The Tools: Blender or Juicer?
If finances allow, I would buy both. For instance, even if you have a top of the line blender, carrots are just better off being juiced. And sometimes you just want a nice refreshing glass of apple juice without all the smoothie-ness. Plus, variety is the spice of life.
Which Blender?
If a Blendtec or Vitamix is out of your budget ($400) I recommend:
This is the best in the sub $100 blender category — I used an Oster for years and it worked just fine.
Which Juicer?
The higher end Omega, Champion and Breville are all very nice, however they cost around $300. For everyday fruit and vegetable juicing at a very reasonable price I recommend:
Looks nice, works great and easy to clean.
Benefits of Juicing (no pulp)
- Quick nutrition. The nutrients in freshly squeezed/pressed juice enter your bloodstream almost immediately after consumption since there is no fiber for your digestive organs to deal with.
- Easy digestion. Because of the lack of fiber the digestive organs do very little work. This is ideal for people with shifty digestive tracts and is great for those looking to cleanse and heal.
- Energy! Because of the quick nutrition absorption your body is instantly replenished and revitalized.
- No bloating. After chugging a tall glass of juice you still feel light and it will not ruin your appetite. You’ll still be hungry 30 minutes later.
- Variety. You can not blend everything. Ever try blending a carrot? It is rough.
Benefits of Blending (smoothies and shakes)
- Harder to overdose on fruit sugar. It is really easy to juice 10 carrots, 3 apples, 3 oranges and drink it all down, multiple times a day. That is a lot of fructose and it can seriously increase your blood sugar and insulin levels, which can increase your risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Not to mention getting you all tweaked out on sugar. Blending fruits and sweet vegetables retains the naturally occurring fiber in these plants which will help regulate the speed at which the natural sugars enter your blood stream.
- Fiber, fiber, FIBER! Blending fruits and vegetables retains the fiber which acts like a broom to your digestive system. It cleans us out and keeps us regular.
- Complete meal. Since the smoothie is packed full of fiber and nutrients (add an avocado or coconut for some good fats), you can have a glass or two as a meal and be completely satisfied for 2-3 hours.
- Easy to clean. Cleaning a blender is loads faster than cleaning a juicer and you do not have to feel bad about tossing the pulp or feel obligated to make a loaf of carrot zucchini bread. Although that would be tasty.
- Add goodies. Adding flax seed to a glass of juice just ruins the whole juicy-ness you got going on. But with a blended smoothie you can add all kinds of great stuff: nuts, seeds, protein powder, snickers…
So Which is Healthier?
They are basically the same. It all comes down to personal preference, what finances will allow, your particular bodily requirements, and what you want your crap to look like. 
Do you have a green drink or green smoothie recipe of your own that you'd like to share? Do you run a health blog or website and need some quality backlinks?
Discussion (join the conversation)
There not the same by a long shot. Blending destroys the nutritional value within a minuet or two. Its called OXIDATION. That’s what a blender does. Remove the air and a blender does not work. Free radicals do all the damage.
Check out Hippocrates Health Insititute
It does cause oxidation, which does destroy some nutrients…but all? That’s far-fetched. For 90% of people, blending green smoothies is highly beneficial (and better than a typical American diet) despite the destruction of some nutrients due to oxidation.
This is one of the most controversial issues in the Blending Vs. Juicing debate. The research of Dr. Clement of the Hippocrates Health Institute has not been scientifically proven, nor have any lab results been shown to support his claims. The site also sells many food products that have been processed much more than any blender could accomplish (i.e. dried veggies, flax crackers). They also sell dehydrators, which are designed to dry food by blowing hot air around them for hours. Personally, I think their vendetta against blending comes from a financial standpoint, not any research-based facts.
Read today a study done on oxidation occuring after juicing/blending based on this idea. The queston od the study was which has more oxidation ‘ damage’. Study compared potatoes, juiced v. Blended as it is easy to viually see oxidation in a potatoe quickly in discoloraton. If i recall correct, the juiced potato oxidized quickly, within first minute or two. And oxidization showed in whole glass of juice as discolored evenly. The blended potato showed oxidation more slowly, hours overnight, and only showed it at surface area of glass. This was i part due to texture difference. That blended has more solids keeping air exposure limited to surface area at top of glass while juiced, with less solid particls, was affected by air throughout whole glass, not just at surface. Wish i could remember the books name…heavy on science.