Make Your Own Creamy Low Calorie Smoothies

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If your mouth waters at the thought of a rich, creamy, fruit-filled smoothie, but your inner guardian says, “Too many calories!” do not despair. You can have a smoothie with the texture of a double milkshake, but the calories of a small dinner salad–without the dressing. Low calorie smoothies are easy to make.

Smoothies can look creamy without a drop of any milk (or soy) products. The secret lies in the use of shaved ice. The texture when shaved ice blends with other ingredients is restaurant-smooth.

Your smoothie can be as thick as you like, if you use one of the Margaritaville frozen concoction machines for your smoothies maker. These amazing machines can make a variety of frozen slush drinks automatically, but all four models have a “perfect-it-yourself” manual option to get just the consistency you want. The only constant is their incredible smoothness–no ice chunks, no watery voids such as those you often get with conventional blenders. (If you can’t afford one, you could use a separate ice shaver and your blender with a little extra work.)

The lowest calorie smoothie options are the original formulations. In Brazil, only soft fruits like bananas, guavas, papayas, and mangoes were blended with shaved ice. No sugars need apply. Smoothies are about half ice; therefore, they have half the calories of an equal quantity of juice. On a hot day, they can be incredibly more refreshing, too!

In the USA today, a mixture of fruits is more common–add strawberries and pineapple to the former list. Protein powders and other nutritional supplements, too, can be added to up the nutritional value without much effect on the calorie count. Sugars are rarely needed, but you can use any of the sugar-substitutes, if needed, as no heat is present. Again, you will have half the calories of a juice drink of the same volume, due to the oh-so-smooth-and-tasty ice.

One problem with all those fruits, however, is their fairly high calorie count compared to, say, a stalk of celery, bunch of spinach, or some wheatgrass. But, you say, you can’t just drop some celery in your Margaritaville frozen concoction machines. You’re right. Hard fruits like apples, pears, and the seedy berries have to be juiced, as do carrots, sweet potatoes/yams, and those green and leafy veggies like spinach and wheatgrass.

Using a combination of vegetables with fruits lowers the calorie count and increases the nutritional variation and richness. Juicing for weight loss is a great idea and twice as effective when the fresh juices are combined in a smoothie maker like the Bahamas, Key West, Fiji, or Tahiti models of Margaritaville frozen concoction machines. Your heart will fall in love with the smooth creamy texture, but your body won’t have to wear extra calories under its sleeves and belt lines.

Give this delicious fruit and vegetable smoothie a try. It is rich in vitamins A and C, and its color alone will make your morning.

Pineapple-Orange Rapture. Peel and section 4 oranges. Place with 2 cups pineapple, and 1 peeled cut-up sweet potato in your juicer. Place the resulting juice in your smoothie maker pitcher. Add ice to the hopper. Select “smoothie” and press “GO” to get this tasty, sun-kissed beverage.

Making your own rich, tasty low calorie smoothies is fun and easy.

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