The benefits of a Nutribullet (or Ninja or VitaMix) blender

First and foremost I come from the generation of juicing. I remember seeing the Jack Lalane infomercial at 2 in the morning when I should’ve been asleep for school the next morning. I was fascinated by seeing someone put a fruit in one end and juice pouring out of the other. It looks like magic. That fruit was liquified and turned into juice right before my eyes. This big, round, clunky machine worked wonders by extracting all of the “good stuff” in your fruits and eliminating all of the “bad stuff,” or so I thought.

Then I got one and I fell in love with the magic all over again. I bought about $20 worth of fruits and veggies to juice to make my first drink. To my surprise, that $20 worth of fresh fruit made about 1 1/2 - 2 cups of juice. That’s at least $10 per cup. Also, all of the “bad stuff” that’s being extracted isn’t actually bad. It’s the dense fibers that hold the juice in the fruits. Without it, that drink you just made is now made up of mostly sugar and quickly realized to ask myself,” what’s the bad part of any fruit or vegetable that needs to be thrown away? Do you throw away any edible parts of an apple, orange or banana? Then what am I throwing in the trash?” If I had to take a guess, it’s money I’m throwing away. Right in the garbage along with proper nutrition.

Then in 2012, a new product caught my infomercial eye and I was immediately hooked all over again. This product was called the Nutribullet.

It looked like a fun new blender toy and I couldn’t wait to get one of my own. After I purchased it I used it once and went back to the familiarity of juicing. It was all I’d known up to that point and having younger taste buds I was was addicted to the sugary taste. Also the juicer was made more so for fruits than vegetables. Juicing a carrot or beet might not be a problem but kale and spinach are a different story. All you’ll end up with is more cleaning after you’ve used 20 different fruits to make one cup of juice. After I spent $30 on fruits and vegetables to make approximately 3 cups of juice, I realized that $10 a cup was how much I should be spending when I go to a juice shop, not in the comfort of my own home. And after another rigorous cleaning effort that was worth more trouble than the drink it made, I looked back over at my Nutribullet and thought,” Maybe I jumped out too fast. Let me give this another try!”

I realized the mistake I made the first time very quickly. I cut up way more fruits than I needed, since it used the entire fruit and/or vegetable. Less thrown away food meant less money spent and more nutrition for me. I was also interested in mixing my fruits with vegetables since I don’t eat much of either. It took a while before I got used to the taste of actual fruits that wasn’t from concentrated Minute Maid and Welch’s drinks with only 5% juice (we weren’t taught to read the juice box until high school). Then, something changed.

Actually, I noticed a few new changes. My skin got clearer, my vision got better, my sleep patterns were better, and began waking up in a better mood. This was even before exercise. During my gym session my lungs started to breathe deeper (especially during cardio).

I was truly amazed that I felt so much better and healthier than the 2 years I was juicing and I haven’t looked back since. I am a living example of your body giving you back what you put into it. I began my holistic approach to fitness ever since I began getting my daily fruits and vegetables servings first thing in the morning as my breakfast. I’m not weighed down by a heavy breakfast to start my day, in fact it's the exact opposite.

Now as a full time fitness coach I've lost count of how many clients and colleagues that either have never used one or even worse, have one in their home collecting dust like an old treadmill in the basement. I challenge anyone to use a Nutribullet or similar style of blender consistently for at least one week. You won't be sorry!