Smoothies are a great way to ingest some much needed vitamins. Quick to make and generally delicious, smoothies can give you a fast nutrient boost. All you need is a simple hand blender, a food processor, or a specially designed smoothie maker. Gather a selection of healthy ingredients, blend them, and voila! you have a healthy smoothie ready to go.
But watch out! When you blend fruit you destroy the fibre content in the food and speed up the rate at which your body absorbs the sugars. This has a damaging impact on the body as excess sugar is converted into fat. To avoid this downside, add protein to your smoothie using whey protein powder or a vegan alternative such a pea protein.
Here is a protein rich smoothie recipe I’ve been following the past few weeks. The recipe is fairly simple and can be followed to completion within 8 minutes. Currently I drink one of these smoothies everyday.
Protein Rich Smoothie Recipe:
1 Banana
1 Kiwi OR fruit of choice
1/2 inch fresh ginger
1/2 inch fresh turmeric
1/2 a lemon
A handful of frozen berries (frozen berries are cheaper than fresh berries, and they are nutritionally identical)
A dash of rice, hemp, coconut, or almond milk
10-20g of protein powder
Directions:
Peel the fruit and roots, squeeze the lemon, and combine all the ingredients into a blender or glass missing jug. Blend the ingredients throughly. Once the ingredients are blended you can decided whether or not to add more milk depending on the desired consistency of the smoothie. I prefer mine quite thick.
Once complete, consume the protein rich smoothie within 24hrs.
Protein Alternatives
If you don’t like using protein powders you can combine your protein by eating protein rich food while drinking your smoothie. A piece of lean meat, eggs, or lots of mushrooms and lentils will suffice.