A smoothie can have about 200 kcal, or more than 800. The fruit is rarely the reason. What changes the number is what goes into the blender with the fruit, and the size of the cup.
Calories in common smoothie ingredients
These are USDA numbers for 100g: strawberry 32 kcal, mango 60, banana 89, avocado 160, plain yogurt 61, unsweetened soy milk 33, coconut water 18, whole fresh milk 61.
Fruit is fairly light. The number climbs fast with fat or sugar: 100g of fresh coconut has 354 kcal, dates 282, sweetened condensed milk 321 and peanut butter 598.
How much does condensed milk add?
Take 100g of mango, 100g of banana and 100ml of soy milk. That smoothie has about 180 kcal.
Now add two tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk, about 40g, as many shops do. That adds about 130 kcal and 22g of sugar. The cup is the same size, with about 70% more calories.
Does an avocado smoothie make you gain weight?
No single drink does that on its own. Your weight changes with the calories you eat and drink compared with the calories your body uses, over days and weeks.
Half an avocado, about 100g, has 160 kcal. With two tablespoons of condensed milk and 100ml of fresh milk, an avocado smoothie has about 350 kcal.
The NHS uses 2,000 kcal a day for an average woman and 2,500 for an average man. That cup is about a sixth of 2,000 kcal. You can still enjoy it. Just count it as food. More on this: Does juice help you lose weight? The honest answer.
How to keep the number down
Ask what sweetens the smoothie. If it is condensed milk or sugar syrup, ask for less, or none.
Choose the smaller cup. At Juicy, a 650ml cup has about one and a half times the calories of a 480ml cup.
Treat a smoothie as food, not as a drink for when you are thirsty. A big one can take the place of a light meal: Meal or smoothie? When a smoothie can really replace lunch.
How many calories are in our five smoothies?
We work out each one from our recipe and USDA numbers, so these are estimates. None of the five recipes has condensed milk. The first number is the regular 480ml cup, the second is the large 650ml cup.
Balance: 220 and 323 kcal. Recover: 243 and 387 kcal. Lean: 331 and 502 kcal. Energy: 532 and 794 kcal. Power: 555 and 877 kcal.
Energy and Power are higher because of coconut, dates or peanut butter, and they have more protein and fibre than Recover and Balance. Count a cup of Energy or Power as a meal, not a snack. All the numbers are at our nutrition facts page.
Sources: US Department of Agriculture (USDA), FoodData Central; NHS, What should my daily intake of calories be?
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