Ep. 63 Smoothies for Teen Weight Loss: Good or Bad?

Smoothies are popular—but are they actually helpful for teens trying to reach a healthy weight?

In this episode, I share:

• What makes a smoothie healthy (and what doesn’t!)
• Research showing how smoothies boosted teen fruit intake from 4% to 45%
• The perfect formula for a smoothie that keeps teens full and balanced
• How to sneak veggies into smoothies without the “yuck” factor

Plus, I’m giving you a free gift 🎁
 👉 Download my Smoothie Recipe Guide with 15 easy, tasty recipes for teens!

https://lifestyleforteens.com/smoothies

If you're wondering…
❓ Why are teens hungry all the time during puberty?
❓ Why are teens craving sugar all the time?
❓ Why teens feel so tired—even when they sleep?

You’re not alone—and it’s not your fault.

Hormones play a HUGE role in how teens gain weight, feel energy, manage emotions, and grow.

Dr Gourgari is a certified pediatric endocrinologist, obesity medicine specialist and health coach for teens.

Each week, she break down how puberty hormones work—and how simple habits like eating better, sleeping more, and moving your body can help you feel better, stronger, and more confident.

We’ll talk about things like:
🥗 Are smoothies really healthy?
🍞 Are carbs bad for weight loss in teens?
💪 And how to stop emotional eating before it takes over your day.

Whether you’re a teen ready to make a change—or a parent looking to support your child the right way—this podcast is for you.

🎁 Want to jump in right now?
Grab your free guide: 30 Healthy, High-Protein Recipes for Teens at lifestyleforteens.com/recipes

Transcript

 Hello. Welcome to another episode of the Lifestyle and Weight Loss for Teens podcast. This is Dr. Jenny Kirky and I'm talking about a juicy topic this week that has to do with smoothies. So this topic I thought would be helpful because recently I had a discussion with one of my teenagers  She said that she doesn't like to eat a lot of fruits. However, she does drink a lot of smoothies that are made with fruits. So then we had a whole conversation about smoothies and whether they are good or bad, and whether actually teenagers that consume smoothies can have healthier weight or actually that's not good for their health.

So let's dive into this topic because it's not a yes or no answer, but I hope that by the end of this episode, you will know what a good smoothie is and you will maximize your efforts to get into a healthier weight. So let's just  start  by presenting actually a research that was done on this topic to actually look  the effect of the fruit smoothies and how that affects their fruit consumption.

So we know that American Academy of Pediatrics recommends at least five to six servings of fruits and vegetables every day for teenagers who want to get into a healthier weight. And majority of teenagers don't meet this recommendation, particularly when they're going to school and they spend a lot of time there, there is minimal fruit and vegetable consumption. So there was this great study. The title was Impact of Fruit Smoothies on Adolescent Fruit Consumption at School. So  they looked at data from more than 2,500 teenagers and  whether they were eating smoothies at school or not, and whether that improved their overall consumption of fruits. And what they found is that when the students starting having more fruit smoothies, their overall fruit consumption increase from 4.3% to 45.1%. Wow. That's a huge increase. And that happened with just offering fruit smoothies as part of an intervention that was aimed to increase fruit consumption at school.

Now this does not necessarily need to be true only for the school environment. That also can be true for the home environment, right? So if you try to have more fruit smoothies at home, that can increase your fruit consumption. You may not like the texture of the food of a vegetable or of a fruit, but then if you actually make smoothies out of this fruit, then you would be more likely to consume it and at the end of the day, you will have met your fruits and vegetable consumption. 

Now, what are the tricky points when we try to make healthy smoothies? First thing I want you to know is that when we look at a smoothie, we need to make sure what are the ingredients that we put in the smoothie.

So if we add a lot of fruits that are high in carbohydrates, let's say bananas and grapes right there high carbohydrates. I'm not saying don't use them, but I'm saying if it is a smoothie that just has bananas and oranges or bananas and grapes and you put them in with ice and then you drink it, that's more like a, juice high in carbohydrates, and of course it will have the vitamins, but it will not give you so much satisfaction after you drink that smoothie. Or if you add a lot of sugar, like let's say three of sugar on top of that. What will happen is once you consume that smoothie, your insulin will be high afterwards and you may have cravings for more sugary things.

So try to choose fruits that have carbohydrates of course, but also in addition to that, add some healthy fat. And add something that has a lot of fiber. By adding healthier options that have protein, which could be milk or it can be Greek yogurt another option, then you increase the satiety that you get from all those fruit smoothies and the insulin surge is less  after the smoothies.

Now, this is not to say that when you are using the smoothies, that should be your main consumption instead of having water, for example, Obviously, we don't want to overdo it. You don't have every drink or most of your drinks to be smoothies. Still water is the best hydration for your body and you still have tried to consume eight to 10 taps of water to maintain your hydration. We don't wanna add too much carbohydrates than what we actually need. 

 Another great benefit of smoothies is that let's say you don't like spinach. So spinach has iron. It's a green vegetable. It's very healthy. So you may like to have spinach on your salad. You may not like it on your food, but if you add it along with bananas for example, you may get a smoothie that has the spinach that you don't really feel the taste of and you can get the benefit of having the fiber, having the iron without the negative effects of taste that you don't like spinach as it is, so combination of fruits and vegetables increase your chances of having those fruits and vegetable that may not be the best in terms of your taste. 

Now what a good smoothie looks like. As I mentioned earlier, it's good to add some protein. I would say 20 to 30 grams of protein in every smoothie would be ideal, and that would keep you full.

You can add milk, you can add greek yogurt to build up that protein. second ingredient is fiber and healthy fats, like for example, avocado or peanuts or nuts or almonds. Macadamia nuts, all those healthy fats increase the satiety that you will get out of the smoothie.

And you don't have to add a lot. Like even if you add, let's say 10 almonds, that will give you the fiber and healthy fats that you need. And also try to, as much as possible, not have only the high carbohydrate. fruits, like for example, don't do only bananas, add bananas and apples, bananas and berries like strawberries, blueberries, and things like that, that have lower carbohydrate fruits that can increase again make smoothies that are tasty but are not fully like tons of carbs on them.

So to summarize, there is research that shows that consumption of smoothies that are made from fruits can increase overall the consumption of fruits and vegetables, particularly in those teenagers that don't like to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. Second thing is when you're making your smoothies, try your best to add some protein, add some healthy fats, and add fruits that are both high-end carbs, but also lower carbs to have a good combination.

And finally if you want, start point I have created a free resource for you. You can go to lifestyleforteens.com/smoothies and download 15 recipes of different smoothies with fruits that you can make in less than 15 minutes and can keep you full and can make you more likely to meet your fruit consumption of the day.

I hope this was helpful and I'll talk to you next week. Sign up also for lifestyleforteens.com/newsletter so you get my weekly email with more tips and you never miss an episode of what I create. Take care. Bye.