Easy filling breakfast smoothies Ideas: if you do a smoothie right, #proteinsmoothie #proteinpowder #highprotein #recipe #hack

Smoothies get a bad rap because of the high amount of natural sugar they can have per serving. Adding too much of a high sugar fruit to a smoothie can cause a glycemic index (GI) spike, which is how fast, high, and long a food increases an individual’s blood sugar level. Foods high in sugar cause a significant spike and quick crash (within 60 minutes) making people feel hungry again much sooner. People with diabetes or who are looking to loose weight should limit or avoid high sugar fruits.

A smoothie made with fruits of lower natural sugar, will cause a low to moderate sugar spike that lasts longer, and satisfies hunger over a longer period of time. Adding greens like spinach or kale to a fruit smoothie adds fibre which creates a feeling of fullness over a longer period of time and keeps food moving through the digestive process.

Adding too much fruit, particularly bananas and mangos can add up to 60 g of natural sugar into a smoothie. If smoothies are made with almond or oat milk, they add sugar as well.

The flavour and texture frozen fruits add to a smoothie are delicious, and we benefit from the natural sources of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre but we need to recognize our bodies break down fruit into a starch and store it as a sugar. Knowing how much sugar is in our smoothies might change up our morning routine to include high-fiber mini pancakes or oatmeal, a veggie omelet or breakfast burrito, or plain yogurt with honey and low-fat granola.

Here’s a list of fruits added to smoothies and the grams of natural sugar they contain.

Grams of sugar per 100 g

*Banana, medium 15 g (sugar increases as banana ages)

Beets 8 g (2 tsp)

Blackberries 4.9 to 7 g

Blueberries 9.4 g to 10 g

*Cherries 13 g (3.2 tsp)

Fresh Coconut Meat 6.2 g (high in fibre and fat)

Kiwi 9 g (2.2 tsp)

Raw Coconut Meat 5 g to 7 g (high in fibre and fat)

*Sweet Shredded Coconut 43 g

Coconut Water (unsweetened): 3.9 g

*Green grapes 15.5 g to 16 g (16 to 18 medium-sized grapes)

*Lychee 15.2 g

*Mango 14 g (3.4 tsp)

Orange 8.6 g

Papaya 8 g (2 tsp)

*Passion-Fruit (Granadilla) 11 g (2.8 tsp)

Peach 8.4 g

*Pineapple 11.4 g

*Pomegranate 14 g (3.4 tsp)

Raspberries 4.0 to 4.4 g

Strawberries 4.9 g (5-8 berries)

Watermelon 6.2 g

*Denotes a high amount of natural sugar per serving.

There’s nothing wrong with adding in a few pieces of frozen fruit to add flavour and create a frozen consistency but keep in mind, the grams of sugar per serving size.

Don’t forget the natural sugars that are in Almond and Oat Milk!

I really love smoothies and proffees! I tried the clean simple eats and something in it makes my tummy crampy! 😢 I thought it was the whey protein isolate but maybe not? I’m so sad. I love the flavors and the way they dissolve so easily and they aren’t grainy or gritty!

Double check. I thought fructose, sugar in fruit, has a different path that glucose. Fructose goes directly to our liver, without going to our circulatory system 1st. If we consume more than 1 gram of fructose, fat storage is triggered.

Completely agree. Some days I truly just want a smoothie for breakfast and that’s okay! I’m down 43 pounds all while enjoying my occasional breakfast smoothies 😅