Smoothie Do's & Don'ts

With the right blend of ingredients, a smoothie can be a nutritional powerhouse—full of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, and protein. But a few misguided add-ins can leave you with a high-calorie, sugar-laden dessert that's anything but the healthy drink you had envisioned.

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1 DON'T: Throw everything into the blender.

It's easy to treat a smoothie as a free-for-all, tossing in handfuls and drizzles of various ingredients, but this carefree method is an easy way to add calories, sugar, and fat to your drink with surprisingly unhealthy results.

DO: Measure your ingredients.

Measuring ingredients will keep the nutrition stats in check, while also ensuring a good solid-to-liquid ratio.

2 DON'T: Reach straight for kale.

We're all about adding greens to our smoothies, but don't dive into kale right away. It's a bitter green, and if you start there, you may be tempted to add in too much sugar to compensate.

DO: Start with spinach.