Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Working those Dairy Free Smoothies

As I discussed in this post, last Spring I managed to pack on 5 pounds so I re-committed myself to eating well to take the weight off. 

I'm happy to report that I managed to lose the weight.  I'm back down to 129 pounds, and am hoping to lose a few pounds more. 

Part of my recommittment to eating well involved creating new breakfast options for myself, including non-dairy smoothies.  I posted how I was making myself smoothies with almond milk, bananas, berries, and ice, and my commentators gave me some very good suggestions for making them better.

First of all, a major hat tip to Laurie who suggested using frozen banana.  It really does give the smoothie a lot of body, and allowed me to eliminate the ice cubes which created an unsatisfactory texture.  Whenever bananas start to turn brown, I peel them, slice them and store them in Zip-loc bags in the freezer to make smoothies with. 

Next, adding ground flax seeds was also brilliant.   My colon is forever grateful for that suggestion.

So, here is how I now make my morning smoothies.  I'm including calorie counts of the ingredients.

Banana Berry Non-Dairy Smoothie

Ingredients

1 medium-sized frozen banana--105 calories
1 cup fresh berries --45-85 calories depending on type of berries used
1 teaspoon ground flax meal-15 calories
4 ounces unsweetened almond milk--20 calories
6 ounces of water

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Total Calories 185 - 225

I found that this smoothie fills me up for the entire morning.

I'm also working on a Chocolate Banana Protein Smoothie, but that still needs work.   I'll get back to you with that one soon.

3 comments:

  1. Right on! That's my smoothie too! I recently got on the banana freeze bandwagon too, they go bad so quickly. I also add the two scoops of Vega Smoothie Enhancer to mine to give it that punch of green goodness!

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  2. If you add a scoop of 100% Whey Protein Isolate powder to those smoothies, you would packing a super protein punch that would also help slim you down even more! I have lost 15 pounds just by adding protein to all my smoothies, but especially my breakfast smoothie. Also, chia seeds are fiberiffic and have even more omegas than flax, if you're ever looking for something less grainy to add. :)

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  3. I like the Vega approach, being a plant-based alkaline product as opposed to a cheese by-product (acidic). Health claims being that an acidic diet causes the body a lot stress and leaches calcium from the bones.

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