You probably already know that building meals with ZeroPoint™ foods is a great way to stay in your Budget. But you also might have noticed that your non-starchy veggies or fruit (if it’s one of your ZeroPoint foods) have Points™ values when you track them in a smoothie. What evil sorcery is this? How do ZeroPoint blueberries come out of a blender...counting?
Fair question. It’s true that fruits and veggies are zero when you eat them whole. But once they become part of a smoothie, the experience of eating them changes.
Here’s What’s Happening
- Drinking something eliminates the act of chewing, a critical step which can impact the “I’m full” signals between your belly and brain.
- This means that the smoothie or juice you’re drinking will not promote the same amount of fullness between meals as eating the fruit or veggies.
- Also, when you blend (or juice) fruits or veggies, it makes it easier to consume more than you would if you ate that same fruit or vegetable whole.
Imagine if You Ate...
- 1/4 c. strawberries
- 1/4 c. raspberries
- 1/4 c. blueberries
- 1 banana
- 1/4 c. blackberries
- 1 apple
- 1/4 c. fat-free plain yogurt
- 1/2 c. orange juice
You'd be pretty full, right?
Now imagine if you pureed all of that down and drank it. That smoothie would be gone in a few sips. You might even decide to throw in another banana, and then some more strawberries, maybe some more yogurt and juice just to fill the cup… (You see where this is going, right?) And because blended fruit has less fibre than whole fruit, you may get hungry sooner—and be more likely to eat more later.
So, What’s the Bottom Line?
If it’s something you’ll drink, like a juice or smoothie, it will have Points values. If it’s something you’ll eat, like salsa, sauce, stew, soup, it won’t.
How to Track a Smoothie
For iOS:
- Tap on the search bar at the top of My Day.
- Use the slider directly below the search bar to find My Food (the second-to-last one in the row).
- Click Recipes, then Create in the upper right corner.
- Name your recipe, add the ingredients, then click ‘Add more details’.
- Make sure to set this recipe as a drink.
- Click Create.
For Android:
- Tap the search bar.
- Scroll across the row below the search bar and select My Food.
- Tap on Recipes.
- Tap the three dots in the top right corner.
- Choose Build a Recipe.
- Name your recipe, add the number of servings, ingredients, and directions for your recipe.
On ww.ca:
- Click Create in the top right corner of My Day.
- In the dropdown menu, choose Recipe.
- Name your recipe, add the ingredients, and make sure to select the ‘This is a drink’ option.
- Finally click Create recipe