
"The ingredients in this cherry-vanilla smoothie can help you feel your best after a tough workout," says Largeman-Roth. Try one of these 29 protein-rich smoothie recipes for a tasty, nutrient-packed drinkable snack.įor each recipe, place the ingredients in the order listed and blend until smooth. "A store needs to make sure their customers come back again, so they’re more focused on the flavor of their smoothies, instead of avoiding added sugars, or keeping them super balanced," Largeman-Roth says. Serendipitously, these all work well in a smoothie, both in terms of taste and texture.įifth, try to avoid adding extra sugar, but if you think you need a little extra sweetness, it's totally okay to mix in a ½ teaspoon of honey or pure maple syrup.Īnd speaking of sugar: try to avoid store-bought smoothies, from the grocery store and a shop. Healthy fats-think unsaturated-are found in avocados, nuts and seeds, and nut butter, for example. If plant-based is your only option, stick with soy-milk, which is roughly equivalent to dairy milk in terms of protein.įourth, always add a healthy fat, and is crucial for heart health. Plant-based milks often don't contain enough protein to matter and the flavored ones can come with added sugars. One cup of dairy milk contains eight grams of complete protein. Third, use dairy milk, if your GI system will allow. Spinach or kale offer lots of fiber, but they're mild in flavor and blend really well. While juices, like orange juice, do contain nutrients like vitamin C and, in many cases, are fortified with vitamin D and calcium, they also tend to be more concentrated when it comes to sugar and lack that fiber, which is oh-so-important to feeling full. One, always use whole fruits and vegetables as part of your base. It's waaaay easier to drink a smoothie containing 45 grams of protein than chew through the equivalent of that much pork tenderloin.īut before you start loading up your blender, there are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to building the best high-protein, high-fiber smoothie. So if you want to weigh 185, that's 185 grams of protein daily- which is a lot. "Most Americans aren’t getting enough produce or fiber in their diet, so smoothies can be a fun and delicious way to make up for that," says nutrition expert Frances Largeman-Roth, R.D.N., author of Smoothies & Juices: Prevention Healing Kitchen.Īnd then in terms of protein, if you're looking to build or maintain muscle, you likely need to consume about 1 gram of protein for every target pound of body weight. Smoothies, shakes, liquid joy in a cup-whatever you call them, these blended-up drinks of are also a stomach-patting way to consume two keys nutrient you're probably not consuming enough of: fiber and protein. But if you have the choice, go for a piece of fruit and (if you’re thirsty) a glass of water.SMOOTHIES MAY JUST be one of the best ways to fill up on important nutrients and dismantle the myth that eating more fruits and vegetables has to be boring.

Verdict: If you’re not getting enough fruit and veg otherwise, juice is certainly better than nothing, since it does contain many vitamins and nutrients.

The stats: juice has 140 calories, 0.5 g dietary fiber, and 34 g sugar a cup of fruit has 74 calories, 2.2 g dietary fiber, and 14.4 g sugar. juice has not quite twice the sugar contained in the same volume of fruit (one cup of diced pineapple), with roughly one quarter the fiber. The stats: juice has 154 calories, 0.3 g dietary fiber, and 37.6 g sugar a cup of grapes has 62 calories, 0.8 g dietary fiber, and 15 g sugar.Īn 8-oz. The stats: juice has 120 calories, 0.3 g dietary fiber, and 27.2 g sugar the fruit has 72 calories, 3.3 g dietary fiber, and 14.3 g sugar.Ī glass of grape juice contains - once again - about 2.5 times as much sugar as the same volume of fruit (one cup of grapes), although with about half as much fiber. apple juice has roughly twice the sugar but less than one-tenth the fiber of a medium-sized apple. The stats from : the small juice contains 112 calories, 0.1 g dietary fiber, and 20.8 g sugar, while the fruit has 45 calories, 2.3 g dietary fiber, and 9 g sugar.Īn 8-oz. glass of orange juice has close to 2.5 times the sugar and just one-third the fiber of a typical piece of fruit. Experts agree that, while pure fruit juice does contain a lot of vitamins, a whole piece of fresh fruit is almost always the better choice - since juice is packed with the fruit’s natural sugars. Here’s how some popular fruits stack up against their liquid counterparts. Follow been some debate whether fruit juice should count among your daily recommended servings of fruit and vegetables.
