The Best Pregnancy Smoothie Recipes: Healthy Smoothies for Pregnant Women
The Best Smoothies for Pregnancy
Are you looking for the best pregnancy smoothie recipes? If so, you have come to the right place! In this blog post, we will share with you some of our favorite smoothie recipes that are rich in nutrients and perfect for pregnant women.
These smoothies are packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that will help keep both you and your baby healthy during pregnancy. So whether you are looking for a quick and easy breakfast or snack, or want to add some extra nutrients to your diet, these pregnancy smoothies are sure to satisfy!
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Are Smoothies a Good Choice for Your Pregnancy Diet?
Smoothies can be a great addition to your pregnancy diet, but it is important to choose wisely. Many smoothies are high in sugar and calories, which can lead to excessive weight gain during pregnancy.
So when choosing a smoothie to drink during pregnancy, make sure to look for one that is low in sugar and contains plenty of healthy ingredients. According to the most up-to-date prenatal nutrition plan, The Perfect Pregnancy Plan, smoothies (when made with the right ingredients) are highly recommended for your prenatal diet.
Additionally, there are certain ingredients that you should add to every pregnancy smoothie that really increase the nutrients that lead to a more healthy baby, but we’ll dive into those later!
Related: How to Gain Minimal Weight While Pregnant (Just the right amount!)
What Type of Smoothies Should You Avoid While Pregnant?
There are certain types of smoothies that you should avoid while pregnant. These include high-sugar smoothies, smoothies with a lot of caffeine, and smoothies with lots of artificial flavors and additives.
You need to be really careful when consuming smoothies that are already prepared, such as from a smoothie shop or grocery store.
Smoothies from smoothie shops are typically huge and absolutely loaded with sugars and calories. Yes, they are mostly sugars from fruits, but even too much sugar from fruits will still spike your blood sugar and can harm your growing baby even if you are not suffering from gestational diabetes.
For instance, one of Jamba Juice’s more popular healthy and less sweet smoothies, the Acai Smoothie, contains 88 grams of carbohydrates and 70 grams of sugar in only a medium.
You also need to be careful when consuming premade smoothies from the grocery store while pregnant, like Naked or Bolthouse Farms smoothies. While they might look like a great nutritional choice, they aren’t. In fact, they are really just glorified juice. You are getting the juice from all the fruits on the container, not the fiber-rich fruits themselves.
A single serving of Naked Mighty Mango contains 290 calories, ZERO grams of fiber, and 57 grams of sugar. Yikes. That is just a lot of empty calories that won’t fill you up. Plus without fiber, fat, or protein to slow down the usage of sugar in your body, you are looking at a major blood sugar spike!
So if you are pregnant, it is best to stick to smoothies that are homemade. Or at least smoothies that are low in sugar, contain healthy ingredients and are free of excessive caffeine. This will help ensure that you are getting the nutrients you need while keeping your calorie intake under control.
What Ingredients Should You Add to the Best Pregnancy Smoothies?
There are a number of ingredients that you should add to your pregnancy smoothie in order to increase its nutrient content. These include:
- Fruits: fresh or frozen fruit is a great addition to any smoothie. When choosing fruits, try to pick ones that are low in sugar and high in nutrients such as berries and apples.
- Vegetables: Vegetables can be added for extra vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Try adding leafy greens like spinach or kale along with other vegetables like beets and cauliflower!
- Protein: Adding protein to your smoothie can help keep you feeling full and satisfied. Good sources of protein include a pregnancy-safe protein powder, plain Greek yogurt, whole milk, or vegan proteins like hemp hearts or chia seeds.
- Healthy fats: Including healthy fats in your smoothie is a great way to boost its nutrient content. Good options include avocado, nut butter, or nuts and seeds like flaxseeds or almonds. Just be careful not to overdo it.
- Superfoods: Superfoods are foods that contain a high amount of nutrients with minimal calories. They can help boost the nutrition of any smoothie recipe! Some good options include chia seeds, hemp hearts, maca powder, cacao nibs/powder (raw chocolate), and goji berries.
RELATED: Is Maca Safe During Pregnancy?
SECRET INGREDIENTS you should add into pregnancy smoothies to make them the best for your growing baby:
In the Perfect Pregnancy Plan (the most revolutionary and up-to-date prenatal nutrition and exercise plan, and the only one built around the most recent studies of epigenetics during pregnancy) you learn so much valuable advice about prenatal nutrition including:
- the nutrients we now know that can help to avoid diseases in your baby like heart disease, diabetes, autism, and ADHD
- How to source these nutrients
- How much of each nutrient you need in each trimester
- How to absorb more of the needed nutrients from your diet
- and so much more!
But you also learn a lot of amazing information about how to build the best pregnancy smoothie. The Perfect Pregnancy Plan highly suggests drinking a pregnancy smoothie every day throughout your pregnancy!
According to the PPP you should include the following ingredients in every smoothie during pregnancy that you can.
1. Chia seeds. Chia seeds are one of the top 5 foods that you should be eating daily while pregnant.
Chia seeds are great for you. They give you protein that is needed to grow a healthy baby. Chia seeds are packed with omega-3 fatty acids, dietary fiber, calcium, and folic acid.
Chia is a vegan source of omega-3 fatty acids which provide similar benefits for pregnant moms as fish oil does. But they sure are a lot easier to stomach.
2. A spinach puck. Wondering what that is? Basically a cooked spinach ice cube. Spinach pucks are an easy way to add a lot of extra nutrition fast!
