5 Tips to Order a Healthy Smoothie

Grabbing a smoothie on-the-go can be a perfectly wholesome way to refuel. It can also be more akin to a high-sugar shake than a healthy snack. It’s all in the ordering. Make sure your next pit stop at Jamba Juice is full of good nutrition in addition to good taste. Here are five tips to order a healthy smoothie to guide you along the way:

1. Split your Smoothie in Half

Even the smallest size is often too big for between-meal-snacks for most folks. And if it’s for a meal, better to pair a mini smoothie with say, a half a sandwich, since your body can blow through a liquid lunch pretty quick. Ask the smoothie shop to divide the 16-ouncer in half or the 24-ouncer in thirds, giving each person a tidy eight-ounce portion.

2. Boost it with Healthy Extras

Add pea, soy, or whey protein to the smoothie to offset the sugar. The protein will increase satiety longer than just fruit and juice. You can also try adding hemp seeds, nut butters, or other optional ingredients to bump up the nutrition, healthy fats, and protein.

3. Watch the sugar

Best choices are bulked up with yogurt, milk, or soy milk rather than juice, sherbet or frozen yogurt. The Protein Berry Workout, Tropical Probiotic and Bright Eyed and Blueberry are all better bets at Jamba Juice.

4. Add in veggies 

If you’re game for leafy greens or other vegetables in your smoothies, go for it. You might be surprised by how happily they blend into fruit smoothies, and may even go undetected by the little ones in your crew.

5. Opt out of artificial sweeteners

Some of these places cut calories by slipping Splenda and other artificial ingredients into their smoothies. Read the list of ingredients and skip the fake stuff.

Make smoothies at home using these healthy recipes:

Wild Blueberry Brain-Boosting Smoothie

Creamy Banana Date Shake

Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie, a recipe I created for Simply Recipes

Super Green Smoothie

These are my five tips to order a healthy smoothie. What are yours?

photo credit: Shutterstock