Would you spend £500 on a blender that Miranda Kerr and Gwyneth can’t live without? GTG's celeb watcher Emma Gunavardhana explains why you might just need one...
What do Miranda Kerr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Nicole Richie and Oprah Winfrey all have in common? Believe it or not it’s a kitchen appliance, specifically a blender. Naturally this isn’t any ordinary blender; it’s a Vitamix Total Nutrition Health Centre and price wise it’s up there at £459.95.
Juices and smoothies have long been cited as nutritionally sound additions to a healthy diet, and the stars are famed for juice cleanses in preparation for film roles or getting in shape. The Vitamix takes this already healthy approach to diet to the next level.
Miranda Kerr is so besotted with hers she’s made YouTube videos using it while musing; ‘Boys like their cars, I like my Vitamix.’ And she certainly isn’t a poor advert for the super-charged blender that’s like the Starship Enterprise of kitchen gadgetry.
What makes it so special is the power; the laser-cut blades reach speeds of over 240 mph making light work of fruit and vegetable pulp, skin, pips and seeds. The result is a uniform ‘blend’ that means your smoothie or juice contains 100% of the goodness and nutrients from fruit and vegetables without any nasty ‘bits’ that the average blender can’t really liquidise. The engine is so strong in fact that you don’t have to peel or core fruit – there’s no need to hull strawberries even. It’s efficient and saves you time, making it the fastest way to get nutrients into your diet.
MORE GLOSS: Healthy smoothie recipes from GTG's experts
There is so much power in this rather innocent looking blender that if you leave it whirring it’ll generate enough heat to become a cooker, turning your vegetable smoothie into a soup in a matter of minutes. Rumour has it that you can even add in an avocado stone and it will blend it to a liquid in no time.
Don’t be fooled into thinking this is just a celebrity fad and soon enough their Vitamixes will be gathering dust in a cupboard somewhere. The inspiration came from the people who really know their healthy stuff; GTG’s favourite nutritionist Amelia Freer uses it daily and the likes of personal trainers Tracy Anderson (famous for training Gwyneth,) Dalton Wong (who cites Alice Eve and Amanda Seyfried among his clients) and the trainers at Bodyism (who hone the bodies of Elle Macpherson and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley).
They all recommend their own nutrition-rich juice recipes alongside their training regimes – and it’s a Vitamix they use. Dalton relies on the power of this high-end appliance all the time: ‘The Vitamix is more powerful than the average household blender; it can literally blend anything in seconds.’
It might be expensive, but a Vitamix is the key to a Gwyneth ‘Goop’ lifestyle in one smooth purchase.
Vitamix Daily Green Smoothie recipe
- Preparation: 2 minutes
- Processing 30-40 seconds
- Makes: 675 ml (2 ¾ cups)
60 ml water
120 ml pineapple juice/ fresh pineapple
260 g green grapes
1/4 of a ripe pear, seeded and halved
1/2 of an avocado, pitted and peeled
3 broccoli florets
Handful of fresh spinach leaves, washed
¼ cup of ice cubes
Place all ingredients into the Vitamix container in the order listed and secure lid.
Select Variable 1. Turn on machine and slowly increase speed to Variable 10, then to High.
Blend for 30-40 seconds, using the tamper to press the ingredients into the blades as needed, until
desired consistency is reached.