be swallowed,
There is no guru, that can be followed, - Michael Franti (Pray For Grace)

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion. - Albert Camus

Which island are you on MauiGreg? we would be moving to the big island.

How about the BlendTec? I just found out that it has a THREE hp motor, and is about $75 cheaper! Do they work the same?

Aloha Veggiefreak,

I live on Maui, but the Big Island is beautiful too...and a bit cheaper to live.

I have no experience with the blend-tec at all. I had just heard so much good stuff about the vita-mix, that's what I went with... and I'm totally satisfied.

Good luck with your decision! (for the blender and the move)

Greg

Aloha Nui Loa,

Greg

A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices. - William James

There is no pill that can be swallowed,
There is no guru, that can be followed, - Michael Franti (Pray For Grace)

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion. - Albert Camus

Hey Veggiefreak,
How's the Vitamix 5200 going? Enquiring minds want to know. I just bought a Breville blender yesterday. I haven't tried it yet. I'm kinda sad I didn't buy the Vitamix (grass is always greener...). But I did save about $300. I could always change my mind and get the Vitamix instead LOL

I'm sure you'll be happy with either the Blendtec or the Vitamix.