I posted on the Smoothie King Gladiator smoothie several months ago and must have hit a nerve — I saw over 1,000 views alone.
Here is a view of the top protein shakes from Smoothie King, taken directly from their site. These are for 20oz “skinny” (read: no turbinado, the fancy word for sugar) smoothies ordered according to the most protein. Click the image to see the full chart with protein and fiber values. Whenever you see a set of three numbers in the format ##/##/##, this is referring to grams of Fat/Carb/Protein.
Smoothie King Gladiator
First, the Smoothie King Gladiator (0/31/45) is a great, lean smoothie at first glance, but as soon as you add fruit to its base of 31g of carbs you are looking at 60+ carbs. Still, it is one of the few high protein, fat-free smoothies and that has its advantages.
Smoothie King Low-Carb
Another option is a Low-Carb smoothie (9/7/49g). These introduce a good amount of fat (9g), but keep the carbs (7g) low and protein (49) high. I don’t know how these taste, however. More than likely they simply replace the sugar with Splenda or some similar artificial sweetner.
Smoothie King High Protein
Or, if you want high protein with *some* carbs and fat, get the properly balanced High Protein Smoothie (9/32-48/26-31). Another way to look at this, in terms of calories they have 81 from fat, 128-192 from carbs, and 104-124 from protein, or a great balance of 25%/40%/33%. I recommend the Smoothie King High Protein Almond Mocha (9/25/31). You really can’t beat that nutritional balance.
Smoothie King Shredder
Finally, the Smoothie King Shredder (1-3/25-57/29-39). At first glance these look great — low fat, usually more protein than carbs. But this is deceiving as the Strawberry has nearly twice as much carbs as protein! Also, the Vanilla has 592 mg of sodium. If you must get a Shredder stick to the Smoothe King Chocolate Shredder (3/36/39) with a decent 315 mg of sodium.
Smoothie King Hulk
Stay away from the Smoothie King Hulk (35/70/28). With nearly 1000 calories and 38% from fat, you probably don’t need it unless you are running marathons.
What is your favorite Smoothie King smoothie?
Smoothie King’s shakes are undoubtedly better for you (read: contain lower sugar) than Planet Smoothie. But, why not save a serious amount of moolah and whip up your own at home? A bag of flash frozen 4-berry mix from Publix costs around $4.50 (and makes about 6 smoothies). The good sized container of protein powder is around $25 depending on the brand and size(and makes about 30+ smoothies). Add in some peanut butter. Maybe some Omega-3 oil. Vanilla yogurt and a piece of dark chocolate. You have an all natural, lower card, high protein, low fat shake that cost you about $0.75 to make. Eat one of these a day and you’ll spend less than $30 a month. Compare that to the same consumption at Smoothie King which would run you close to $150.
And while you’re at it, brew your own coffee and save the $2.00 Starbucks for another time.
Now we’re talkin’!
Now that the Barista’s have had 3 hours of training, it would be hard for you to argue that the extra $2 is not worth it.
I work with Smoothie King, and since you have written about the brand and products a few times in the past, I thought you might be interested in our free coffee smoothie giveaway tomorrow morning!
Locations nationwide are celebrating its newest line of smoothies by giving away free full-size coffee and mo’cuccino smoothies before 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, Thurs, Sept. 18, in vanilla, mocha and caramel. What makes these great is that they are all blended with Gladiator Protein, keeping you fuller longer. Plus, they can all be made “skinny” by leaving out the turbinado and saving on calories and carbs.
If interested, you can find more details at http://www.smoothieking.com.