The Ideal Meal Replacement Smoothie

[artemicion]

I've recently taken to drinking smoothies as meal replacements and thought I'd post here for suggestions on how to improve the recipe. Taste is not a huge deal as I can tolerate and down just about anything. Healthiness is the number one priority. Convenience is also important, in terms of minimizing the prep and cleanup time.

I usually drink one for breakfast and one for dinner.

My current recipe (measurements are estimates, since I generally just eyeball everything):
~3/4 cup almond milk
3 big spoonfuls of greek yogurt
2 fuji apples
3 fistfuls of kale
1 banana
~1 cup of mixed berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries)

The recipe yields about 48 oz, which I drink as three 16 oz servings.

Given that this smoothie composes a large chunk of my diet, I'm open to suggestions on changes to cover a wider nutritional profile. Two modifications I'm considering are 1) adding a spoonful of whey protein supplement and 2) changing from almond milk to regular milk or soy milk (they all basically taste the same to me). Both are intended to increase my protein intake, since I don't eat much meat, eggs, etc.

Any input is appreciated.

 

[smackababy]

If healthiness is a concern, I am pretty sure an all liquid diet has been shown to cause intestinal complications in prolonged use.

Why does it have to be a smoothie / shake? Can't you just eat a meal? Why is the smoothie the important part? And, what goals are you trying to achieve with this?

 

[artemicion]

If healthiness is a concern, I am pretty sure an all liquid diet has been shown to cause intestinal complications in prolonged use.

Why does it have to be a smoothie / shake? Can't you just eat a meal? Why is the smoothie the important part? And, what goals are you trying to achieve with this?

The goal of the smoothie is to eat something that's healthy and relatively easy to prepare. I used to eat cereal or oatmeal for breakfast, but I'm also trying to reduce my carb intake and increase my fruit/veggie intake.

From my understanding, "liquid diets" are juice diets, which are not the same as smoothies. Pureeing fruits and veggies into a smoothie preserves the fibrous pulp and skin, whereas juicing does not. Which I imagine would cause intestinal complications if you did any juice diet long term since you'd be fiber deficient.

 

[smackababy]

I was talking more about completely liquid diets of those that are unable to eat, like feeding tube type stuff. I didn't mean some fad diet thing.

I only ask because you're talking about breakfast and dinner. If it was only breakfast, I could see the convenience factor of just throwing a few things into a blender and drinking it on the commute to work, but for dinner as well, I'd suggest you slow down if you have almost no time to prepare a decent meal. It doesn't take very long (maybe half an hour) to cook dinner.

 

[artemicion]

If you have a link to the intestinal complications thing, I'd be interested in reading about it.

 

[z1ggy]

Where's the protein? 6oz of almond milk and "3 big spoonfuls" of greek yogurt is not enough protein for a real replacement. At least not a person who's attempting to build and muscle or lose any weight.

That recipe might have around 10-15g protein between the entire 48oz.

 

[Ancalagon44]

My breakfast smoothie is made up of:
4/5ths of a cup of low carb, high protein greek yoghurt (I think 9g of protein per 100g, and about 1g of carbs).
Two large spoons of sugar and salt free peanut butter (protein and fat)
One large spoon of wheat bran (for the fiber).

 

[Zivic]

Just curious, why not just eat the following:

3 big spoonfuls of greek yogurt
2 fuji apples
3 fistfuls of kale
1 banana
~1 cup of mixed berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries)

and then wash it down with ~3/4 cup almond milk

seems better than blending it.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Just curious, why not just eat the following:

3 big spoonfuls of greek yogurt
2 fuji apples
3 fistfuls of kale
1 banana
~1 cup of mixed berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries)

and then wash it down with ~3/4 cup almond milk

seems better than blending it.

I always ask people this - not necessarily people who do smoothies, but people who juice. It's quite a bit more satisfying to actually eat something and have that psychological boost. Smoothies have their place and time. However, as has been pointed out previously, this one is abysmally low in protein.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Just curious, why not just eat the following:

3 big spoonfuls of greek yogurt
2 fuji apples
3 fistfuls of kale
1 banana
~1 cup of mixed berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries)

and then wash it down with ~3/4 cup almond milk

seems better than blending it.

I am guessing expedience, is the main reason.

I am curious if blending significantly reduces the amount of energy required to consume and digest the food v. chewing and breaking down larger pieces?

