Dietitians Say You Should Never Put This One Ingredient In Your Smoothie–It Leads To Weight Gain!

Refined sugar

If you have a serious sweet tooth and the natural sugars from the fruit don’t cut it, you may enjoy a little bit of extra sweetness in your smoothie. However, Cowin and Richards warn that sugar and sugary ingredients like syrups can take a serious toll on your health and lead to weight gain if you’re regularly adding them to the blender. In fact, Cowin says that the “worst possible ingredient you could add to your smoothie is definitely sugar.”

He notes that sugar, along with other sweeteners and syrups, can “impede weight loss goals,” but the risks don’t stop there. Added sugar can even “lead to other healthy problems like tooth decay, diabetes, and heart disease.” Yikes!

You could also be putting your gut health at risk when you add these ingredients to your smoothie; Richard tells us table sugar is “highly inflammatory as well as a food source for bad gut bacteria,” which means consuming too much of it can lead to an overgrowth of that bad bacteria, causing “negative health effects in many areas of the body.”

So, there you have it: if you care about your health, you should definitely leave sugar out of your morning smoothie. Luckily, there’s likely already tons of natural sugar in it, which is why Cowin suggests “simply relying on the natural sweeteners found in fruits.”

But if you really want to add a bit more sweetness to the mix, Richards offers a healthy alternative: monk fruit. “Monk fruit can be a great option,” she says. “Monk fruit extract contains some incredible compounds that are 300-400 times sweeter than cane sugar, but it’s virtually calorie free.” That means it won’t affect your blood sugar levels–and also won’t cause you to put on some extra unwanted pounds. Score!

Of course, at the end of the day, what you put in your body is your choice. Just keep in mind that if weight loss is your goal, refined sugar isn’t going to be the best option–and you can absolutely enjoy a delicious smoothie without it.