Between Halloween, Daylights Savings, the election, major athletic events, and the upcoming holidays this month and next, you may find it particularly challenigng to maintain your usual nutrition and exercise routines.
You might be eating your feelings (which is fine, sometimes) or struggling to eat, for various reasons. Maybe you're traveling and don't have consistent access to what you want or need.
Whatever the case, smoothies are an easy, helpful way to get key nutrients into your body, especially as an active person. They're tasty, convenient, hydrating, and adaptable to different nutrition needs, taste preferences, and situations. Smoothies have endless nutrition possibilities, regardless of your dietary restrictions and/or calorie needs.
For example, smoothies:
Make great snacks and are useful recovery tools, especially after a workout or race
Serve as meal replacements if solid food isn’t appealing or possible
Work well on-the-go, for instance if you're in the car or walking around
Let you "eat" when you otherwise can't, e.g. you're stuck in endless video meetings
In this post, I'm going to teach you how to make a smoothie that tastes good AND supports your health and athletic performance. I'll also point out four common mistakes that I see in client food journals, and how to avoid making them.
How to Make a Smoothie: First, Identify the Purpose
Before we dive into all the details of how to make a smoothie, you should first identify what nutritional purpose the smoothie is serving and how it's fitting into your overall eating day.
If you're not sure where to start, here are three questions to ask yourself:
Is this smoothie replacing a solid-food meal or snack?
If your smoothie is replacing a meal, it needs to be much more substantial
Are you eating food too, or just having the smoothie?
Smoothies can supplement a meal or snack (eg give extra protein and/or carbs), which means you can put a little less in your smoothie
Are you having the smoothie after a long/hard workout or race?
If yes, make sure your smoothie is meeting your recovery nutrition needs
Once you answer these questions, you can figure out how to make a smoothie that supports your nutrition goals.
Four Mistakes to Avoid When Making a Smoothie
I've worked with hundreds of active people over my 10+ years as a Sports Dietitian, which means I've reviewed a TON of client food journals. I've identified four mistakes I see over and over again, so you can be sure to avoid them.
If you’re making one or more of the following mistakes, your smoothie most likely is nutritionally inadequate, and you need to make some tweaks to your recipes ASAP. You can’t afford to make these mistakes as an active person, especially if your smoothies are replacing a meal or key snack of the day.
Mistake 1: You use water or almond milk as your liquid
Every ingredient in your smoothie has an opportunity to contribute key nutrition. Smoothies require a fluid of some kind to allow the blender to work its magic and deliver a desirable taste, texture, and thickness. Fluids also contribute much-needed hydration.
Water is hydrating, but doesn't add any taste or nutrition. Almond milk may be fortified with calcium and vitamin D, but is low-calorie and doesn't contain significant amounts of other nutrients you need.
As a result, I encourage you to consider other fluids in your smoothie, like the ones I list below.
Soy milk, dairy milk, and kefir all add protein (~8g per cup), carbs, and additional calories, as well as some micronutrients. If you get a flavored or sweetened version, that adds even more carbs and calories. Meanwhile, juice and coconut water add carbs plus some micronutrients.
By choosing these other fluids, you pack in more nutrition and make your smoothie more flavorful too! Feel free to use more than one liquid (e.g. soy milk plus kefir).
There are some instances where water or almond milk may be appropriate, if this is what you prefer. For instance, it's fine if you have a smoothie along with other food that together provides adequate carbs and protein. It also may be fine if you include other sources of protein and carbs in the smoothie (e.g. yogurt, oats, extra fruit etc), especially if your nutrient needs are not extremely high.
In my professional experience, however, most active people benefit from using a more nutrient and energy-dense liquid like the ones I listed above to help meet their increased nutrition needs. This is particularly important for endurance athletes.
Mistake 2: You use collagen powder as your main protein source
Collagen is a very popular supplement that you can find pretty much everywhere these days.
Based on current research, collagen may help with osteoarthritis, tendonitis, or other injuries. The recommended dosage is 10-15g along with a vitamin C source 30-60 minutes BEFORE exercise.
If you are adding collagen to smoothies AFTER exercise or using it as a protein source, please stop. You are not using the supplement as it is intended to be used.
Collagen is not a good source of leucine, which is a branch chain and essential amino acid (i.e. you can't make it in the body) that plays a key role in muscle protein synthesis. Thus, collagen is not an appropriate protein source in this context.
So, what are some better options?
If your smoothie is serving as a meal replacement or if you're having it post-exercise, aim for 20-40g+ of a high quality protein, meaning one with adequate amounts of essential amino acids, including leucine. You can easily reach this amount using one or more of the options listed above.
Whey protein is a great choice because it's absorbed quickly and digested well, and also has a high leucine content. Plant based protein powders are also a good choice. Try to get a blend of different plant sources like pea plus rice or soy versus a single protein source to provide an adequate amino acid profile.
