How to Make a Healthy Smoothie Every Single Time

Feel like you're constantly short on time and nutrients? Smoothies can be a great way to make a quick meal or snack that's packed with good-for-you ingredients…but only if you're choosing the right ingredients and ratios for a healthy drink that actually tastes good.

Poor smoothie planning could lead to something that tastes like watery kale, or, conversely, a milkshake. The former might have you tossing your personal blender in the back of the cabinet to collect dust, and the latter will easily wreck your diet if you continue to down these drinks thinking they’re “healthy.”

So, what’s the right way to make a smoothie? Follow these five simple tips on how to make a healthy smoothie from Harley Pasternak, Shape Brain Trust advisory board member, nutrition specialist, and celebrity trainer. Pasternak’s New York Times best-selling cookbook, The Body Reset Diet (Buy It, $14, amazon.com), features healthy smoothies loved by celebs such as Halle Berry, Kim Kardashian, and Jessica Simpson. (Psst: Pasternak even helped Simpson lose 100lbs after her last pregnancy.)

Below, the unofficial smoothie king (no, really, he used to have a healthy line at Jamba Juice — read how one editor faired after two weeks drinking the Harley-approved smoothies) shares how to make a healthy smoothie that’s just as satisfying as it is nutritious.

1. Include the “Holy Trinity of Satiety” (protein, fiber, and healthy fats).

The first step when you’re learning how to make a healthy smoothie: Focus on specific nutrients. You may know all about macros by now: protein, carbs, and fat — the macronutrients your body needs to survive, but Pasternak has a different set of nutrients he likes to focus on when building a healthy smoothie.

“Every smoothie should have what I call the ‘holy trinity of satiety’ — protein, fiber, and healthy fat,” says Pasternak. Plus, you can extend this method to all your meals to make meal prep even easier. “The same applies to salads, sandwiches, scrambles, stir-fries, and every meal you eat.”

Protein: When it comes to protein, you have some options: Experiment with protein powder, cottage cheese, or “strained yogurts” (aka Greek or Icelandic). “Strained yogurts are fermented longer and have significantly more protein and less sugar than traditional yogurts,” says Pasternak. If you can’t seem to get passed the powdery texture, silken tofu is a good option that will make your smoothie thick without adding an overpowering flavor.

Fiber: Next, for fiber, add plenty of fibrous fruits such as berries and fruits you can eat with the skin on (think: apples and grapes), which tend to have more fiber and less sugar than tropical fruits with a tougher outside layer that you peel away (think: pineapples, mango, bananas). Don’t forget about veggies for fiber and micronutrients, too. “Vegetables like cucumber, zucchini, and spinach don’t have powerful flavor profiles and can be blended into a smoothie without significantly changing the flavor profile,” says Pasternak. (