Smoothies

elcollins2809

I’m addicted to junk food at the moment but I’m here to ask; how do you guys make great appetising smoothies.

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

I don't.

I find them a waste of my calories.

elcollins2809

I don’t really have time in the morning before work. I know there are some out there that get up really early to make a great protein breakfast but I’m not just there yet. So I I can have smoothies rather than leaving home hungry and end up getting junk because I’m staving by lunch. That’s all

TavistockToad

elcollins2809 wrote: »

I’m addicted to junk food at the moment but I’m here to ask; how do you guys make great appetising smoothies.

Drinking my calories does nothing for me. I'd rather had an apple and a salad.

Try the recipe section for ideas

TavistockToad

elcollins2809 wrote: »

I don’t really have time in the morning before work. I know there are some out there that get up really early to make a great protein breakfast but I’m not just there yet. So I I can have smoothies rather than leaving home hungry and end up getting junk because I’m staving by lunch. That’s all

Prep the night before.

I saw your other thread as well and at the end of the day, if you want to lose weight you'll need to make some lifestyle changes to enable that to happen.

livingleanlivingclean

elcollins2809 wrote: »

I don’t really have time in the morning before work. I know there are some out there that get up really early to make a great protein breakfast but I’m not just there yet. So I I can have smoothies rather than leaving home hungry and end up getting junk because I’m staving by lunch. That’s all

I don't find smoothies that great either - they don't do anything to fill me up, and when I had them I still wanted food!

You could prepare plenty of things in advance - overnight oats, yoghurt (a high protein one, or add protein powder, with fruit, nuts etc), egg muffins/frittata, wraps or sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, protein pancakes/waffles.

elcollins2809

Tavisstocktoad, I actually never that of that, thanks!

kommodevaran

elcollins2809 wrote: »

I’m addicted to junk food at the moment; how do you guys make great appetising smoothies.

elcollins2809 wrote: »

I don’t really have time in the morning before work. I know there are some out there that get up really early to make a great protein breakfast but I’m not just there yet. So I I can have smoothies rather than leaving home hungry and end up getting junk because I’m staving by lunch.

I think you are making some odd connections and juxtapositions. Not your fault, I blame the diet industry, but they don't help you either way. You aren't addicted to junk food, you have a habit of eating certain things you like, maybe eating too much of it, because you like it, and who can blame you, they're designed to be irresistible, cheap and always available, marketed to appeal to our social as well as our selfish instincts; enjoying food is frowned upon; all these things combined gives us a fear of weight gain and health problems; trying to avoid the foods we like, makes us overeat.

Smoothies you like are appetizing to you. If you don't like smoothies at all, you don't have to make smoothies. If you're hungry in the morning, you need to eat. If you don't have time for "a great protein breakfast", a smoothie isn't the only alternative. A sandwich or a yogurt or a banana is fine. You don't have to eat junk for lunch. If you bring lunch, you can eat that.

me_doing17

Me i replace the breakfast with chia seeds. I put them in the water the evening before. This i chose because in the morning i do not have time to eat breakfast. I like to wake up late

callsitlikeiseeit

id rather eat my food than drink it.

ladyhusker39

I hopped on the smoothie band wagon when I first started too. Then I input the ingredients in the recipe builder and realized I was drinking 600 calories for breakfast. Then I'd go hunting for something to eat a couple of hours later.

Now my go to breakfasts are actual food and average 300 calories and I'm set until lunch.

diannethegeek

My smoothies are Greek yogurt, protein powder, and fruit + water until I get the consitency I want. Blueberries & blackberry yogurt. PB2 + 1/2 a banana. Frozen mixed berries. I don't use recipes so I tend to go off my eyeballs and logging skills. I keep them around 300-400 calories.

Hunger and satiety work differently for everyone, so maybe we can let the OP play around and see what works best for them?

iowalinda

elcollins2809 wrote: »

I’m addicted to junk food at the moment but I’m here to ask; how do you guys make great appetising smoothies.

I was another one who realized I was consuming a lot of calories in my smoothies. Here's one that is pared down a bit: 1/2 cup or so of vanilla almond milk, a banana, 2 tsp peanut butter and 1 1/2 cups or so of ice or water. I think this makes a large smoothie with less than 300 calories. Wishing you all the best in your journey to kick junk food. You can do it

It would probably be helpful to add some spinach, but I don't usually do that.

kimny72

I only do smoothies in the summer when it's hot. I buy greens when they're cheap and freeze them in zip lock bags. My smoothies are water, flavored protein powder, peanut butter, and frozen greens and blueberries.

