One of my issues over the years has been eating fruit. I love fruit, but eating fruit, even pre-cut and pre-washed fruit from the grocery store, is just something I can't seem to do.
However, I love smoothies! The wife and I would always swing buy a smoothie store while running errands and spend $6 each on a large smoothie. We might stop by the smoothie store 2 or 3 times a week. By the time we get smoothies for us and the kids, we ended up spending a minimum of $50 / week easy.
Thinking that is way too much money, we decided to run to the local department store and pick up a blender for a few bucks. This was a completely horrible experience. The blenders would either burn out and stop working or do a horrible job blending the fruits and vegetables. In the end, it just wasn't worth making smoothies at home.
During last Christmas, however, we saw an infommercial on a Vita-Mix Blender. Now there was a blender. It has a 2 hp engine that looked like it could probably mulch wood :) It also looked very much like the blender we saw at the smoothie store, and a trip back to the local smoothie store confirmed they were using Vitamix blenders. We decided to get one as a Christmas present to ourselves.
Vitamix Blender
In short, this is hands down a fantastic and powerful blender. It packs a 2 hp engine and looks and feels like a commerical product, but it is easy enough to use in your home. We have been using ours 2 to 3 times a day for about 8 months and it operates and looks just exactly like it did when we first bought it. And when I say the Vitamix will handle all your blending needs, it will handle all your blending needs :) At first, we just used it for smoothies, but now we use it for soups and dips and the occasional milk shake for the kids.
Smoothies are easy. We buy fresh fruit at the farmers market once a week and buy frozen fruit at the grocery store. Once a day I make a mid-afternoon smoothie consisting of any combination of blackberries ( my favorite ), blueberries, raspberries, pineapples, bananas, etc. Typically I use carrot juice in my smoothies and I couldn't tell you the last time I had carrot juice before making smoothies :) I always use a banana as it tends to make the smoothie more consistent, but that is just my personal opinion. Thanks to the Vita-mix and smoothies, I now get more than enough of my fair share of fruit during the day.
However, it doesn't stop there. When I say you can make soups I am talking about making a 100% healthy soup just using the blender. Toss broth and your favorite vegetables into the blender and let it blend it down to a soup. No extra salt and other crazy additives and preservatives. Just pure nature at its best blended into a soup form. As the Vitamix blends the soup for awhile the soup gets naturally warm and you don't even need to warm it up on the stove. We now have soups all the time, which I didn't before, because the salt content in canned soups is staggering. I also know I am getting fresh vegetables with all the vitamins and minerals as opposed to processed vegetables in soups where a lot of the vitamins and minerals get stripped away!
Dips. I am a huge fan of hummus and used to buy it regularly at the grocery store. Not any more. Hummus is just chickpeas ( also called garbanzo beans ) blended into a spread. I add chickpeas, garlic, etc. to the Vita-Mix blender and a few moments later I have hummus. So much tastier, healthier, and more affordable than going to the grocery store. Of course, we do a lot more dips and spreads than hummus, too. You haven't tasted a vegetable dip until you make it at home in the blender :)
As for young children. I always had a hard time getting them to eat vegetables. Now they eat fruits and vegetables all the time but they rarely know it as it ends up in the form of a smoothie, soup, or dip! I kid you not. It works!
Cleaning and Maintaining the Vita-Mix
This is the best part, because I don't do anything really.
Per the cleaning instructions, just wipe and rinse immediately after use. Then fill the Vitamix blender up 1/3 with warm water and with a few drops of a mild, all-natural dish detergent. Blend the mixture, rinse thoroughly and let air dry. It essentially cleans itself. Brilliant!
Conclusion
I swear by my Vita-Mix Blender. It gives me all the fruit and vegetables I was missing in my diet and I also use it to supplement my meals at times to maintain or lose a little weight.
If you plan to drink a smoothie once a day or at least several times a week, the Vitamix is perfect for you. If you would like to not only make smoothies, but healthy soups, dips, etc., again, the Vitamix will be able to handle the demanding needs.
At this point of having used the Vitamix blender for 8+ months, I cannot imagine not having it. We all use it several times a day and a normal blender wouldn't be able to handle our demanding and creative use.
Check other reviews on Amazon.
Best of health to you.
David Hayden
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