Tips for Making Smoothies

Tips for making smoothies

What we have covered in the first few posts so far is enough to get you experimenting with your own smoothies and loading them with vitamins and minerals. 

But there are other things you can do to make your smoothies tastier, more nutritious, more fun, or save yourself time. They can also add a nutritional boost. Here are some tips for making smoothies. 

Make your smoothies in bulk

We cover this in more detail in this post Can you make smoothies ahead of time? (link). And, by the way, we recommend making complete smoothies and freezing them in Mason jars. 

Do this rather than making and freezing “smoothie packs,” which make for double handling and too much blender clean-up.

If you don’t make your smoothies in advance, you will frustrate your quest to make a healthy smoothie a serious part of your daily life.

This is because making smoothies in onesies and twosies on a daily basis becomes a pain in the butt.

Diluting your smoothies

If your smoothie is coming out too thick, rather than use water to thin it out, use coconut water. If you are making a smoothie with avocados or bananas, it will likely need some dilution. And coconut water brings with it nutrients, vitamins, and electrolytes that are not present in water.

Go bananas!

You will find over time that bananas are one of your most reliable and versatile smoothie ingredients. Use bananas for both thickening and naturally sweetening your smoothies. 

Always have bananas on hand. You can freeze them. Do this by peeling them, cutting them into chunks, putting them in plastic  bags, and then into the freezer.

This way, your banana ingredient is ready to be dropped into your blender at a moment’s notice.

Add garnishes

There are numerous garnishes you can add to smoothies for greater looks and flavor. 

You can sprinkle some granola or chopped nuts on top and this will help to fill you up. Nuts are a great choice if you are going to be using peanut butter as a base!  And sea salt can really bring out the flavors.

Other garnishes include pumpkin seeds, coconut flakes, chia seeds, Swiss muesli, acai powder, spirulina, grated beetroot, fresh raspberries, allspice, and strawberries. The only limits here are your taste buds and imagination. And all garnishes come with their own set of nutrients.

Caffeine boost

For a caffeine boost, use Matcha green tea powder.

Or you could go the traditional way. Brew up a large batch of your regular coffee, refrigerate it, and use it as a liquid when making your weekly smoothie supply. 

Beware of Sweeteners

If you don’t think your smoothie is sweet enough, you might think it’s a good idea to add some sugar or a sweetener or syrup. But it’s generally a bad idea. 

We talked about sugar in another post. So adding sugar can only make the inherent issue with sugar worse. 

So our tips for making smoothies say do not include sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners

Most artificial sweeteners actually ‘fool’ the body into thinking it has consumed sugar and will trigger an insulin response. This in turn causes us to feel tired and could be bad for our health.

However, Stevia is a leaf extract that does not seem to trigger an insulin response in humans. So, Stevia is the only way to go if you must use a sweetener. But it’s really much better to stick with natural ingredients. 

Sweeten naturally

We want to avoid adding empty calories to our smoothies. So, our aim is to sweeten naturally and at the same time add nutrition and a complementary flavor.

To start with, you can just add more of the sweeter fruits to your ratio. Or consider the following ‘sweet’ ideas. 

Bananas: we have already mentioned bananas as a go-to convenient ingredient. They will make your smoothie rich and creamy and at the same time add sweetness. And they are rich in vitamin C, vitamin B-6, manganese, copper, fiber, and potassium.

Dates: these contain iron, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, and zinc. They are good for blood pressure and your immune system.

Dried figs: aside from providing natural sweetness, figs are rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, and vitamins A and K. 

Dried prunes: aside from providing natural sweetness, prunes are high in potassium and contain key vitamins (K, A, B-6, niacin)

Goji berries: use these for sweetness, vitamin A, vitamin C, and Omega-6 fatty acid

Raw honey: aside from sweetness, this brings amino acids, vitamin B, minerals and antioxidants. And honey will last forever on the shelf. So it’s easy to keep handy.

Molasses: contains iron and other vitamins and minerals.

Maple syrup: contains iron, antioxidants, and other vitamins and minerals

Almond or peanut butter: these add sweetness and also have nutritional value.

Spice it up instead: Rather than add a sweetener, use a flavor alternative. Try adding cinnamon or ginger. Or you could use turmeric or allspice.

Protein powder

A protein powder can give us excellent protein in a convenient and concentrated form. So we’ll often add a scoop of protein powder both for the extra nutrients and sometimes sweetness too. 

Let’s look at proteins for a moment.

Protein is one of the macronutrients that are essential to our survival. The other two are fats and carbohydrates. Macronutrients are thus called because we need them in large (ie, macro) amounts.

They are contrasted with micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) that we need in much smaller amounts. Learn more about micros vs macros.

Protein, which is vital for building our muscles, is mostly found in animal products. But it is also contained in legumes and nuts. And this is important knowledge for vegetarians and vegans.

Protein powders, which are what we use in our smoothies, come in various forms. But for our purposes, we will mostly focus on proteins for muscle gain and proteins for weight loss.

• For weight loss and muscle growth, we will go to a caesin protein, which is a slow-digesting protein. 
• For straight muscle building, we will go to a whey protein.

We don’t need to get into the specifics here, but It’s interesting that both of these proteins are derived from milk. And there are different opinions on the relative efficacy of whey protein vs casein protein. But that’s our 2 cents!

Just one word of caution concerning whey protein and ceasing protein. Since both are dairy derivatives, people with lactose intolerance should avoid them.

Nonetheless, of all our tips for making smoothies, adding protein powder is at the top, especially if you work out.