Otherwise, I'll plan ahead hard boiled eggs, mini frittatas, overnight yogurt and oats, and usually add an English muffin.

geatoomer

I am diabetic 2 and strive to keep my carbs at 15 g per meal or snack. I shy away from most fruits due to carbs. I mix almond milk, ice cubes, maybe 1/4 of small banana and a scoop of protein powder. If I feel the need I mix in a couple tablespoons Greek Yogurt. Some days I throw in a small amount of mixed berries or a tsp. Of peanut or almond butter instead of the banana. It keeps my blood sugars under control and keeps me full until around 10:00 when I eat a small snack. I usually drink a smoothie as I drive to work at 5am.

dsboohead

Smoothies are nice but ends up being caloric after you end up throwing in 3 different fruit and veggies. Doesn't stick with you either.
Make a peanut butter and banana sandwich on lite bread.....much for satisfying! Easier than making a smoothie. You gotta clean up after your done with the blender....YUCK!

Unknown

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lemurcat12

I enjoy smoothies sometimes, the ones I like are the same calories as my other common breakfasts. There are lots of super fast breakfasts if that's what you want.

I'm finally off my current smoothie kick, the cold weather finally got me. My current recipe (although it varies a lot) is protein powder (vanilla or plain), half an avocado, bunch of frozen greens, some roasted (and chilled) winter squash), and some berries (usually strawberries or blueberries), some homemade cashew milk (optional), and extra water to the right consistency.

When I was out of avocado I used banana instead.

I used to find smoothies not that filling, but lately they are as filling as any other breakfast (which means I'm good 'til lunch). I tend to enjoy them especially if I run first thing in the morning, since I often don't feel like eating right after. Going to do something warm tomorrow, though.

maryjennifer

elcollins2809 wrote: »

I’m addicted to junk food at the moment but I’m here to ask; how do you guys make great appetising smoothies.

There are ton of meal prep smoothie sites/videos online. Google, "meal prep smoothie" you can prep for a week, really convenient.

successgal1

We make one every morning with homemade kefir, liquid egg whites, a banana, oatmeal (not cooked), frozen fruit, and a double handful of greens if I have some. Lately its been radish greens from the garden. The whole thing is blended in a blendtec and we end up with two 24 oz servings. I'd rather drink my breakfast then eat it. Its very large, protein comes from kefir, egg whites and oatmeal. I generally drink it in my home office, or driving to my office office.

lucerorojo

iowalinda wrote: »

elcollins2809 wrote: »

I’m addicted to junk food at the moment but I’m here to ask; how do you guys make great appetising smoothies.

I was another one who realized I was consuming a lot of calories in my smoothies. Here's one that is pared down a bit: 1/2 cup or so of vanilla almond milk, a banana, 2 tsp peanut butter and 1 1/2 cups or so of ice or water. I think this makes a large smoothie with less than 300 calories. Wishing you all the best in your journey to kick junk food. You can do it

It would probably be helpful to add some spinach, but I don't usually do that.

I make a similar smoothie!! I use homemade almond milk, banana, 1 tbsp of fresh ground peanut butter and about 1/2-1 tsp of unsweetened cocoa. I'm using a bit more peanut butter than you are, and less almond milk (probably about 1/3 cup). It actually keeps me full through a 45 minute walk and 2-3 hours of work!

Another quick breakfast is an apple with 1-2 tbsp of nut butter (depends on how many calories you have). This or just a banana would be my no time to eat breakfast.

My typical breakfast is oatmeal with 10 g of sunflower seeds, pomegranate seeds (blueberries or raisins), cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp of maple syrup. And a fried or boiled egg. I did find last week when I was out of eggs that eating a quarter cup (or weight in grams) of the sunflower seeds in the oatmeal kept me pretty full.

I buy the old fashioned oatmeal and cook it in my rice cooker in the morning. It does take a few minutes. You could buy the 1 minute oats, if you like oatmeal and eat that.

I don't eat yogurt but you could make some smoothies with plain yogurt and berries.

On another note a "smoothie" with ice cream to me is a milk shake or an ice cream float! A dessert.

shaumom

My daughter has a lot of health problems and having smoothies in the morning have been a life saver for her, energy-wise. She loves them.
What has worked for us - to keep it low energy - was making something called a 'smoothie pack.'

This is a ziplock bag with everything that has to be frozen, or that can be frozen, inside the bag. We make them over a weekend and store them in the freezer until needed.

For breakfast, add the right amount of liquid plus the bag's contents to the blender, and you've got your smoothie. Nice and easy.

