Blendtec Total Blender Classic - Includes FourSide Jar (75 oz) - 10-Speed Professional-Grade Countertop Blender - High-Power Kitchen Blender with 6 Pre-Programmed Cycles - Black

I’m surprised it has taken me this long to write a review. Sorry if this is a bit of a novel, but this blender has changed my life!! I’ve been using the Blendtec for the last two and a half years to make veggie shakes – it is an amazing machine. Some folks prefer juicers as opposed to a blender, but I find that you waste all of the fiber, which is good for you and fills you up as well (you get something that is a bit more like juice with a juicer, but the Blendtec does an amazing job at making it pretty smooth and you don’t waste any part of the vegetables/fruits). I’m sure the Vitamix works well also, but the Blendtec seems to be more powerful (plus the Vitamix looks like it was designed in the 70s).Quickly after I started juicing I started to lose weight, after 5 or 6 weeks I dropped 15lbs, while still enjoying what I wanted to eat for most meals.With regard to recipes there are all kinds of concoctions. I usually buy about 4 days’ worth of veggies when I shop. My concoction is very green and consists of the following:Kombucha (full bottle - as you need some liquid for blending). I’d recommend the one with Chia seeds in it as it adds sweetness, tastes great, and has no carbonation (and Chia seeds are really high in Omega 3). Fermented drinks are really good for you and help break down foods in your system. Whole Foods sells their own brand of Kombucha as well (at least in the Bay Area). Coconut water is a good alternative, but I don’t care for the taste.Everything organic (not necessary, just personal preference):Always 2 of the following (I mix it up): Kale, Dandelion greens, collard greens, broccoli, or watercress (I use half the bundle of kale, etc, that whole foods sells, except for the watercress which is smaller - I use the whole thing that Whole Foods sells as the serving).A roma tomato (cheaper than slicer tomatoes)4 or so good size white mushrooms2 medium size carrots or one large carrot1/3 cucumber (I like the taste and it has some other benefits such as Vitamin E); I sometimes purchase red bell pepper in place of this (high in vitamin C, but I sometimes have a hard time finding the organic variety).Starting out, you may want to add fruit if it is too bitter for you – I typically added pears when I did, or sometimes strawberries for flavor (4 or 5 strawberries can impact the flavor quite a bit if you want it sweeter). Occasionally I also add some beets as these are really good for you (a great detoxifier as well).This provides for about 40-48oz of liquid goodness (I really do love the flavor - it never gets old). I usually drink this 5 days out of the week for dinner (Sunday through Thursday). It takes me 15 minutes flat to prepare this. I usually supplement it with something else - perhaps yogurt or a small serving of fish (I also like to eat a small piece of dark chocolate (70-80% cocoa). For breakfast or lunch, I eat whatever I want (although, I’ve cut back on dairy and eggs recently). On weekends I usually splurge as well (beers, pizza, etc). I actually eat more than I used to. But every morning when I step on the scale I am right at 160lbs (I’m 5’8” with an athletic build). The fiber likely has a lot to do with it. And I’m not a big exercise buff - on a good week I’ll run twice (3 miles each session), and I’ll do a couple of free weight exercises once or twice a week.I’ve always suffered from high blood pressure (always at the high-end of pre-hypertension since my mid-twenties). I’m turning 40 next month and my last blood pressure reading was 104 over 70! Although, I have to admit that I became a Pescetarian last year (cut out meat except for seafood (wild only as a preference)), and I saw my biggest drop over the last year, but it could also be from the cumulative effect of the veggies over the past two and a half years.I turned to the blender after feeling like I was running out of energy and was having a harder time getting through the week at a stressful job. I am glad that I did - physically, I feel great (no medication, ailments, etc). I grew up on the East coast eating processed foods - I always had a microwave hot pocket in my hand so it was a radical change for me. The blender idea got in my head after watching a couple of those juicing documentaries from a couple of years ago (“Fat, Sick, and nearly dead” was one of them).Anyhow, I’m sure I could go on and on (I know some of my co-workers would tell you the same, especially in the first year - although I’ve probably been responsible for over 15 Blendtecs sold among family, friends, and acquaintances - I should really start getting kickbacks from Blendtec). Admittedly it has not worked for everyone (can’t get into the taste or just can’t commit to it on a regular basis), but the majority of the folks have gotten a lot of benefit out of it and quite a few have become full converts like me. Anyhow, this has just been my experience with blending and I wanted to share it in the hopes it might help others with their health.

My husband and I have decided that we're too fat to enjoy life the way we want to, so we decided to eat more fruits & veggies and cut down on all the processed, prepared, fatty food that we're used to. You know - the food that tastes good. But the only way this is going to work is to a) find something tasty to substitute and b) find something easy. So we thought of smoothies. Which meant we needed a blender. A good blender. Something that can blend a brick and clean up after itself.A friend of mine has a Vitamix that she loves and uses every day, but $499 was a little much for me to spend on a blender. So I put it in my wishlist and my cart and hoped that the price would go down or that someone would like me a whole lot. A couple years later, Amazon told me that they would give me 20% off a small appliance if I used my Amazon card. My friend's blender is still going strong, so I thought, why not?Before spending that much on a blender (80% of a lot of money is still a lot of money) I looked at what other customers viewed after viewing this item. And I found Blendtec - you know, by that youtube guy who blends ipods and stuff. After spending several hours comparing reviews, I picked this. The fact that it came in red didn't hurt. :)It came yesterday. For dinner last night, we had Green Pineapple Paradise (page 15 of the included cookbook). For breakfast this morning, I made a strawberry banana smoothie. For dinner tonight we had a chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie (chocolate almond milk, PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter - 85% Less Fat and Calories - 6.5 Oz, 1 walnut, 1 banana, ice, and some baby spinach.)Don't gag - you couldn't taste the spinach, and I didn't put in enough to turn it green. Actually, all three smoothies had spinach, and you couldn't taste it in any of them. I didn't make enough of the choco/PB/banana/etc smoothie for two, so I made a small blueberry/strawberry/walnut/and you guessed it - spinach smoothie later, and it was wonderful!There are 6 pre-sets, and the smoothie setting takes 30 seconds. Everything was smooth enough to use a straw. Yes, it was noisy. Very noisy. But if you're dealing with something that can blend a rake (not suggested) you should expect noisy. Clean up took literally 2 minutes - rinse, put in warm water and a squirt of dish soap, hit the up button a couple of times and let it run for 5-10 seconds, dump and rinse, and you're good to go. I suspect cleaning up after making peanut butter might take longer, but for smoothies, this is great! OK, it's not self cleaning, but it's almost as good.Tomorrow we will attempt Tortilla Soup (page 109 of the included book). Believe it or not, there's a soup setting that's supposed to make your soup kinda hot! You can make ice cream too, but you have to start with something frozen to do it, like fruit or ice cubes. I might save that for the next day.We have gotten 3 full, filling, tasty meals out of this over the course of a day and a half, and clean up took about 10 minutes total - that includes washing it right out of the box. We've cut back several hundred calories without feeling hungry. We spent $50 on groceries and still have a fridge full of fruits and veggies. If we keep this up, we'll be skinny and rich in no time.ETA: Ok, HOT isn't the word for the soup - slightly warmer than lukewarm describes it better. It tasted good, though. And cleaned up in about a minute. 90 seconds (soup cycle) in the blender will aerate the soup, so if you don't like it frothy, stop it early and heat it up the conventional way. Still 5 stars though.