 

[Raghu]

The goal of the smoothie is to eat something that's healthy and relatively easy to prepare. I used to eat cereal or oatmeal for breakfast, but I'm also trying to reduce my carb intake and increase my fruit/veggie intake.

Lot of fruits are sugar/carb heavy. Add avocados to the smoothie instead of banana.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Carbs are the enemy.

 

[artemicion]

Just curious, why not just eat the following:

3 big spoonfuls of greek yogurt
2 fuji apples
3 fistfuls of kale
1 banana
~1 cup of mixed berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries)

and then wash it down with ~3/4 cup almond milk

seems better than blending it.

Firstly, I doubt I could sustain any diet that involves eating raw kale. Pureeing it with fruit makes it go down much more easily. Secondly, there's a convenience factor, since I buy the berries frozen (to save money) and eating it by itself would take advance planning and prep (either thawing in the microwave or remembering to thaw it out in advance).

 

[artemicion]

Where's the protein? 6oz of almond milk and "3 big spoonfuls" of greek yogurt is not enough protein for a real replacement. At least not a person who's attempting to build and muscle or lose any weight.

That recipe might have around 10-15g protein between the entire 48oz.

I mentioned in the OP that I was thinking about adding whey protein supplement and changing almond milk to regular milk or soy milk for added protein.

 

[Zivic]

Carbs are the enemy.

the wrong carbs are the enemy

 

[highland145]

the wrong carbs are the enemy

Beer is a good carb.

 

[z1ggy]

I mentioned in the OP that I was thinking about adding whey protein supplement and changing almond milk to regular milk or soy milk for added protein.

Missed that part, sorry.

Def add some whey protein as you stated you do not generally eat many other wholesome protein sources.

 

[norseamd]

3 fistfuls of kale

how does this taste

smelled some uncooked kale and it smelled horrible and weird

 

[norseamd]

the wrong carbs are the enemy

which ones

more complex than refined vs whole grains right?

sugar vs simple starch vs complex carbs

are maltodextrin and dextrose good? that is what they use in post workout right? pretty much all of the carbs i eat are from food so i do not have a big idea of what carbs i eat. what are some sources of good carbs

 

[norseamd]

I am curious if blending significantly reduces the amount of energy required to consume and digest the food v. chewing and breaking down larger pieces?

yes it does. you are doing the same thing as chewing but much more grinded up. cooking foods does this even more

Lot of fruits are sugar/carb heavy. Add avocados to the smoothie instead of banana.

they are also full of fiber and micronutrients like vitamins minerals and phytonutrients. bananas have a lot of potassium

 

[Raghu]

^ Im sure you can find the micronutrients in other foods without the sugar. Potassium, for instance, is easiest to obtain from low sodium salt. The vitamins/minerals can be obtained from other vegetable.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

^ Im sure you can find the micronutrients in other foods without the sugar. Potassium, for instance, is easiest to obtain from low sodium salt. The vitamins/minerals can be obtained from other vegetable.

Natural sugar is not inherently bad. Don't make it seem so. The fiber is sufficient. Also, have you checked the caloric density of fruit? Typically pretty low. It's not like eating a bowl of pasta. Low sodium salt makes it very easy to overdose yourself with potassium. It's silly and unnecessary. You're right about the other vitamins/minerals being present in other things. However, they're not typically as palatable. Honestly, even if this were an every day thing, the OP would be healthier than most. Especially if he's exercising in addition to that, his insulin sensitivity will be pretty good. No need to condemn fruit, of all things.

 

[SP33Demon]

My breakfast smoothie is made up of:
4/5ths of a cup of low carb, high protein greek yoghurt (I think 9g of protein per 100g, and about 1g of carbs).
Two large spoons of sugar and salt free peanut butter (protein and fat)
One large spoon of wheat bran (for the fiber).

Two large spoons of refined sugar? Is that really necessary? Just substitute frozen fruits.

 

[gorb]

I never see decent sounding smoothie recipes for a lactose intolerant person with nut allergies

 

[blackdogdeek]

I never see decent sounding smoothie recipes for a lactose intolerant person with nut allergies

I used to make smoothies with the following:

Cultured coconut milk (like yogurt)
Frozen blueberries
Fresh strawberries
Coconut milk (to make it less thick)

Which nut allergies do you have?