For every smoothie, we usually use:
1/2-1 cup liquid. We add this to the blender, pour the smoothie pack in after it, then blend it up. If there is not enough liquid, we add more. Some liquid ideas: water, milk (dairy, or any non-dairy milks like almond, soy, coconut, rice, etc...), coconut water, coconut milk, fruit juice, herbal tea, regular tea

1 1/2 cups fruit - at least half of it should be frozen, for a good texture (we chop up fresh fruit into 1-2 inch chunks and put them in the freezer. Then, the next day, we separate them into the smoothie packs, 3/4 cups (if we're going to add fresh fruit) or 1 1/2 cups.

We tend to use the full 1 1/2 cups frozen fruit, because chopping the fresh fruit when making the smoothie adds more work and we're going for speed and ease, you know? Some commonly used fruits that work well in smoothies are: berries of any kind, pineapple, mango, peach, orange, banana (over ripe bananas add even more sweet - and cooked apple is actually pretty awesome, too).

2-3 ice cubes of thickener- If we use all frozen fruit, we often don't even need this. But if desired, we put yogurt into ice cube trays, freeze them, and add 2-4 cubes to each bag. I know some folks have used peanut butter powder or raw oats or chia seeds, too. I don't know the amounts of these as well, though. I know some folks use peanut butter, but when we've tried, it had to be blended with NON-frozen smoothie ingredients first, and then ice was added and blended. Otherwise, even if added as unfrozen peanutbuter, the peanut butter just separated into little frozen chunks rather than blending and was kind of nasty.

Extra flavor or vitamin 'stuff' - If your fruit isn't very ripe, or flavorful, sweetener will be really important. Honey or agave syrup can work well. Or a few chopped, ripe dates or raisins, say. Or maybe you want an herb or an extract, like adding cinnamon or vanilla to a cooked apple and ripe banana smoothie, say. for extra vitamins, there are protein powders, wheat germ or flax, or veggies like cooked carrots or greens like kale or spinach, or even a vitamin powder.

Usually, if we have powders to add, we don't freeze them and just add them into the smoothie - but you can measure out the amounts ahead of time and put them into little snack sized ziplock bags, for convenience when you make the smoothie.



Re: recipes and feeling full.

I have noticed that our recipes with more protein have tended to leave the kids feeling more full. Also, we usually were looking for a FULL breakfast worth of calories, so we don't look to making ours low cal.

Some favorites of the kids have been:
coconut milk (not to drink, but canned) and pineapple juice, canned pineapple we have frozen - that's it. like a piña colada. Could add a protein powder for more bulk, I would think.

orange juice and carrot juice, frozen mango, yogurt cubes

milk, frozen banana, yogurt cubes, peanut butter powder

soy milk, frozen strawberries and frozen bananas, yogurt cubes

soy milk, frozen strawberries, yogurt cubes, cocoa powder (sometimes peanut butter powder, too)

For bulk and to feel full longer, honestly, I'd look at getting some bulk soy or milk powder, or look at raw oats - something with protein, again. I see all of them in bulk at health food stores pretty often.



This site has a whole bunch listed that might help give you ideas, too -
https://helloglow.co/make-ahead-3-ingredient-smoothies/

rheddmobile

I don't have the issue others have mentioned of "drinking my calories" because my smoothies are more like ice cream and require a spoon, and they don't have that many calories anyway, around 200. Greek yogurt, a little almond milk, frozen strawberries, blueberries, or cherries, no added sweeteners. A squirt of lime juice. Sometimes cinnamon or dark chocolate. It's basically just frozen berries and Greek yogurt in a blender. If you can get hold of mamey fruit, it also makes a great smoothie! Imagine a big orange avocado, only it tastes like pumpkin pie. If you use ripe fruit you shouldn't really need sweetener.

I got a coupon from Smoothie King as swag from a race, and was looking at their nutrition info. Good grief, what a lot of calories and sugar! Even in the ones which are advertised as diet food. Their smallest diet smoothie which is sweetened with stevia has something like 400 calories, 60g of carbs and 40g sugar. What is the stevia even doing in there if it already has that much sugar? Coupon went in the trash, oh well.

lemurcat12

Purchased smoothies can be terrible, yeah. I've found one local place that has okay ones, but not as many veg as I'd use at home and still too high cal for the amount you get, so I don't do it (plus overpriced!). Mine are around 350-450 (which is what I want for breakfast), but take forever to consume, multiple glasses. I don't have the issue with drinking them vs. eating them that some do, in fact often the drinking is a bonus, part of why I want a smoothie.

It's really important to me that mine include vegetables (as in my mind a meal does) and usually a couple of different kinds, as well as fat and protein.

laurenebargar

Smoothies didnt fill me up until I started adding oats to them.

My two favorite right now are cinnamon roll smoothies which is oats, vanilla greek yogurt, a banana, cinnamon almond milk and some brown sugar

And pumpkin pie, canned pumpkin, almond milk, oats, vanilla greek yogurt, cinnamon, and a banana