Believe it or not, when and how you drink your juice or smoothie does matter! Keep these sipping suggestions in mind when enjoying your next glass of healthy goodness. From The Juice Generation: 100 Recipes for Fresh Juices and Superfood Smoothies.
Drink it at room temperature, not ice cold; this way it's easier to assimilate.
Try to resist gulping it down. Sip it slowly and swirl each sip a little in your mouth so it mixes with saliva—this contains digestive enzymes that won't otherwise be activated, as you're not chewing your food when you drink it.
It is good to drink fruit juices on an empty stomach as fruits digest very quickly, and you don't want them to ferment in your stomach on top of slower-digesting solid foods. Then wait 20 minutes or so before eating anything solid.
Vegetable juices also tend to give a more energizing effect when consumed on an empty stomach. If drinking them as part of a meal, pay attention to how your belly feels when food and juices combine.
For smoothies, it's a similar guideline: consuming them significantly before or after a solid-food meal leads to better digestion.
