Will Smoothies Make You Fat?

Last weekend my wife and I decided we wanted to have a smoothie for lunch.

Not one of the smoothies we make from home, no we decided to go to the local place just up the street from our house.

We used to go there quite a bit when a good friend of ours was a manager, but haven't been there regularly in quite some time.

I've also never looked at the nutrition information on the smoothies we usually get.

But why should I? Aren't smoothies supposed to be healthy?

That's how they're marketed. The healthy alternative to fast food, or the perfect "snack" or meal on the go.

Anyway, I took a look at the two smoothies my wife and I normally get and was floored!

The one my wife normally gets is a whopping 1050 calories! Plus it had over 200 grams of carbohydrates, and it didn't even include how much sugar was in it. That really made me worry when they included all this other information, including its vitamin breakdown, but didn't even include how much of the carbohydrate was simple sugar.

I think it's a pretty safe bet to say that an overwhelming majority of that 200g number was sugar.

Mine was a little better, having only 450 calories, but it still had a ton of carbohydrates, but again no sugar breakdown.

I knew there was going to be a lot of carbohydrates because it's a smoothie and smoothies are supposed to be made with a lot of fruits/juices.

But 1050 calories is just about how many calories my wife should be consuming in one day, yet here we were thinking we were doing something "light" yet getting a ton of calories.

There really is no reason that anyone should be consuming that many calories in one sitting, unless you're trying to gain weight.

Does that sound like you? Do you want to gain weight?

Didn't think so.

That's just one more reason you should be mindful of what you eat and of food marketing. Most food marketers are not concerned about your health or waist line, they're concerned with their bottom line.

So what're you supposed to do? Here we were trying to fit in something a little healthy for lunch and ended up getting smacked with a ton of sugar and a ton of calories (in my wife's case).

Well, you could check the nutrition breakdown before you order (which I will do whenever I go back to that smoothie shop).

You could make your own smoothies from home. I've got over 170 recipes as a bonus to my Fat Loss To Go program (shameless plug, I know).

You could just assume the worst and ask for a half order or a kid's size, or order one and ask for it to be put in 2 cups and share it with your spouse or friend.

Or you could never eat a meal or snack away from home. If that's you, let me know because you may be the only person in the world who fits that bill.

Have a good day!

Ed

P.S. - I was serious about the 170 smoothie recipes that come with my Fat Loss To Go program. Check it out at www.fatlosstogo.com