Top Smoothie Ingredients for a Weight Loss Smoothie Recipe!

Here are the top five smoothie ingredients for a weight loss smoothie recipe. You can add any of these ingredients to a fruit smoothie recipe.

Meet Nina Price, a Business and Wellness Coach. Below she has listed her favorite foods to add to her weight loss smoothies.

Nina's Five Favorite Smoothie Ingredients

1) Berries (all kinds) - They taste great, they are low on the glycemic index scale and full of antioxidants. Ideally use fresh berries rather than frozen.

2) Pineapple - The bromelain is very detoxifying. I like to make a smoothie with 1/2 pineapple, fresh mint leaves, an apple and spirulina. This is a very tasty and satisfying smoothie, which is also good for you, but not as low in calories as others. This one is good for when you're doing a cleanse.

3) Peaches and Nectarines - They taste great in smoothies. When you use whey powder or medicinal foods many of the more acidic fruits don't work too well because of their acidity. Peaches and nectarines seem to balance perfectly with many non-fruit ingredients.

4) Pulp from juiced fruit - Recently I've been doing a lot of juicing and I hate to throw away the resultant pulp. When I juice fruit I put the pulp in my next smoothies. It's yummy and I'm not throwing away useful food, nutrients or fiber that can enhance the taste and texture of my next smoothie.

5) Non-fruit ingredients - Whether you use milk, water, juice, kefir, yogurt, soy milk, nut milks, whey powder, protein powder or a medicinal food in your smoothie, be clear what you're trying to accomplish and pick the best non-fruit ingredients for you. Are you trying to lose weight? balance your blood sugar? detox your liver? get a full day's worth of vitamins? correct an imbalance in your body? If you're not sure what non-fruit ingredients to use, consult a nutritionist or other practitioner who can help you chose the best alternative(s) to achieve the results you're looking for.

I also recommend that if you don't like to swallow supplements, add them to your smoothie in powder, liquid or oil form.

I also highly recommend Natalie Savona's The Big Book of Juices and Smoothies as an excellent resource for smoothies and juicing. Savona offers over 300 ideas of combinations and permutations, many of which I wouldn't have thought of myself. She's tested them all so it takes the guesswork out of combining ingredients you think will go together but might not.

Nina Price, L.Ac.

Business and Wellness Coach