I was talking to a good friend of mine the other day who was telling me that she wanted to start making smoothies for breakfast but didn't like yogurt. She was looking for some healthy options that she could try. It's really no surprise to our friends, former athletes, or the Fed Ex guy that we would suggest making a shake.
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My husband and I are big believers and partakers in shakes and supplements. A very easy way for my friend to make a shake would be with whey protein. Whey is an easily digestible protein source that is derived from milk. You can find it almost anywhere - normally it comes in a 2 lb. tub and runs between $15 and $20. I tend to be a brat and only drink things that I like the taste of so I normally stay towards the chocolate end of flavors and stick to brands that I know. (Right now, we have Pure Protein - which you can find at Target or Walmart.)
My husband has a lecture that he gives on the importance of eating protein as soon as you get up, accompanied by a little voice he gives to muscles that yell, "I'm starving!" If you're interested, I'll get him to chime in on my blog one day. But for my purposes, I know if I don't eat protein in the morning, I don't lose weight. Therefore, I make sure I either eat eggs or have a shake.
So...back to our shake.
Get out your blender and decide what kind of shake you want. Throw in a scoop of your whey and some skim milk (or rice milk or 2% or soy...whatever flips your skirt)...just be sure to measure your liquid with the glass you're going to drink it in. Now your additions are up to you. If you like chocolate, be sure you get chocolate whey. Add some fruit (a banana or some frozen strawberries). Maybe you want to skip the fruit and make your liquid half milk, half coffee (like a little whey mocha).
If you want something that sticks to you, throw in a little oatmeal. If you want something totally fruit flavored, then I'd get vanilla whey. I've seen some shakes brewed with vanilla whey, milk, brewed green tea, apple sauce and a little cinnamon. Yum! I would steer clear of adding peanut butter or something with a higher calorie content unless you're making a post-workout shake (which we'll talk about at a different time). We normally sprinkle in a little ground flaxseed to get a dose of Omega-3 fatty acids as well!
When you make eggs for breakfast, do you eat only the whites? I did that on the WW diet and it wasn't that bad and I could have three egg whites for only 1 point, which was awesome! Because it really made a lot of egg. Just curious. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteC doesn't mind eggs, but P really really really doesn't care for the taste of them. At all. Ever. What advice do you have as far as serving other proteins for kids for breakfast? Could you make a chocolate whey shake for someone as young as our kids are?
ReplyDeleteTonya - I actually just asked Scott to write a post about the benefits of eating different parts to the egg, so that's going to come soon. I used to eat just egg whites when I was just fixing breakfast for me, but now I do the whole egg...simply because ERS won't eat them if they aren't yellow and it's a pain to make a million different breakfasts! So I just make straight eggs. When I go back and look at my food journal, it wasn't the calories from eggs that were killing me...it was the cinnamon rolls and doughnuts that I was having WITH the eggs!!
ReplyDeleteMama E - ERS went through a "I hate eggs" spell, so I feel your pain. Even now, I make scrambled eggs and hide hers under a piece of melted cheese. My kids both eat oatmeal (especially with brown sugar!) so I make the oatmeal on the stove top and after I add the oats, I also throw in a couple of eggs and stir them in to cook. (If you do this with egg whites, I bet they won't even be able to tell.) You could do yogurt smoothies with fruit. I don't do whey with my kids...although Scott has been known to give ERS drinks from his "milkshake" before. ha! I guess I take the Bill Cosby approach with my kids (there are eggs IN the pancakes!!) and am happy when they eat anything, much less protein! I just try my best to stay low on the sugar for them.
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