I’m being asked a lot lately whether I’d recommend a juicer, blender or nutri machine. It’s a little like being asked if I favour the treadmill, bike or rower at the gym. They work very differently, there are distinct benefits to each machine and in truth they’re best used in conjunction with one another. That being said, due to time, space and budget constraints – a kitchen full of fancy, liquidising appliances is not always an option. So I’ll explain as simply as possible what I believe to be the benefits and disadvantages of each.

A juicer works by extracting the ‘juice’ – the liquid content and the majority of nutrients, from the fruit and veg you put through it, leaving behind a pulp. There is often confusion between the job of a juicer / blender and machine using the ‘nutrition extraction’ label. Basically, if the appliance you’re using removes the pulp from your juice – it’s a juicer.

A blender or ‘smoothie maker’ uses a fast spinning blade to finely blend the fruit and veg you put in it. A blender is not extracting the juice from the food you put into it, it’s simply blending it to a liquid consistency. It’s not extracting the juice, rather liquidising it together with the insoluble fibre. Blenders are perfect for making smoothies and soups.

You may have seen these Nutri machines and wondered how they differ from juicers and blenders. A Nutri machine is not a juicer. It does not extract the pulp from the fruit and veg. More comparable to a blender, the thing that differentiates the Nutri machine from other smoothie makers is it’s unique blade designs and cyclonic action. Nutri machines pulverise all fruits and vegetables into a smooth drink. Advocates claim you don’t get those bits and that grainy taste you get with an ordinary blender when juicing greens. Nutri enthusiasts hail it as the perfect solution, delivering a super smooth veg drink, which still retains its insoluble fibre content (therefore reducing the sugar hit)

Personally speaking, and much of it really does come down to personal preference, I favour my juicer. Why? Juicing removes the insoluble fibre from the fruit and veg you put through it. Whilst fibre is responsible for slowing down the body’s absorption of sugar (a good thing), it also slows down and prevents the fast absorption of nutrients (not such a good thing). Without the insoluble fibre your body absorbs 100% of these nutrients. It’s like flooding your body with a ton of instantly accessible vitamins in one easy hit.

Juicing also gives the body’s major organs, primarily the stomach, pancreas and colon, a break from digestion. Due to the lack of insoluble fibre, a massive amount of ‘plant juice’ can be consumed in one ‘meal’. Take a look at the huge plate of greens you start with when juicing. Thats a lot of goodness you’re absorbing. You can put enormous handfuls of spinach and other greens through the machine, what you’ll get is a super concentrated, green juice full of nutrients, much more than if you were to try and eat all those greens or drink them blended. Juicing also allows for a much more varied list of ingredients and therefore a wider variety of recipes. For me, green juices are also much more palatable than blended drinks, I find it’s simply easier to drink a gigantic glass brimming with liquid vegetable greens, sweetened by apples or pears, than it is to neck a pint of thick, green, blended sludge.

So, what are the advantages to blending or putting your greens through a nutri machine? The main benefit is the retention of insoluble fibre. Whilst this will slow down your absorption of blended nutrients, it will also slow down the sugar hit. The natural sugars you’re getting from juiced or blended fruit and veg are a good thing. They’ve come in for some bad press recently, but these natural sugars are essential for energy. The downside to the very instant energy boost you get with juicing, is the post spike sugar dip. Blending or nutri machining retains the insoluble fibre, which in turn slows the sugar hit to a more gradual injection. Drinking a blended drink, rather than a liquid juice will also make you feel fuller. It’s more like consuming a meal, than simply drinking your breakfast, lunch or dinner.

It’s for this reason that I love to use my juicer and blender in conjunction. If I need a more filling ‘meal’ I’ll often add avocado or banana to my juice and blend it. These fruit are too soft to be pushed through a juicer, adding them to pre-juiced fruit and veg and blending them is the perfect way to thicken your drink to a smoothie consistency. Avocados are incredible for skin. They contain so much goodness and are perfect for combatting so many anti-inflammatory illnesses. Great for the heart and brilliant at regulating blood sugar, I love adding them to salads, making guacamole with them or blending them into green juices.

A blender is also perfect for creating home made, healthy soups. Eating a thick, vegetable soup is another ideal way to consume a ton of super alkalising, nutrient rich greens. Tinned and shop bought packet soups contain refined sugar and added salt, not to mention flavourings and preservatives. Making soup is so simple but you will need a blender to get that lovely, thick, filling consistency.

If you already own a nutri-machine, don’t panic that you have the ‘wrong’ thing. There’s no such thing as wrong when it comes to consuming vast quantities of fruit and veg! And if your budget is unrestricted then a juicer and nutri-machine are the ultimate combo. But personally speaking the nutri-machine benefits over a standard blender are outweighed by its considerably heftier price tag, money I would rather invest in a juicer.

If you’re brand new to juicing, my advice would be to buy a good quality juicer, in combination with a budget level blender. Something like the Omega Mega Mouth £150 is a fantastic wide chute juicer, meaning you can chuck whole apples in without the hassle of chopping up fruit and veg first. As budget option blenders go, I like the Kenwood Smoothie 2go £18 or the Breville Blend Active £25.

There will inevitably be advocates of different options, designs and models. Whatever your preference or budget the main thing is to get started, and ultimately any kitchen appliance that promotes the absorption of liquid nutrients gets a big green tick from me.