I found out my usual smoothies werent healthy at all thanks to this Nutribullet blender that can

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• Unless you go to the effort of measuring out individual ingredients beforehand, making a healthy smoothie is usually a nebulous game of guesswork. 
• The Nutribullet Balance ($99.99) is a blender that contains a smart sensor to measure the ingredients directly. It shows you the nutritional breakdown (calories, fat, carbs, sugar, and more) of your smoothie through the accompanying Bluetooth app. 
• Through these measurement capabilities, pre-designed recipes, and other planning features, the blender and app work hand-in-hand to help you create healthier smoothies and meet precise nutritional needs. 

I love fruit, and there's nothing more I love to drink for breakfast, after a workout, on a hot afternoon — anytime, really — than a cold, refreshing, and (so I think) healthy smoothie.

Though I would never eat four whole pieces of fruit at one time, somehow it becomes okay when blended into a smoothie, meaning its nutritional value can quickly spiral out of control. 

The Nutribullet Balance smart blender ensures you won't be casually sipping a 700-calorie smoothie with excessive amounts of carbs, fat, or sugar every morning. It's basically a Nutribullet, but with a smart scale installed in its base that pairs with an app. Think of it less as a "fancy blender" and more as a "personal nutritionist." 

It takes everything you already love about the classic Nutribullet (easy operation, powerful and efficient motor, and convenient personal serving cup sizes) and revamps it to track your balance of ingredients, guide you to making healthy eating decisions, and help you reach your personal nutrition goals. 

Setting up the Nutribullet Balance was quick and easy considering all the connectivity issues that typically arise with these types of smart products. Download the Nutribullet Balance app, follow its instructions to connect it to your blender via Bluetooth, and you're ready to blend. 

The app hosts a variety of features: a Dashboard where you view daily and weekly nutrient breakdowns, Recipes to find pre-designed smoothies, soups, dips, dressings, and desserts, plus the creations you've designed yourself, a Pantry where you can keep track of all the ingredients you have available to you, and Shopping List to remind yourself what ingredients you still need to buy. 

Making a smoothie with the Nutribullet Balance opens your eyes to what you're really putting into your body. I started by creating my own recipe. To begin, place your cup on the base, then tap within the app to select your ingredient. Once you drop the ingredient in, the scale will start measuring and the app will display everything this ingredient is contributing to your smoothie, including calories, fat, weight, and carbs. After you've repeated this process for each ingredient, start blending and the app will count you down to completion. 

I made a smoothie of frozen banana, tangerine, plain Greek yogurt, and soy milk, and I was surprised at how quickly the nutritional counts climbed up. I'm a big proponent of the "just wing it" strategy for making food and drinks, so I rarely know what the appropriate portion size is or the nutritional details of my meals. The Balance showed me that my idea of what an under-300 calorie smoothie looked like was far from the reality. As I used it more and more, I gained a better understanding of how to create a delicious smoothie that met the metrics I cared about. 

Making Nutribullet's in-app recipes involves a similar process, only this time you're adding each ingredient until the app tells you to stop. You could certainly measure out the individual portions yourself using cups or a measuring scale but the Balance makes it more convenient by incorporating this part directly into the blending system. In the end, the only thing you need to clean after you finish your concoction is the cup and blade itself.

Though using the Balance involves the extra steps of recording each ingredient, doing so added maybe a minute or two to the entire smoothie creation process. Like with meal-prepping, I thought the long-term benefit of a healthier body was worth the investment of added thought and planning. 

The Balance is about $150, compared to $60 for the original Nutribullet, and comes with the blending base with smart sensor, extractor blade, two large cups, two lids, and two lip rings. If you truly intend to make long-term changes to your diet and would like guidance on how to do it, you should definitely consider the Nutribullet Balance. Otherwise, its special smart features and app compatibility will go to waste and you're probably better off with the original model. 

Shop the Nutribullet Balance for $99.99 at Bed Bath & Beyond, and $129.99 at Walmart and Target

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