The Smoothie
Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine with Pomegranate Balsamic
Dinner: blended greens soup
Exercise: 45 min bike, 45 min treadmill
At the request of K.M. here is my current smoothie recipe:
I use a digital kitchen scale to weigh everything so that each smoothie is roughly the same.
4 oz frozen spinach
1 banana (this should make the total weight between 8 and 10 oz)
frozen strawberries - add until total weight is 15 oz
5 oz frozen blueberries (about 1 cup)
For my smoothie kits I put all of these things in a reusable Gladware (or similar) container and keep them in the freezer. I also have small bottles of water that I refill and keep in the fridge. They are the smaller Poland Spring bottles and it comes out to about 20 oz or 2½ cups. I dump the water in the VitaMix, put in 1 Tbsp of Flaxseed Meal (I get Bob's Red Mill), and then the fruit. If I'm looking for a more liquidy texture in the smoothie (rather than frozen and slushy) I toss the fruit in the microwave for a minute to thaw... they're still very frozen though.
Why these fruits? Well... first of all because I like them, but secondly Dr. F reccommends berries especially for people who are trying to lose weight... or so I remember. Spinach is among the most nutrient dense foods that you can have. Bananas lend a great texture and sweetness to the smoothie and the flax has all of those great Omega 3 Fatty Acids... although I can't remember exactly what they do at the moment...
Before I got brave enough to add spinach; I used to make my smoothie this way:
1 banana
9-10 oz frozen strawberries
5 oz frozen blueberries (about 1 cup)
1 Tbsp flaxseed meal
~2 cups water
And in the very beginning I used to make my smoothies like this:
1 banana
1 cup blueberries
Strawberries (I can't remember how much)
1 Tbs flaxseed meal
1 cup Soy Milk (I like the unsweetened Westsoy - it's just soybeans and filtered water)
1 cup water - or more if needed
I cut out the soy milk because I found that I didn't mind the smoothies without it; plus it's added fat and calories that I didn't really need. It does add an extra creaminess and is a good thing to use when getting used to drinking smoothies. The addition of the spinach has cut down on the sweetness of the overall smoothie but it's true what everyone says - you really can't taste it!
All of my measurements (especially the most recent ones) are tailored to fill up a Nalgene bottle, which when filled up to the very top will hold 40 oz of liquid, without there being any extra. So it breaks down to be about 20 fluid oz of water and 20 oz by weight of fruit to end up with 40 oz of smoothie. The kits and water bottles are a huge time saver in the morning; which is especially great for me because I am so NOT a morning person!
