Healthy Low Carb Smoothie Recipes

Benefits of Healthy Low Carb Smoothies. Healthy low carb smoothie recipes will make you one of the most nutritious — and delicious — meals on earth. Healthy low carb smoothies are loaded with phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals and enzymes that come in a whole-food form.

The fruits and vegetable blended together in healthy smoothie recipes provide vitamins, minerals, enzymes and fiber that will do wonders for your health — and build up your body’s defenses against disease.

In addition, when fruits and vegetables are blended, the plant fibers are broken down just like when you chew them. And chewing food more thoroughly means that you'll absorb more of the nutrients.

Healthy low carb smoothies retain the fiber from the fruits and the vegetables you use. The fiber works to improve digestion and helps your body naturally rid itself of toxins. Fiber also helps you feel more satisfied, and maintains that feeling longer.

The South Beach Diet website has good information on the glycemic (sugar) content of foods, which may help you in deciding which fruits you want to use in your low-carb smoothies.

Smoothie recipes are made up of three primary types of ingredients: a liquid base, fruits and vegetables. Let's take a look at each one individually.

Liquid starters. Water can be used as a base for your low carb smoothie; it has the lowest amount of carbs of all — zero. Then there's milk, yogurt or some type of dairy-free milk substitute such as almond milk, soy milk, rice milk and others. You can find some of these products with as little as 2 grams of carbs in an eight ounce serving; check the nutritional label on the package.

You'll want to avoid using fruit juices as a starter for your low carb smoothie recipes, since they're typically very high in carb counts and have no fiber.

Green leafy vegetables are popular ingredients for low carb smoothie recipes. Spinach and kale, for example, have just seven grams of carbs per cup. Leafy greens are harder to pulverize into a smooth consistency, so you may need a high-power blender, such as a Vitamix or BlendTec, if you use these ingredients.

Fruits. The bulk of the carb content in your low carb smoothies will come from the fruits you add to your smoothie. If you want to keep your carb count low, use the least amount of fruit you can. Berries, melons, peaches and papaya contain the lowest levels of carbs among fruits.

The table above lists the calorie, carb and fiber content of the most common ingredients used to make smoothies. Use it as a guide when creating your own low carb smoothie recipes.

Stevia — the No-Carb Sweetener.
If you want to sweeten up your low carb smoothies, the best sweetener to use is stevia.

Stevia is an herbal extract that's many times as sweet as sugar, so you use much less. It comes in powder, liquid or tablet form and has no calories. Stevia also does not raise blood sugar levels and is safe for diabetics. It's probably the healthiest sweetener you can get.

If you need a good source for stevia products, iHerb.com has over 70 to choose from! And at iHerb, you'll get $5 off your first purchase!

My Recommended Starter
for Your Low Carb Smoothie Recipe

Most smoothie recipes call for some liquid to allow the solid ingredients to move around inside the blender and give your smoothie the right thickness. This base liquid can be plain water, milk, yogurt, soy milk, nut milks, or fruit juice. If you want your smoothie to provide optimum health benefits, you'll want to pick the right one. I share all the best tips at my page on how to make a smoothie the healthy way.

Chilling Your Low Carb Smoothies

Is there's anything more satisfying than a cold, creamy smoothie? There are two ways of chilling your healthy smoothie recipes:

• Ice Cubes — a good way of thinning down a smoothie that's too thick and chilling it at the same time.

• Frozen Fruit — has the advantage of not diluting the taste, and also giving your healthy smoothies a creamier texture. It's very easy and convenient to create a stash of frozen cut-up fruit, so you always have some on hand.

Optional Ingredients
for Your Low Carb Smoothie Recipe

Protein Additives

Adding a quality source of protein turns your smoothie into a complete meal. I recommend raw organic eggs or a protein powder made from hemp, rice, peas or whey.

Hemp protein powder is a great way to add healthy omega 3 fats and fiber to your smoothie as well.

