I love smoothies! The creamy, cold, blended meal in a bowl with sweet fresh fruits that are like icing on a cake. I eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch, linner, basically anytime I want something cold and delicious. Smoothie bowls have really became popular within the last few years and while they can be super nutritious, they can also be super high in sugar and calories if you aren't careful. You might think you're eating something healthy, which is a great place to start, but you need to know what you're adding together to make sure it's balanced and in your nutrition zone you're setting.
I made this amazing Spirulina Smoothie Bowl, recipe courtesy of Tone It Up, and it was DELICIOUS! Sometimes presentation really is key to getting excited for eating healthy. I thought about it the entire time I was on the treadmill before I came upstairs and put it together. Motivation comes in all forms right? Now if you're looking at this recipe you might be asking, "what in the world is spirulina?" Spirulina is referred to sometimes as a "superfood", in that it has a concentrated amount of protein as an organism that grows in water but contains lots of vitamins and nutrients proven to help your body fight against allergies or other conditions. Where do you buy it? Oddly enough I have been able to find things like spirulina and maca powder, also on the same superfood page as spirulina, at T.J. Maxx! If you aren't as lucky or don't have time for shopping, Amazon to the rescue as always!
Now that you know what spirulina is and why you should incorporate it, let's look at the recipe and discuss the other ingredients. (The recipe I linked in the photo is slightly different than the recipe below but still just as yummy!)
Tone It Up Emerald Spirulina Smoothie Bowl
1scoop vanilla protein powder *(I use Tone It Up's Target brand which is a plant-based protein but if you can't handle the taste of plant-based protein and dairy products don't bother you, then I'd suggest trying a no sugar, low calorie, protein that you're comfortable with)
3/4- 1 frozen banana, sliced
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 handful fresh spinach
1/4 avocado (adds creaminess)
1 tsp. spirulina powder
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
Toppings:
1/4 banana, sliced
2 strawberries, sliced
1 TBSP fresh blueberries
1 tsp. unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 tsp chia seeds
Blend all ingredients for the base in a blender until smooth. Pour into a bowl and then arrange toppings. Recipe serves 1.
Now, there's 1 key word I want you to see in the above recipe: unsweetened. Unsweetened coconut is difficult to find. You can get coconut flakes, shredded coconut, whatever you can find that is unsweetened. Unsweetened almond milk is another product where they make unsweetened vanilla and unsweetened original. I prefer the unsweetened original because I use that as milk for our family. Since my daughter was a baby, lactose has been removed from our house and this has been a great replacement. I prefer the Silk brand but find out which brand you prefer. Yes, it is a slightly browned color but I was used to drinking skim milk to begin with, which was basically watered down milk so the color just wasn't important to me.
Fruits are naturally higher in sugars, especially bananas, so the sugar in this recipe needs to come from fruits alone. This is also a moderate amount of fruit whereas some smoothie bowl recipes contain cups and cups of strawberries or 2 full bananas and somehow end up being over 500 calories. 500 calories for a smoothie bowl is A LOT. The added protein powder in this recipe helps to get a balance between your fats, carbs and protein, or as nutrition folks call it: your "macros".
I've also tried acai bowls and while they taste amazing, there's a reason. They are loaded with sugar! For example, when I discovered Kroger sold Sambazon frozen berry acai packets I thought I had hid the jackpot to make my own acai bowls I had been obsessing over from a local juicer. So I went to the frozen food section and flipped the package over to find there is 13grams of sugar in 1 packet and the suggested serving size for 1 smoothie bowl was 2 packets. That's 26 grams of sugar before you even add anything like a banana or blueberry!!! That's insane! To give you some perspective, 1 banana contains 14 grams of natural sugars, which is why I mentioned it was one of the highest fruits, 1 cup of strawberries is only 6 grams of natural sugars, and 1/2 cup of blueberries is 7 grams of sugar. So if you know you want fruit in your smoothie, let that be your natural sugar source!
You might also be thinking "spinach, really, in my smoothie?" YESSSS! It's a great way to get some veggies in without being able to taste them. I prefer spinach over kale in my smoothie because I feel like spinach blends easily whereas kale leaves a little more grit that's noticeable. Add that spinach in big handfuls!!!
Other great smoothie recipes: (to make it a smoothie bowl, pour into a bowl and add any healthy toppings you want!)
Berrylicious Smoothie
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/2 cup frozen strawberries]
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 frozen banana
1 cup greek yogurt *(I prefer the Oikos Triple Zero vanilla brand)
1 TBSP flax seeds *(I use ground flaxseed meal)
1 TBSP hemp seeds
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
Wake Me Up Smoothie
1/2 frozen banana
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 cup cold coffee or 2 espresso shots
1 TBSP cacao nibs *(or unsweetened 90% dark chocolate works too!)
Smoothies should be fun and balanced for you to get the optimal results from those calories. It's also a great chance to try new things like throwing some spinach in there. Start with a small change if you've never tried spinach in a smoothie and had no clue what spirulina or hemp seeds were before this post. Try 1 change at a time and see what you like and will look forward to eating! Remember you're eating to FUEL not FILL! Enjoy!
XOXO
Ashley
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