Most of my friends have the following routine after workouts:
-put protein powder in water, shake it, drink
-shower
-eat meal
This doesn’t work for me; I don’t like the taste of just water and protein powder mixed together, so for years I have been tinkering with my recipe for a protein shake meal replacement and I think I have it perfected. It takes roughly 10 minutes to make and the result is a healthy and delicious protein shake with balanced macronutrient ratios.
Ingredients
-16 ounces unsweetened almond milk
-12 ounces frozen berries
-1 organic medium banana
-1 tablespoon organic finely ground flaxseed
-1/2 tablespoon chocolate covered chia seeds
-1 tablespoon organic peanut butter
-1 scoop whey protein
-750 mg creatine hydrochloride
658.5 calories
-20.75g Fat, 28.35% total calories
-82.5g Carbohydrate, 50.11% total calories
-34.33g protein, 20.9% total calories
Benefits of these Ingredients
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Omega-3 Fatty Acids are thought to have numerous health benefits: decreasing risk of heart disease, lowering levels of depression, visual and neurological development aid in children, and possible cognition benefits. Chia seeds and flaxseed are both high in omega-3 fatty acids.
Antioxidants
Although most studies are inconclusive, antioxidants are thought to neutralize and remove free radicals from the blood stream. Free radicals are destructive to our cells and contribute to cancer and the aging process. Berries, flaxseed, and chia seeds are all high in antioxidants.
Creatine
Generally thought of as a supplement which increases muscle mass and body size, creatine has been shown to have benefits for working memory and Intelligence:
Creatine supplementation is in widespread use to enhance sports-fitness performance, and has been trialled successfully in the treatment of neurological, neuromuscular and atherosclerotic disease. Creatine plays a pivotal role in brain energy homeostasis, being a temporal and spatial buffer for cytosolic and mitochondrial pools of the cellular energy currency, adenosine triphosphate and its regulator, adenosine diphosphate. In this work, we tested the hypothesis that oral creatine supplementation (5 g d(-1) for six weeks) would enhance intelligence test scores and working memory performance in 45 young adult, vegetarian subjects in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over design. Creatine supplementation had a significant positive effect (p < 0.0001) on both working memory (backward digit span) and intelligence (Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices), both tasks that require speed of processing. These findings underline a dynamic and significant role of brain energy capacity in influencing brain performance.
source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691485/
Fiber
This shake contains 20 grams of fiber. The average American is thought to consume 15 grams of fiber, which is less than half the recommended daily dose. Fiber has benefits such as normal bowel movements, lowering cholesterol, controlling blood sugar levels, and maintaining a healthy weight.
Making the Shake
-Put 16 ounces of almond milk in blender
-Put banana and frozen fruit in the milk
-blend the milk, banana, berry combination until it's smooth and spiraling in the blender
-add in the flaxseed, chia, and peanut butter
-add scoop of whey protein and then creatine
-let everything blend for another 15 seconds, then enjoy your shake.
This is a large shake: if it is too much for you, you can refrigerate the rest and enjoy later.
Sources for information on omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, creatine, fiber
http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/omega-3-fatty-acids-fact-sheet
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/tc/antioxidants-topic-overview
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691485
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/fiber/art-20043983
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Nice! I have banana, frozen berry, soaked chia seeds, ground flax, lime, peanut butter + water smoothies like 2-3 times a day (not as big as yours, I use a ninja bullet blender). They are awesome!
Looks nice. I upvoted your work and will follow you!
I also just published a food article full of Steemians recipes
The Steemit Diet - 3 days full of mouth-watering recipes of Steemians! Steemit Cooking Book - Part 1
I would appreciate if you would check it out and upvote if you like it!
Regards,
puffin
Smoothies are easy... Do you make any protein snacks?
I generally try to stick to easy. Only protein thing I've ever cooked was pancakes, but that's far less healthy than other possible snacks. What have you made?
It sounds good, except for the protein powder. I've never found one that wasn't chalky. But, since I don't do anything but light weights and easy aerobic exercises to maintain fitness, and am not a bodybuilder, the protein powder thing isn't such a big deal to me. I used it when I first became a vegetarian, until I learned there were other, natural forms of protein that gave me excellent energy.
I like to use almond butter for protein, and often use ground nuts like macadamias and cashews. Almond milk and coconut milk are my milks of choice. Rice milk is okay, but it has a weird aftertaste, and I've avoided soymilk for years because of the risk of GMOs, as well as some of the health concerns of soy.
But, like I said, other than the protein powder, this looks delicious! Just the type of smoothie I make pretty often, myself. :)
The chalky protein powder taste is mitigated by the fruit and peanut butter. I try to consume roughly 200g of protein a day, so I need a bit more than nuts will give me. I'm by no means a bodybuilder either, but I try to keep my fat/carb/protein ratio in a roughly 40/30/30 area, so adding protein here and eating less carbs with my other meals evens it out.
and agree with rice milk aftertaste. I didn't like coconut milk with this particular smoothie either, but it's usually delicious.
Looks like smoothies that I used to make after a lift. I definitely used almond milk but instead of whey I used soy protein (it tastes better with the smoothie IMO, I wasn't afraid of a little extra estrogen, I lifted hard so generated more than enough testosterone).
This would certainly be tasty.
I tried rice milk for a while but hated it, I love coconut but had the same experience with coconut milk, have enjoyed almond milk by far the best. Have never experimented with soy protein, have always used vanilla or flavorless whey to avoid the extra estrogen and the other ingredients in the shake make up for the lack of taste in whey.
Well if you ever feel a need for some slightly bigger boobs...
https://www.amazon.com/EAS-Protein-Powder-Vanilla-1-3lb/dp/B0009EW1KY/ref=sr_1_3_s_it?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1472684101&sr=1-3&keywords=soy%2Bprotein
I used to use this ( I still do, but I used to also). It's not the lowest in sugar, but I exercised hard enough that I didn't care. I like how this particular protein tastes. Way better than my Optimum Gold Standard Whey...
omg
yummy
Looks great!!!
yasss
Nice receipt, sounds delicious!
huge smoothie fan and poster of them - never heard of creatine
added you to follow, will look forward to seeing more