Have you been having a morning smoothie pick me up? Whatever time you have yours, are you sure that they are actually healthy smoothies? Many people fall into the trap of thinking their smoothies are the BEST thing ever, but if you aren’t careful they could be giving you unnecessary extra calories.
If you know me, you’ll know for sure that I am not the type of dietitian to say that you should never have any treats (to see some proof see these vanilla cupcakes, oat waffles and chocolate cake recipes), BUT we need to very careful of things like smoothies that we may be having more regularly.
If used correctly smoothies can be a great way to get in some fruit and vegetables (especially for those who normally struggle with the fresh stuff!) in a balanced way. I’ve put together a few simple tips to make sure that you are making healthy smoothies, that provide you with the best boost that you can get.
1. Don’t drink more than you would usually eat
This is such an important thing to remember whenever we are drinking drinks that have energy. It is SO easy to drink something that is loaded with way more calories than we would normally even eat. So, when you’re making smoothies ensure that the amount of fruit, vegetables, yoghurt, milk etc that you are adding, is not any more than you would be able to eat as a meal. I recommend keeping it to the equivalent of one or two fruit per serving.
2. Don’t just replace your drink with a smoothie. A smoothie can be a full meal.
Since you are essentially blending food up to make a drink, it can actually be a full meal. Think about it, linked to the first tip, would you eat a full breakfast and then on top of that some banana, yoghurt, berries and milk? Probably not. If the smoothie already contains the equivalent of what you would eat, then it is your full meal!
3. Keep frozen cut up fruit in the freezer
Keep containers of your favourite smoothie fruits (mine are berries, banana, apple and pear) in the freezer, chopped. This means you can have easy access to them for a quick meal. Using frozen fruit also helps to thicken the smoothie.
4. Include vegetables
Some vegetables, such as baby spinach or kale, work really well in smoothies. These green leafy veggies are full of iron, folate and so much more, yet most of us don’t eat enough of them. Vegetables are also much lower in calories than fruit, so are better to use in bulking up your smoothies.
5. Add some protein and healthy fat
Including protein and healthy fats from nuts, seeds or peanut butter (as well as from low fat milk or plain yoghurt) helps to keep you full for longer and control your blood sugar levels.
6. Top up with ice cubes and low fat milk or plain yoghurt
Use a few ice blocks, low fat milk or plain yoghurt rather than fruit juice. Fruit juice provides additional, unnecessary carbohydrates and can make the smoothie unbalanced.
7. Limit additional sweetners and sugar
Fruit already gives the smoothie sweetness. If you require more sweetness, a small amount of honey can be added, but keep this to as little as possible.
Recipes for Healthy Smoothies
Strawberry smoothie
1/ 2 banana, frozen
4 strawberries, frozen
3 ice cubes
5 almonds
50ml low fat milk or yoghurt
Blend, adding more milk until you reach the consistency you want.
Spinach and banana smoothie
1/2 banana, frozen
Good handful baby spinach
7 raw cashews
3 ice cubes
50ml low fat milk or yoghurt
Blend, adding more milk until you reach the consistency you want.
Experiment and see what creative, healthy smoothies you can come up with 🙂
Deborah
I’d love to see your Pure Sweet Joy DIYs. Show me on Instagram using #puresweetjoyblog or email me at deborah [at] puresweetjoy [dot] com. Like what you see here? Follow along on Facebook, Twitter or Bloglovin or subscribe to the newsletter for exclusive access to the latest news and freebies.
Sheila says
After wearing out several blenders with rubber ‘drive’ parts in the bottom, I started doing some research and found an Oster brand blender that had metal parts. It’s powerful enough to crush ice & seeds, and no rubber parts to crumble apart after only a few months’ use. I’ve been very happy with it so far, and it was about thirty five dollars at Costco.
Deborah says
Thanks for the tips Sheila!
Sarah Prince says
I love smoothies I just can never seem to keep a good blender on hand. What brand of blender would you recommend?
Deborah says
Hi Sarah. I use a Milex NutriMix 1000, but I think it’s a South African brand. It’s a slightly stronger version of the Nutribullet and works great!