Smoothies - A Power Meal

         Anyone who reads my food plans will know that I drink a lot of smoothies, In my opinion they are the easiest and the quickest way to get lots of healthy things into you in one go. As far as sports nutrition goes they are ideal as well, not only do they get healthy foods into you but they also offer a great option for hydration. As well as all this they are quick and easy to prepare and most of them can be made in bulk and frozen to be drank at a later date. They can be drank as a meal replacement or as a snack just to help you through the day!

What Goes into a Smoothie?

         Almost anything. If you can blend it and its edible then it can go into a smoothie. The majority of smoothies out there will contain milk, yoghurt and some form of fruit, though not all of them do! The trick with smoothies is to find out how to get a good balance of thickness taste and nutritional benefit. Too thick or thin and you wont want to finish it and you'll miss out on some goodness, or if you don't put enough good stuff in then you will end up doing more damage then good!

Nutritious and Delicious!

         I've found that adding things like yoghurt, Ice and banana's will help to thicken the mixture giving it a nice texture and also helping to satisfy your hunger. You can add some nutrients to the mixture by adding berries and other fruits, which as well as being good for you also help give your smoothies a sweet flavour. On top of berries and fruits you can add honey, peanut butter and flavoured whey powder to add some extra flavour and a bit of protein!

What do I need to make one?

         The only thing you need is a blender, and if you can't get a proper one then you can pick up a hand blender from the value section of any supermarket chain for about £5 but you will just make a bit more of a mess and need to put a bit more work into it! Apart from that all you need to make a smoothie is the ingredients your going to put in!

My hard working blender!

Where can I find recipes?

         You don't need to, I find the best thing to do is experiment with different flavours until you find a nice balance of healthy and tasty. However if your in a hurry and want some recipes straight away you can go to the Men's Health website where they have a smoothie maker section full of recipes tailored to different situations. They also do an App for iPhone that does basically the same thing as the website. On top of that there are various food websites out there that have smoothies sections and if you look in the recommended reading section then you will see a book called 'the new abs diet' that is a huge advocate of smoothies in lowering body fat and promoting fitness!

         At least twice a week I make a Blueberry and Banana smoothie as I've found that its perfect for my training, It always leave me full (without being bloated) and full of energy, since I've started drinking them a couple of hours before a workout (with a power bar) I've felt full of energy and my fitness has benefited from this! The recipe is as follows:

• 100g of Blueberries
• 1 medium Banana
• 3 tablespoons of ready oats
• 3 tablespoons of natural yoghurt / vanilla yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon of unsweetened honey
• 1 scoop (30g) of strawberry whey protein
• 300ml of skimmed milk

         I've talked about the health benefits of blueberries in one of my first posts, so they're an obvious choice for my smoothies as they have no real drawbacks but price. Bananas are delicious, full of Potassium and help thicken the mixture as well as being a source of sugar. The oats are a great source of slow release energy and also thicken then mixture, with the help from the yoghurt and banana! The honey gives it a sweetness kick while being a source of sugar in a natural form to give you immediate energy. The strawberry whey protein ads some protein which helps with carb uptake and also adds to the diet quickly and easily. Finally the milk helps add to the volume and dilutes the mixture so if its too thick for your liking you can always add some more! This is my standard but depending on what I can get a hold of and what is in season I do change it up, I sometimes ad strawberries or raspberries instead of blueberries just to give it a different taste!

         If you can't even be bothered to make them then you can always buy them from the shops and there are some really good brands out there!

Innocent have a tasty but expensive range!

Any drawbacks?

         Not really, though obviously its important to remember what goes in must come out, and too much liquid or fibre before exercise is not ideal as you would like to avoid having an accident mid sprint, so maybe be careful with the amount of fruit you add! Its also important to consider what you put in when you think about freezing them for a latter date! Anything with banana in cannot be kept if you have used milk, this is because a reaction takes place causing the banana to start to turn brown and expire early making it inedible. Some consideration must be taken with adding protein as well as if left in liquid state for too long it can cause bacteria to grow so it should either be drank right away or frozen!

         That's your lot for smoothies, give them a go I can't recommend them enough, just make sure you invest in a good blender as they have many uses above making just smoothies and make the whole process quick and easy!

Cheers,

Rich