Why I Love My Vita-Mix Blender

Everyone knows that eating fruits, vegetables and whole grains is better than empty calorie snacks. But what you may not know is that many of the most important nutrients are locked inside the cell walls where you can't completely digest them.

By using the Vita-Mix you can unlock the nutrients contained in the whole foods. This machine powers through the cell walls, seeds, and pulp. This way they are easily accessible for your body to digest. The more nutrients you can digest means your body gets what it needs to help prevent illness and feel more energetic.

Whole foods made with the Vita-Mix may give you the nutritional ammunition you need to help prevent diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, high cholesterol, cancer and obesity.

This is just a small portion of why I love my Vita-Mix.

Regular juice extractors throw away all of the pulp from the whole foods. That's NOT good because the pulp is actually more nutritious than the juice itself.

Whole food juicing is a process unique to the Vita-Mix.

You litterally smash through all the pulp and pulverize it so everything turns into juice (even seeds). You waste nothing. You get all the flavor, nutrition and fiber in a naturally sweet and creamy-smooth juice.

Strawberry Grape Juice

1 cup frozen strawberries

1 cup green grapes (with or without seeds)

1 cup red grapes (with or without seeds)

1/2 cup ice cubes

This is awesome! In less than five minutes the Vita-Mix can literally cook your food for you.

Because it has variable speeds you can crank it up to 240 miles per hour to cook your food, then dial it back down to 11 miles per hour to mix in a little substance to it.

It's great. There is no peeling, seeding or stove required.

Bacon Cheddar Potato Soup

2 cups skim milk

2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, baked

1/3 cup lowfat cheddar cheese

1/4 small onion, sauteed

1/2 teaspoon dill weed

1/2 teaspoon rosemary

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 ounces turkey bacon, crispy and crumbled

I've always loved ice cream. I thought it a shame it was so bad for me. But not anymore.

Ice cream is the best dessert in my opinion you can make with this machine. And what's great is that it does it in so little time. Once you have the ingredients in, it only takes 30 seconds to whip up.

The blades crush and cut up frozen fruit to make a larger frozen surface that refreezes itself into a smooth and wonderful soft-serve frozen treat.

Strawberry Ice Cream

1 cup milk

1 pound frozen unsweetened strawberries

1/2 cup sugar or other sweetener to taste

1/2 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

There is no other machine that can puree this good. Making your own baby food is a great example.

Now there is no need to pay for unnecessary ingredients like water, starch and sugar.

You can now make more nutritious (100% whole food) baby food for pennies on the dollar.

Tip: You can use ice cube trays to freeze in individual potions.

Pureed Chicken

1 cup skinless, boneless chicken breast, cooked and cubed

1/3 cup water

I can chop course or fine depending on how I set the variable speed.

The Vita-Mix makes short work of dry-chopping carrots, olives, onions, eggs and cheese.

Wet chopping is easy too. I just use some water to draw the food into the blades I can chop a whole head of cabbage for slaw in a few seconds

Salsa Mexicano

2 cups canned tomatoes, no salt added

1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded

4 ounces canned green chilies

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 cup fresh cilantro

1/2 teaspoon salt

I can grind my own fresh flour in this too. This way I can capture the nutrients in whole grains at the top of their game.

Even beans, rice and soybeans can easily be ground into flour for gluten-free recipes.

Once I've made my own fresh flour all I have to do is add a few more ingredients and let the machine do the work for me.

The dough quickly rises and a quick pulsing action forms a ball of dough that's ready to bake.

Homemade bread is so simple to make. I can forget about inferior, store-bought bread that is loaded with added sodium, sugar and preservatives.

Now I have perfectly blended recipes at any speed.

I can make creamy smoothies (see my page on healthy breakfast smoothies), salad dressings, mixed drinks or even butters.

I can make a great tasting fruit smoothie and throw in a couple of carrots or some cabbage and I can count a vegetable serving too.

Double Chocolate Fruit Smoothie

1 cup chocolate milk

1 weight watchers chocolate smoothie packet (or whey protein powder)

1 cup frozen sliced strawberries

1 banana

1 cup ice cubes

Check out my lens on Healthy Breakfast Smoothies here.

I add a drop of dish soap to a half-container of warm water, run my Vita-Mix machine on high speed for 30 seconds, and clean-up is complete!

There is no need to take the blades out or disassemble the machine to clean it. Now I never have to wait for the dishwasher to run before I use it again.