Monday, January 30, 2012

I've Got The Shakes!

Ha-ha!  Protein shakes, I mean.
I've been making some variation of these shakes for quite some time now, and I thought I'd share how I make them - my current version anyway.
I drink one of these for breakfast, and for the next week anyway, I'll be having another for lunch (or dinner, if the need to CHEW comes at lunch time).
Ingredients.

Protein powder - 1 scoop.  At present, I am using something I don't recommend.  It has a lot of good stuff in it, but it also has sucralose (splenda), and that's something to really stay away from.  But I bought it a long time ago, and I hate throwing away perfectly good (ha ha - you know what I mean!) stuff.  When it's gone, I'll probably be switching to Jay Robb Whey Protein.  A bit more expensive, but you get what you pay for, right...?
Chia Seeds - 1 Tbsp.  I use the Nutiva brand.  I bought them at GNC.  They were on sale for buy one get one half off, so I bought 2 packages.
Fiber supplement - (just under) 1 Tbsp.  I have some Medibulk from Thorne Research leftover from the cleanse I did with PEERtrainer, and I've been putting it into my shakes.  But I won't bother reordering any more when it's gone.  But I also won't be using the Metamucil I used to take.  There's 8 grams of sugar in one serving!!  I might replace it with ground flaxseed or just leave it out all together.
Spinach - 1 big handful (about a cup).  Fresh.
Mixed berries - 1 cup. I use Wyman's Triple Berry Blend.
Coconut milk - 1 cup.  I use So Delicious, unsweetenend.  I used to use the canned coconut milk, lite and  regular, but I prefer the much larger serving size of the kind in the carton.  It makes a better shake.
Water - 1 cup.  Without it, the shake would need to be eaten with a spoon.
Blend and enjoy!!

I use a stick blender.  I bought it a couple years ago to blend homemade vegetable soup into drinkable soup.  I put all the ingredients in the big cup, blend it there, and drink it right from that cup.  After trial and error, I've learned that the best order for adding the ingredients is this: spinach, dry stuff (protein, fiber, chia), berries, coconut milk, then water.  If you're using a regular blender, I don't know what order would be best.
Also, for quick shake-making, I pre-single-serve what I can.

The water and coconut milk, I pour as I need it, but the spinach gets put in ziploc bags.  The berries get put in 1-cup containers in the fridge.  Leaving them frozen makes the shake too cold for me to drink, but I know a lot of people would prefer that.  The protein powder, fiber, and chia seeds all go in to containers together, and I store them in the pantry.
When I'm running late - as I was this morning, and as I do OFTEN - it's nice to know I can make a shake in about 1 minute from start to finish!

1 comment:

  1. A friend asked me what was wrong with Splenda. Just google "what's wrong with splenda" and you'll get an eyeful. But here are a couple statements to get your brain headed in the right direction...
    "These authorities say that Splenda has more in common with DDT than with food."
    and
    "Once it gets to the gut, sucralose goes largely unrecognized in the body as food - that's why it has no calories."
    In some sense, however, it may be a matter of choosing your poison. There are lots of bad things out there that we (that I) eat, and sometimes it's tough to fight every battle every day. But I don't think a little more knowledge is ever a bad idea.

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