Before I was diagnosed, I always had a smoothie for breakfast. Unfortunately, the combination of orange juice, yogurt, banana and frozen fruit had over 100 grams of carb per serving. I tried over the years to eliminate the high carb ingredients and substitute soy or almond milk etc. but it just didn’t taste good and so I resigned myself to a smoothie-less future. Well, I recently discovered a couple of tricks to create a great tasting smoothie: First, I substitute a 0 cal vitamin water for the juice. Secondly, I add a quarter of a frozen orange or lemon, peel and all, to bring out the citrus flavor. I buy organic fruit, cut them into quarters and keep them in the freezer. I have a blender that will grind them up nicely. The total carb count varies with the ingredients, but most are around 20 grams. Not super low carb, I know, but much better than 100 grams. Some of my favorite combinations are:
Blueberry/Lemon
1/2 cup blueberries
Cup of Vitamin Water Zero (Blueberry Acai Flavor)
1/4 lemon
Cup of almond/coconut milk or home made yogurt (made with 1/2 and 1/2) or Greek Yogurt
4-5 ice cubes
Strawberry/Orange
1/2 cup of frozen or fresh strawberries
Cup of Vitamin Water Zero (Blood Orange Flavor)
1/4 orange
Cup of almond/coconut milk or home made yogurt (made with 1/2 and 1/2) or Greek Yogurt
4-5 ice cubes
And, believe it or not, I also really enjoy a kale and lemon smoothie, sweetened with stevia.
Kale and lemon! Wow, that sounds incredibly good for you. Do you cook the kale or does it go in raw?
Goes in raw. I use a small bunch of kale and four cups of water. You do have to strain the puree otherwise the fiber makes it too difficult to drink. I freeze the kale juice in one cup containers and add the lemon and sweetener to the defrosted kale juice in the morning when I want to drink it. It is surprisingly tasty- what the foodies call a “bright” flavor. And yes, it is very good for you.