Today’s marketing mantras tell us we need more antioxidants and bowls of fruit every day, so it does make sense to reach for a blended fruit drink and toast to our health.
Planet Smoothie hopes to help the health-inspired masses with a complete smoothie station and unique concoctions that, according to some Planet Smoothie enthusiasts, proves that Life on the Planet is ‘out of this world’.
But how healthy are these yogurt and fruit blends? Are the smoothies from Planet Smoothie supporting or sabotaging our diets?
Planet Smoothie: What to Expect
It’s hard to miss this brightly colored franchise as you drive (or walk) past any major retail outlet in your area. Planet Smoothie stores feature a complete breakfast, work out, energy, health, and food menu, and there’s also a menu for designed exclusively for kids. The general Smoothie Menu is divided into Energy Smoothies, Weight Loss Smoothies, Multi-Vitamin Smoothies, Cool Blended Smoothies, Protein Smoothies, and even a few Low Carb Shakes. The standard size is 22 oz., slightly larger than the largest cup of coffee at the coffeeshop.
Each section feature fun flavors such as the ‘Chocolate Elvis’ made with chocolate, PB, banans, yogurt and a ‘booster blast,’; ‘Leapin’ Lizard’ made with peaches, strawberries, and a ‘fat burner blast’, and ‘ZeusJuice’ made with strawberries, bananas, and an ‘immune blast.’ You can add a healthy blast to any smoothie for an extra kick -and blast yourself right off the planet, perhaps. These blasts contain ingredients such as ginseng, kava kava, B-complex vitamins, or whey protein depending on what you need on any given day.
Planet Smoothie: The Nutritional Breakdown
While all the crazy flavors sound enticing and exciting, it’s worth looking at the actual nutritional content of some of the most attractive flavors to determine how ‘healthy’ these smoothies really are.
If you’re trying to stick with a low-fat diet, you’ll want to steer clear of the PBJ and maybe make your own PB&J; sandwich instead; this one contains 560 calories, 17 grams of fat, and a whopping 97 grams of carbs.
If you’re watching the sugar in your diet, Mr. Mongo Chocolate is not for you; this one contains 516 calories and the highest carb count of them all – 117 grams . Still, this one is very low in fat, coming in with just 1.3 grams.
The Chocolate Elvis is definitely not for low-calorie diet lovers; this one contains 522 calories and 109 grams of carbs; it also contains 9 grams of fat, a considerable amount for a drink.
Still, the majority of drinks on the Planet Smoothie menu contain between 190 – 400 calories per serving. The healthiest options – those that are low in calories, fat, and contain a significant amount of vitamins, include the Rasmanian Devil (265 calories, .5 grams of fat), the Spazz (266 calories, .5 grams of fat), Thelma & Louise (226 calories, .2 grams of fat), and Yo’ Adriane (263 calories, .2 grams of fat).
Unfortunately, Planet Smoothie doesn’t list the actual ingredients used in each smoothie – just the facts. This means we don’t really know if the smoothies contain yogurt, pure sugar, artificial flavorings and colorings (highly likely since the ‘Rasmanian Devil’ can’t naturally be that pink), or other ingredients.
Planet Smoothie offers a complete nutrition list that can be viewed here .
Having a ‘smoothie habit’ is becoming increasingly popular as more Americans make attempts to reduce the Starbucks drill and become just a little healthier. Franchises such as Planet Smoothie are just one opportunity to order up a healthy treat, but a close look at some of the ingredients on the clever menu items may prove otherwise.