Undenatured whey is another excellent source of protein for your smoothies. Both whey and hemp protein are very mild tasting; the hemp powder is not as concentrated and will thicken up your smoothie quite a bit more than the whey protein will.

I don't recommend using cheap protein powders, especially any with artificial ingredients. The whey protein should be cold-processed (undenatured) and derived from grass-fed cows, free of hormones and chemicals. Cold-processing whey protects the nutrients in their natural state.

Antioxidant Superfoods

Green superfood powders like chlorella and spirulina make any smoothie a super-nutritious green smoothie. They give you the equivalent of several full-size servings of dark green leafy vegetables in just one tablespoon.

Superfood supplements like maca root, raw cacao, hemp, flax, chia seeds and others increase the antioxidant content and nutritional benefits of your smoothie in their own unique ways.

Antioxidant superfruits like acai, goji, mangosteen and noni, available as concentrated juices or powders, add lots more antioxidants and a natural fruit sweetness to your smoothies.

Other Great Additions for Your Healthy Smoothie

Coconut Oil is the healthiest fat there is. It contains lauric acid, a rare medium-chain fatty acid (also found in mother's milk) that has many health-protecting properties. Coconut oil gives your healthy smoothie a richer, creamier texture. Because coconut oil is solid below a temperature of 76 degrees F, it doesn't work as well in cold smoothies.

Herbs and spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves have higher concentrations of antioxidants than any fruit or vegetable, and add a warm flavor to your healthy smoothie recipe.

Low Carb Smoothie Recipes

The low carb smoothie recipes below can all be made with under 30 grams of net carbs (for a generous size smoothie), depending on the amounts of each ingredient you use. You may also use any of the recipes elsewhere on this website that use the right fruits to create your own low carb smoothie recipes.

Start by pouring the liquid ingredients for each smoothie recipe into your blender. Use fresh fruit or frozen.

Add any of the optional ingredients recommended above, if you like — then blend until smooth.

Add more liquid to reduce the thickness, ice to chill it, or more fruit to thicken your pineapple smoothie.

Substitute ingredients at your whim — it's fun to experiment!

Raspberry Strawberry Blackberry Smoothie
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 cup blackberries
1 cup almond milk
ice cubes

Raspberry Strawberry Smoothie
1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 cup raspberries 
1 cup almond milk
ice cubes

Spinach Romaine Banana Ginger Smoothie
handful romaine lettuce
handful of spinach
1 frozen banana
small piece of ginger
stevia to sweeten
1-2 cups water

Strawberry Melon Lettuce Smoothie
10 large leaves of romaine lettuce
1 cup ripe cantaloupe slices
1 cup strawberries, frozen
stevia to sweeten
6 ice cubes

Strawberry Raspberry Pineapple Smoothie
1 cup strawberries
1 cup raspberries
1/2 cup pineapple chunks
ice cubes

Strawberry Watermelon Mint Smoothie
1/2 cup strawberries
2 cup watermelon
2 mint leaves, chopped
stevia to sweeten

Blueberry Banana Smoothie
1 ripe banana
1/2 cup blueberries
stevia to sweeten
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup water
3-6 ice cubes

Strawberry Raspberry Banana Smoothie
1 frozen ripe banana
3/4 cup strawberries, frozen
1/2 cup raspberries, frozen
stevia to sweeten
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup water

Strawberry Banana Smoothie
1 frozen ripe banana
1 cup strawberries, frozen
stevia to sweeten
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup water
3-6 ice cubes

Pineapple Banana Parsley Green Smoothie
1/2 cup fresh pineapple
1/2 frozen banana
1/2 cup parsley
1 tsp fresh ginger
1 cup water or ice

Strawberry Melon Mint Smoothie
2 cups watermelon
1/2 cup strawberries
2 mint leaves, chopped
stevia to sweeten

Banana Cantaloupe Green Smoothie
1/2 sliced cantaloupe melon
1 frozen sliced banana
12oz almond milk
handful of chopped spinach

Banana Cantaloupe Smoothie
1 cup cantaloupe
1 ripe banana
1 cup almond milk