Recently, I’ve moved away from an oatmeal and apple for breakfast and over to a breakfast smoothie.
At first, I didn’t think this would last for more than a few days, but after two months, the honeymoon is over and we are still going strong.
I highly recommend making the shift if you are a person that needs to incorporate protein into your morning meal.
How do you know if you are such a person? Try it out, and see if you are less hungry throughout the day.
I use to think sticking with low-calorie choices mattered more than the makeup of my breakfast.
Turns out I was wrong.
Once I started having a smoothie with protein powder, my sugar cravings throughout the day went way down.
I’m not a nutritionist, so I can’t give you the science behind all this stuff, but I can tell you my experience, and it was night and day.
So with that in mind, here are a few tips when creating the perfect morning smoothie.
First- Protein
Like I said, I think the protein is the difference-maker here. If you have time to make an egg white omelet every morning, then more power to you. But for me, this is the best way I can get protein during the weekdays.
However, I don’t think all protein powder is created equal. About four years ago, I was really big on morning smoothies then as well, and I used soy protein powder every morning.
In addition, I was eating a lot of tofu.
Long story, short- I was getting way too much soy and my body kind of freaked out.
I started getting really bad night sweats and a few other weird symptoms.
I went to my doctor and we couldn’t figure out what was wrong. One day my husband stumbled across an article about the side effects of too much soy.
I cut it out (I’ll still have tofu about a couple times a week, but that’s it) and now I’m totally fine.
So learn from my experience and skip the soy.
However, there are lots of other great protein powders that are lower on the calorie scale and give you the benefit of long-lasting fullness.
My go to right now is Vega. I’m a big fan of the Proteins and Greens, in vanilla. It works great and doesn’t have that bad taste that so many powders can leave. One scoop is all I need.
I also always use a cup of unsweetened almond milk. The calorie count should be about 30 cals per serving.
I also add frozen fruit to my smoothie. Going frozen means I don’t have to add ice. It also ends up being cheaper than fresh fruit.
And another added bonus, you can try all kinds of fruits that aren’t available in their fresh format because of the season.
Some of my favorites include pineapple, mango, and pomegranate seeds. Also, I always add a half of frozen banana for all the vitamin benefits and to add some thickness.
Finally, I always like to add a few healthy shakes from the cinnamon jar.
Besides the fact that I love the taste, cinnamon also has a lot of health benefits, including balancing out your blood sugar.
I put everything in a blender, pack up my lunch while my breakfast does it’s own prep work and then put it in a to-go cup and head out the door.
I’m not a fan of eating on the go, but in this case, I don’t mind making an exception at all.
