Blades of Glory

The Blendtec/Vitamix Challenge

When it comes to high-power blenders, there are only two names on the market worth considering: Blendtec and Vitamix. 

(If you know of any others, please tell us!)

Both brands are costly - expect to pay at least £500 if you buy either product new. If you prepare smoothies regularly they are well worth the expense because the intense power behind the blades ensures that the fruit is soundly pulped to extract the best possible flavour.


Green smoothies that would be lumpy and bitty in a cheaper blender are smooth and creamy when made in a Vitamix or Blendtec. In addition they can be used to make many other food and drink recipes.


We use Blendtecs in The Flavour Co, but smoothie fanatic Declan has his own Vitamix and he volunteered to bring it in so we could compare both brands and see which one came out on top.



...and they're off! Blending a gorgeous fruity combination of strawberries and pineapple juice.



The Blendtec has a bit of an issue with spillage. Not a drop was spilled from the Vitamix, which has a tall, narrow, 2L jug.


Apart from that, the finished product was equally delicious from both blenders.

Hungry for change

Watch. this. film.

You have 8 days and 23 hours from the time of this post to watch Hungry For Change free online.

Why would you want to watch it? Well, it could transform the way you think about food. Or you might just want to gawp at the staggering amount of weight some of the people featured in the film have managed to lose. And at the way interviewees who were seriously sick have been turned into bouncing visions of health and vitality.


If you're already a healthy eater there will probably still be a few things in this film to make you gasp in amazement. For example, the fact that scientists who want to work with fat lab mice feed them MSG (monosodium glutamate) to make them put on weight.

MSG is fed to lab mice to make them fat. 

So why are food manufacturers allowed to put it in the food they sell to us? I thought we had a national obesity crisis!


And did you know that getting a good night's sleep can aid weight loss?


The overall message of the film is very positive. There are no complicated diet rules advocated - the overall message is:


Eat more good stuff.


Love yourself.


Get some sleep!


Oh, and eat more good stuff!

True colours

This picture shows the gorgeous natural colours of real food. It makes me wonder why anyone would want to add a lurid food dye to their food. 

Unless that food is so unnatural it needs to be disguised by adding a colour. 

Children are usually attracted to food in bright, gaudy colours, and the brightest colours come from the fruit and vegetable world. But most of us quickly lose contact with what our body wants and turn to junk food that imitates real food. 


Instead of eating a real orange we become addicted to orange-coloured sweets.  

We poured out these tasters after making a few juices at The Flavour Co. They contained nothing but fruit. The one on the left was pineapple, ginger, chilli, lemon and lime; the one in the middle was spinach, lime, apple and pineapple and the one on the right was strawberry and pineapple. 

They were all delicious.