You can also combine different proteins to reach your overall target. For example, use a serving of Greek yogurt (or protein powder) along with soy or dairy milk and some nut butter or seeds.
If you have collagen and would still like to use it, that's fine. Just make sure you're using it correctly - before exercise - and choosing a different protein after exercise or at other times of day to reach your nutrition goals.
Mistake 3: You're using a handful of fruit as your only carb source
If you've read some of my other blogs, hopefully by now you know that active people and especially endurance athletes need to eat a lot of carbs to support health and athletic performance. A handful of berries thrown into your protein powder and water/almond milk mixture is NOT going to cut it, unless you're eating a bagel or other carb-rich food along with it!
If you're just having a smoothie, a general recommendation is to aim for 30-60g+ of carbs. The exact amount you need depends on context (i.e. post-workout, meal vs snack, what else you're eating, etc) as well as your individual carb needs.
Note that many protein powder supplements are fairly if not very low in carbs. That means you must add your own carbs to make your smoothie a balanced meal or snack. Be sure to check the nutrition label of your supplement, if you are using one.
Need some tasty ideas?
If you enjoy fruit, add more of it! A large banana gives you 30g of carbs, and helps to naturally sweeten your smoothie. Frozen fruit is great if you like your smoothies thick and cold - no need to add ice!
Sweetened liquids or juice, as already discussed, are an easy way to increase carbs. They also add some much-needed flavor if you're using plain yogurt or an unflavored protein powder.
Another popular option is to throw some rolled oats into the blender for added carbs, fiber, and micronutrients. This changes the smoothie texture a bit, so play around with amounts (e.g. you may want to start with 1/4 cup of dry oats, which gives 15g carbs).
And if you really like your protein powder plus water or almond milk combo, or you don't have access to a blender, no problem. Just make sure you're adding carbs on the side.
Mistake 4: You include very little (if any) fat
Fat plays a key role in nutrient absorption, taste, satiety, fighting inflammation, and so much more. It also packs in more energy, since fat provides 9 cal/g compared to protein and carbs, which both give 4 cal/g.
Remember, you need to consume more energy each day as an active person to support health and performance and to avoid being in a state of low energy availability. You need to include fat in your smoothie, especially if it's replacing a meal or snack and you're not eating any other foods.
Your smoothie may lack fat if you use non-fat dairy, such as 0% Greek yogurt. This also may happen if you use protein powder (which is typically lowfat) and don't add a fat source.
Nut butters like peanut or almond butter are easy ways to boost healthy fats. Peanut butter in particular has a fairly strong taste, so if your other smoothie ingredients are not compatible, you can instead try more flavor-neutral seeds like chia, hemp and/or ground flax.
The amount of fat to include will vary depending on your taste preferences, individual energy needs, and what else you're consuming. You likely don't need to add much - a spoonful or two may be adequate.
How to Include Vegetables in your Smoothie
If you struggle to get veggies into your diet, or you're just looking for more opportunities to squeeze them in, look no further. There are a number of ways to add veggies to your smoothie, with minimal taste.
Here are some of my favorite vegetables to throw in a smoothie:
Raw baby spinach: Neutral taste, but visible and may slightly change texture. Most people tolerate this well. A handful is plenty.
Frozen cauliflower florets: Neutral taste and blends well. Helps thicken the smoothie. Try adding 2-4 small florets.
Raw zucchini: Neutral taste and blends well. Add a few small chunks.
Cucumber: Stronger taste so may not match all flavor profiles. Add a few slices to start.
If you hate the idea of veggies contaminating your smoothie, don't fret. You absolutely do not need to do this. Fruit provides micronutrients, antioxidants, and fiber too!
But I find that smoothies are a helpful way to get in some extra veggies, especially if it's otherwise hard to fit them into your eating day. So give some of these ideas a try!
My Favorite Smoothie Combo
I try to mix up how I make my smoothies, but I frequently come back to a similar combo. This is a great example of how I pull all of what I just taught you together into a recipe.
Here's what I typically blend together:
Fruit: 1 frozen banana + frozen mixed berries, frozen cherries, or frozen mango
Liquid: Unsweetened or sweetened vanilla soy milk
Protein: 1 scoop unflavored whey protein isolate or 1 cup 2% Greek yogurt (sometimes I add mango or strawberry kefir)
Fat: Ground flaxseed or hemp seeds
Veg: Spinach or zucchini
Spice: Dash of cinnamon
Additional carbs if needed (e.g. if it's a meal): Rolled oats, sometimes honey
I most frequently have a smoothie post-workout as a snack before a balanced meal, but sometimes I have one for breakfast when I'm not very hungry or as a general snack when I need to hop on a client call and can't eat solid food.
As always with nutrition, there is no one "right" way to do this. But I hope this post taught you the basics of how to make a smoothie that tastes good, gives you good energy, and supports your general health and nutrition goals.
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