In effort to keep us looking and feeling our SPICIEST, we encourage you maintain a healthy lifestyle! In, our weekly Weight a Minute Monday post, we offer support, information and encouragement to help you maintain your Spice Factor!Sorry the Weight a Minute post is a bit late today...my girls participated in our County Independence Day Parade and it ran a little long. It was a blazing HOT, sun scorching Georgia morning! Tired and hungry afterwards, it would have been so easy to stop at the nearest fast food restaurant and grab junk. But after all the walking, I really didn't want to eat a bunch of useless calories. Despite the heat & fatigue, I felt refreshed too. So staying focused on my new lifestyle, I asked myself what would be refreshing, light and tasty. Ahhhh....a fruit smoothie! Full of fruit, antioxidants, filling and refreshing!
Last Monday, a reader of the Spicy Wifey Blog shared the Best Fruit Smoothies.com site. They feature great fruit smoothie recipes and update the site each week with a new recipe! I recently visited the site and fell in love with their 4th of July Smoothie (a watermelon smoothie). Delicious! They also had juice recipes...which is another way to get in essential vitamins and minerals.
Here are some smoothies Do's & Don'ts. You have to avoid unnecessary calories and fat or you loose many of the benefits. Do smoothies made with healthy ingredients like nonfat milk or yogurt, berries or fruits, and shaved ice. These can satisfy your thirst and keep your caloric intake low, yet provide calcium and vitamins. To keep calories low, look for fresh, frozen or water packed canned fruit, juices and nonfat dairy products. You can increase your vitamin and mineral value by choosing a smoothie with honeydew melon, or cantaloupe, any kind of berries, kiwis, bananas, low fat yogurt or milk and orange or other fruit juices. In addition, choose whole fruit whenever possible, to increase the fiber content and increase satisfaction by giving a feeling of fullness.
Don't do smoothies with chocolate, heavy syrup, premium ice cream, peanut butter or whole milk on the ingredient list. Limit coconut, honey, coconut cream, fruit nectar, and protein powder. These ingredients are full of calories and fat!
Next week we will explore the benefits of juicing and some popular juicers currently on the market!
Enjoy!
Quin, Co-Founder
Enjoy!
Quin, Co-Founder
3 comments:
Really nice tips here for a healthier smoothies, thanks for sharing these. I love mango smoothies, and it's a good thing that I love adding yogurt instead of whole milk. Lots of crushed ice, too! I like my smoothie a bit thin rather than too thick. :)
I thought so too! So many people think that just because its a smoothie is healthy but its not. In fact is almost like eating a piece of cake or something.
Thanks for posting these!
So glad you found the tips useful! So true, many do think that smoothies are healthy just because they have fruit in them. And there is nothing wrong with an occasional indulgence.
But I thought it was important to share that info so that we can make informed choices. Truthfully, a healthy fruit smoothie tastes just as a good as some of the more fattening ones!
Quin, Co-Founder
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