Review of Vita-Mix 1300 Turbo Blend 4500 for Healthy Living

I have had my Vita Mix blender for at least five years now, and in that time, it seems that people have increasingly turned to this blender for healthier eating and weight loss, but it does more than just blend fruits, vegetables, and baby food! And perhaps more importantly, it's extremely powerful, easy to clean, durable, and reliable (and comes with 7-year warranty).

I originally invested in the Vita-Mix blender because I was tired of buying blenders that quickly broke down or burned out (where you literally smell burning rubber) or didn't have the power to blend ice cubes or firmer fruits into a smooth consistency. Well this machine is on a different playing field (and with a price exceeding $300, it better be). Not only am I able to blend all kinds of fresh fruit juices and smoothies with unbelievable power, I also regularly use the Vita-Mix blender to make salsas, sauces, hot soups (the High speed setting is so fast that it will boil your soup after a few minutes), and even pie filling.

I wasn't surprised to see Vita Mix-looking blenders at Jamba Juice because Vita-Mix blenders are powerful enough to be industrial blenders used all day long every day. It's also just as loud as the blenders at Jamba Juice, so your family members watching TV in the next room will not be happy that they can't hear a thing while you are blending. Offering them a strawberry-banana smoothie or a bite of your freshly-made salsa usually quells the complaints, though.

There are two different ways to control the Vita-Mix blender power. You can either use the Variable speed setting, which allows you to turn a knob increasing the power from Level 1 to Level 10, or the High speed setting, which is even stronger than Level 10. The instructional DVD and the recipe book recommend that you begin blending most foods or drinks on Variable Level 1, increase gradually to Variable Level 10, and then flip the switch to High.

The Vita-Mix blender isn't designed for sudden on and off high-speed blending. If you are used to punching the Pulse button on a normal blender for rough chopping, you would use a low Variable speed on the Vita-Mix blender for a few seconds to achieve the same result. On more than one occasion, I have accidentally turned on the blender while the setting is on High speed, and it's a good thing the cap seals on pretty tightly because when I switched the power on, it was like a tornado in there.

I've experimented with a couple different approaches in terms of blending speeds, and I would strongly suggest starting on a low Variable speed and then gradually increasing higher speeds as necessary. I would caution against using High speeds when you don't want the resulting blend to be completely liquid (eg. when you are just rough chopping).

While in one of my more experimental moods, I was making a rich cream of potato soup in the Vita-Mix blender when I arbitrarily decided to throw in some rough-chopped potatoes, chicken, and ham at the end. Because potatoes are much firmer and chunkier than chicken or ham, they take longer to chop up on the low Variable setting, so I cranked it up to a higher speed. The chicken and ham essentially disappeared into the liquid. I think you get the point of the story.

To clean the Vita-Mix blender, just pour some water into it and crank it up to high speed. The smoothie remnants that are coating the bottom and inside of the blender are whipped up into the water and easy poured out. You don't have to worry about trying to scrape clumps of food off of the blades or the bottom of the blender.

Now everyone in my family has a Vita-Mix blender, and no one has run into any problems with their appliances. Everyone puts it on their "Top 3 Appliances Ever Purchased" list.

The blender comes with a full book of recipes and an instructional DVD, though a lot of the recipes are variations of the same idea.

Some of my favorite recipes:

Dips/Sauces: guacamole, hummus, spinach dip, salsa, blueberry syrup, pear syrup

Drinks: iced coffee, frozen Irish coffee, pina colada, margarita, strawberry daiquiri, strawberry banana smoothie, apple pie smoothie, mango smoothie, watermelon smoothie

Soups: cream of potato soup, tomato basil soup, corn chowder, vegetable soup

If you have any questions about the Vita Mix, feel free to put them in the Comments section below, and I will answer them honestly before you go out and spend your money on it.