I’ve been on a smoothie kick lately after having some dental issues. I’ve been trying to come up with a frozen fruit smoothie that is fairly low carb but also high in protien and fat (since I’m trying to gain weight). Anyone have any favorite smoothie recipes they can share?
I'm sorry, the words fruit smoothie and low carb aren't generally spoken in the same sentence. Most fruit are not low carb and even so called lower carb fruit once submitted to the liquafication of smoothie making soon become simple carbs. Would you consider making low carb shakes and skipping the whole fruit thing?
I don't have an exact recipe, just guidelines. But my suggestions would be to add greens and seeds or nuts to your fruit to make things both lower carb and higher fat. The taste of the greens are overpowered by the taste of the fruit, so you don't really taste the veg much.
My basic one is generally quite a bit of greens (spinach, romaine or kale), one orange, some frozen berries, a few tablespoons of hemp seeds, and enough water or milk/soymilk to give it a good consistency. The carb count obviously would be based on whatever combo you're using. But by using a large amount of greens and the lower-carb fruits Instead of, say, a banana) you're getting a decent amount of smoothie with way less carbs than doing all fruit. And the seeds help not spike quite so much plus they add fat. (Nuts might be fine. I don't know how they affect the taste, as I'm allergic)
Hope you're feeling better soon!
The dLife website www.dlife.com probably has some recipes. I would think that ones involving strawberries and blueberries would be lowest in carbs, at least of the fruity ones.
http://www.dlife.com/diabetes/diabetic-recipes/recipeResults.html?searchType=recipe&keywords=smoothieThis is my hands-down favorite and gives me a jolt of energy that lasts through lunch: https://www.bulletproofexec.com/bulletproof-coffee-recipe/
That's actually a delicious question, Lilli. Berries are the only fruit I can eat without a spike, so I kind of gave up on smoothies 7 years ago. But things change and I look forward to checking out the ideas that come in!.....Thanks
Maybe try coconut cream with some ground nuts and some berries (add plain almond milk if you can't handle it pure cream) .... that would be pretty low carb and would give plenty of fat to slow absorption of the carbs that are there....
Some sort of egg nog made with cream and eggs and spices (but without the sugar)....
Hi Lili,
You might want to check out the nutribullet. I got one and I was having raw nutriblasts with berries and veggies etc. but they gave me the runs- too much raw material I guess. For fruit smoothies berries are the best as Judith says. Mine werent really low carb but you could make them lower carb by changing ingredients and the raw veggie carbs don't seem to affect me much most of the time.
I should do veggie smoothies Brian but I haven’t yet. I do use cherries which are lower in sugar but I’ve also been using frozen bananas so I’m cutting those out.
I’ve thought about throwing in some spinach because I hear you can’t taste it, maybe avocado too? Frozen bananas are out now, although I’m bummed because I like the taste! I use almond milk, the only nut I’m allergic too weirdly is macadamia, an allergy that developed suddenly this year.
Thanks for the link angivan, got some ideas from the recipes!
I’ve been wanting to try this Christopher, I use Kerry Gold butter all the time but I’ve been drinking tea lately cuz coffee started bothering my stomach. Wondering after reading about it though if it’s easier on the stomach? Have you tried it with regular coffee or do you buy theirs?
I bought some coconut oil to try to add for healthy fat, not sure what cocnut cream is but I’ll google it. Might try adding a little heavy cream to the almond milk too. You make a good point about the fat content slowing down the absorbtion of carbs, I didn’t think about that, I just wanted to add more calories but the fat would serve two good purposes for my needs right now:)
Hi meee, I’m using a ninja which is like the nutribullet. I like it because it does the single serving size. I haven’t tried to grind up raw nuts in it though but I do add peanut butter to the smoothies.
Costco has bags of frozen dark cherries Judith that I like to use, I just looked up their glycemic index and was relieved to see they were quite low compared to other fruit!
I'd advise a low carb protein powder, peanut butter, handful of berries, water, touch of double cream for flavour.
I can usually make a shake like this with 40g of protein,~10g of carbs, moderate fats.
Low carb smoothies and shakes are never going to taste that great, due the absence of milk, ice cream, bananas and all the other stuff that makes them so good in the first place ha.
If you're feeling really masochistic, spinach, wheatgrass etc in a juicer again mixed with a protein powder :)
Avacados are another good calorie dense food for diabetics, high in good fats and low carb. You can dust them with stevia, coco powder and a teeny, tiny bit of agave nectar if you have a craving for something sweet.
I miss Buckley83's sage advice. I buy bags of protein powder at Costco and have done as he does. I just mix a scoop of protein powder into cream and although the powder in itself isn't all that appetizing, mixed with the cream it is like a milkshake.
I’ll have to look for double cream Buckley, not sure if we can get it in the states? I’m going to try and freeze an avocado and toss it in with cherries and peanut butter, see if I can taste it. I love guacamole unfortuantely I love it with corn chips!
Double cream is almost the same as heavy whipping cream, but with slightly more butterfat. Heavy whipping cream would probably give the same effect for flavor.
Cherries are one of those "superfoods" I think---a dividend!