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Jump to RecipeA lot of people replacing their breakfast with a smoothie in the believing, that this is the most efficient way to lose weight. I am following the Concept of the Intermittent Fastening as you might know, so for me a smoothie in the morning is a no-go! Anyways this post will highlight the pros and cons of a smoothie. For this purpose I created a recipe of an Exotic Dragon Fruit Smoothie.
But in general let’s start with the definition of a smoothie: as per the dictionary it is a thick, smooth drink of fresh fruit pureed with milk, yogurt, or ice cream.
With this definition in mind, let’s have a look into the PROs and CONs of a smoothie
Here are the benefits:
- Fast! The prep is done within minutes, then you blend everything in a high speed blender and you are good to go.
- The consumption of fruits and vegetables within your daily nutrition will get a proper boost! As the average human would never eat that amount on plant based ingredients.
- Increases your nutritional value within your daily lifestyle, while adding for example super foods like chia seeds to your smoothie.
- For some under us, it’s a way to skip the breakfast as a meal period, which can help to lose weight, but not for everyone. See CONs.
Let’s jump into the main CONs of having a smoothie:
- You will not have as many fiber as you think! Meaning: while blending the ingredients really smooth, you will also destroy the useful containing fiber. Which is actually needed by your abdomen to build the “positive bacteria”.
- You will add additional calories to your daily consumption. Who will eat for example, an apple, a mango, a carrot and a quarter piece of pineapple for breakfast!? I guess nobody! And you mainly add fructose to your body, which is basically fruit sugar, in easy words sugar! This increases your blood sugar, which can cause diabetes 2 and additionally, whenever the sugar is digested, you will feel hungry again. At least this was the case with me, when I tried out the “detox smoothie week” by myself!
My Exotic Dragon Fruit Smoothie Recipe has only 49 kcal
- Bring’s me directly to the next big CON. Smoothies are not replacing an entire meal fully, as they are not as filling as a “normal meal”. While chewing an oatmeal for example, we are giving the brain the command, that we eat something and usually after 15 minutes after the first bite, our brain gives us the feeling that we are not hungry anymore. Imagine you drink a smoothie within 5 minutes, you add circa 350 calories to your body without the brain even realizing it! The outcome might be, that your are still hungry or after a few hours hungry again.
- Bought smoothies are not an option! Most pre-made smoothies are pretty convenient, but mainly containing sugar (fructose = fruit sugar) and the important vitamins are not available anymore. Most of the essential vitamins are dissolving within sunlight or oxygen. If you decide to have a smoothie, make sure to have it freshly blended and maybe you want to consider to add some protein powder.
Find below my Dragon Fruit Smoothie Recipe
Exotic Dragon Fruit Smoothie
This recipe is an easy and fast version of a smoothie, within five minutes it's ready to go!
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Servings: 1
Calories: 49kcal
Equipment
- 1 blender high-speed
- 1 glass
- 1 knife sharp
- 1 cutting board
Ingredients
- 0,25 pcs dragon fruit (pitaya), peeled, in cubes
- 0,25 pcs mango ripe/ soft, peeled, in cubes
- 1 pcs banana ripe/ soft, peeled, in cubes
- 1 tsp peanut butter without sugar or less sugar
- 50 ml water
Instructions
Preparation
- Chill the glass.
Smoothie
- Add dragon fruit, mango, banana, peanut butter and water in a blender. Blend until creamy and smooth. Pour it into the chilled glass and serve it!
Video
Nutrition
Calories: 49kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 37mg | Potassium: 49mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 3IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 0.1mg
