Carrot Cake Smoothie

This Carrot Cake Smoothie combines your favorite carrot cake flavors and spices, but made healthy enough to enjoy any time of day! It's naturally sweet and creamy while ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon add that familiar carrot cake flavor. You'll also love other popular smoothie recipes like my Vanilla Cinnamon Coffee Smoothie and this delicious Dragon Fruit Smoothie.

Are Smoothies Really Healthy?

As a dietitian, my recommendation is to choose smoothies over juicing. Juicing removes a critical component from fruits and vegetables, the fiber. As we are finding out, fiber plays a critical role in supporting a healthy gut and immune system. So we should generally not pass up any opportunities to benefit from it whenever we can. Fiber also helps regulate the body's response to rising blood sugar, so there is no need to worry about the natural sugar present in the fruit itself.

Having said that, the health benefits of smoothies obviously depend on their ingredients.

Some smoothies, like ones you might buy in coffee shops or chain restaurants for example, can be loaded with sugar and fat (especially if they are made with full fat dairy like milk, ice creams or sweetened yogurts). Some will even contain additional sugar from syrups and sweeteners. You think you're doing something good for your body, when in fact you are just getting a nutrient poor drink loaded with sugar and fat.

But, it's definitely possible to make a nutritious smoothie, especially when you follow some of these tips below.

How To Make A Nutritious Smoothie

The best smoothies are the ones you make at home where you can control the ingredients. The sky is the limit when it comes to delicious combinations.

Use Vegetables

To make a nutritionally packed smoothie, don't just think fruit. Using vegetables, like I did in this week's carrot cake smoothie recipe, is a great way to get the nutrients we may be lacking from our regular diet. Other great veggies to use in smoothies are cooked beets, avocado, spinach, kale, zucchini, cucumbers and cauliflower.

Scoop in Some Protein

Smoothies can also be great vessel to get in a quick dose of protein. Adding protein from nut butters, yogurt, silken tofu, or even protein powders can help you meet any additional requirements, such as after workouts.

Add Healthy Fats

Using different types of nuts and seeds like chia, flax, almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts, can help us meet our omega-3 fatty acid requirements. Using non-fat, unsweetened milks and yogurts is also a great way to cut back on saturated fat and added sugar (I personally love Kite Hill's Greek style yogurt). Using nutrient fiber packed sources of sweeteners like dates, frozen bananas or applesauce can provide a natural sweetness without going overboard.

Follow my social media accounts to get more tips and inspiration! And don't forget if you love any of my recipes, leave a "star" rating below. That really helps boost my rankings in google searches so that others can find my healthy recipes! Thank you!