Pucks can be made by first cooking spinach, then blending it together, then placing the spinach into an ice cube tray. From there they can be stored in a bpa free freezer bags or bpa free tupperware in the freezer and added into your smoothies.
Why cook the spinach?
When spinach is cooked you absorb more of the nutrients in it. And spinach packs a TON of nutrition into its little leaves. The Perfect Pregnancy Plan teaches you so many amazing things about how to get the most nutrition out of the foods you eat during pregnancy that I wouldn’t have known otherwise.
3. A high-quality protein powder safe for pregnancy. This ingredient especially should be added to every pregnancy smoothie. Our bodies and your baby’s growing body use protein to create new cells, making it imperative to consume enough throughout your gestation.
We require a lot of protein to grow a healthy baby and protein powder is an easy-to-stomach way to get there. Many women are turned off by meat (especially in the first trimester), though it is important to include in your prenatal diet anyways. So protein powder is a great way to fill in for not eating as much protein as you should from other sources like meat.
Plus protein (and the healthy fat from the chia seeds) will help your body metabolize the sugar from the fruits you are adding to your smoothie to prevent blood sugar spikes.
Tips for Making the Best Smoothies for Pregnancy
-Try to use fresh or frozen fruit and vegetables whenever possible. Canned fruits and vegetables often contain high levels of sugar, additives, and chemicals.
RELATED: How to avoid common dangerous chemicals during pregnancy: toxin free pregnancy
-If you are adding protein powder to your smoothie, make sure it is a pregnancy-safe brand. Some brands (in fact a lot of brands) of protein powder contain ingredients that are not safe for pregnant women.
-Avoid adding too many high-sugar fruits like mangoes, bananas, and pineapples to your smoothie. These fruits can quickly send your blood sugar levels soaring. One of these choices at a time or a limited amount of a couple is fine, just don’t overdo it.
-Use a blender to create a smooth consistency. Blending the ingredients will help you digest them better and increase their nutrient absorption. My favorite blender is the Ninja. I’ve been drinking a smoothie every day for breakfast for about a decade now, I’ve tried them all, and my Ninja blender is by far the best at pulverizing everything for a great consistency.
-Drink your smoothie immediately after making it for the best results. The longer you wait to drink it, the more nutrients will be lost from oxidation. Plus some of the protein powders settle and banana gets weird and kinda gross after sitting a while.
-Always consult your doctor before adding a new ingredient or supplement to your diet while pregnant. Protein powders count as supplements.
-Be sure that all of the ingredients in your smoothie are safe for pregnant women. Fruits and vegetables will be fine but when you add in new exotic things, supplements, or superfoods is when you will want to pay close attention.
-Try to drink a smoothie every day or at least once per week. They are great for pregnant women and can help you get the nutrients that you need in a delicious way that is low-calorie! That is really important because you don’t need to add in very many calories a day while pregnant (around 300 extra calories is top).
Even though your nutrition requirements as much as triple during pregnancy, calorie requirements do not. That’s why it is so important to follow a nutrient dense prenatal diet plan like the Perfect Pregnancy Plan. And also why it’s important to include nutrient-dense low calorie meals like smoothies into your prenatal diet plan as well.
The Best Pregnancy Smoothie Recipes
Now that you know what ingredients to add to your pregnancy smoothie, let’s take a look at some of our favorite recipes!
Berrylicious Pregnancy Smoothie
This Berrylicious Smoothie is the perfect blend of fresh fruit and healthy protein. It is low in sugar and calories, making it a great choice for pregnant women.
Ingredients:
-Handful of fresh or frozen berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries)
-One cup unsweetened almond milk or milk of choice
-One scoop vanilla pregnancy recommended protein powder
-Two tablespoons chia seeds
-a spinach puck (if you can stomach it. Feel free to drop this ingredient if it bothers you.)
Directions:
Blend all ingredients together in a blender until smooth. Enjoy immediately!
Green Goddess Smoothie
This Green Goddess Smoothie is packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants from fresh vegetables and fruits. It makes a great breakfast or snack for pregnant women.
Ingredients:
-One cup fresh spinach leaves or 2 spinach pucks
-One apple, cored and chopped
-One frozen banana, sliced
-One cup of vanilla protein powder
-One cup unsweetened almond milk or milk of choice
-One tablespoon nut butter (almond, peanut, cashew)
-Two tablespoons chia seeds
Directions:
Blend all ingredients together in a blender until smooth. Enjoy immediately!
Protein Power Smoothie
This Protein Power Smoothie is a great way to start your day with plenty of protein and nutrients. It is low in sugar and calories, making it a perfect choice for pregnant women.
Ingredients:
-One cup unsweetened almond milk or milk of choice
-One scoop vanilla pregnancy recommended protein powder
-1/2 frozen banana
-1 tablespoon chia seeds
-1 tbsp peanut butter powder
-1 spinach puck
Directions:
Blend all ingredients together in a blender until smooth. Enjoy immediately!
PLUS: More Pregnancy Smoothies You’ll Love
RELATED: Pumpkin Pie Pregnancy Smoothie
Wrapping Up the Best Pregnancy Smoothie Recipes
Now that you know about the best pregnancy smoothie recipes, it’s time to get blending! These recipes are packed with nutrients and vitamins that your growing baby needs.
Be sure to consult your doctor before adding any new ingredients or supplements to your diet, and drink a smoothie every day for the best results. Happy blending!
More Pregnancy Nutrition Articles You’ll Love
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- Is Maca Safe for Pregnancy?
- Are Collagen Supplements Good for Pregnancy?
