How to track a smoothie

Take out all the ingredients for a smoothie and you might notice a lot of ZeroPoint® foods. After all, so many things in a smoothie have no Points®, including oats, plain nonfat yogurt, and the vast majority of fruits and vegetables. And yet, when you toss all those foods into a blender, they transform into a food that does have Points. Here’s why and how to track it.

Why do smoothies have Points?

This all comes down to the difference between eating a piece of fruit and drinking a blended-up version. Liquids don’t promote the same feeling of fullness as solid foods do. When you drink something, it eliminates the act of chewing, which may impact the signals between the belly and brain. This means that when you drink a smoothie, you don't feel as full as you would if you ate the fruit.

Take a look at the diagram below. It would take quite a bit of time to eat all of the ingredients on their own, and afterwards, you’d probably feel like you ate a full meal. But the smoothie can be consumed in a few quick sips. As a result, you may get hungry sooner.

The rule is: If it’s something you’ll drink, like a juice or fruit smoothie, the nutritional data for fruit counts towards the total Points value. If it’s something you’ll eat, like a salsa, sauce, stew or soup, or whole fruit or veggie, it may be a ZeroPoint food.

How to track a smoothie

In the app, create a recipe and add all of the ingredients of your smoothie, including fruits and vegetables. When you’re done, "Add Recipe Details" will come up and the app will ask if this is a drink recipe. Click "Yes" and the app will automatically track the Points of the blended ingredients. You could also follow one of our smoothie recipes, which already has the Points value calculated.

The bottom line

When you blend up a smoothie, you turn solid foods into something drinkable. This can be great for convenience, but not-so-good for keeping you full. As a result, all ingredients in your smoothie, even normally ZeroPoint foods like fruits and vegetables, should get tracked and contain Points. If you’re following a WeightWatchers smoothie recipe, the Points value has already been calculated. But if you’re coming up with your own concoction, add the recipe into the app and click “yes” when asked if the recipe is a drink.