Hey friends! I’ve been posting “smoothie time” on Instagram a lot lately, and many of you have asked me what I put in my smoothies, so I thought I would share that recipe today!
I have mentioned having trouble with my appetite for two years now. I thought it was just stress-related, because when I get anxious, I get nauseated and can’t eat, but the longer I go through this journey, the more I realize things I felt that I blamed on anxiety, are in fact real symptoms of infection. Of course my poor appetite gets worse when I get anxious, and I have felt significant improvement in my appetite since we got the slow gas leak fixed in our house (still need to write about that), but also the more I heal, the more my appetite comes back.
I’m really good at putting pressure on myself, and feeling like I’m not doing enough to get myself healthy. I struggled with smoothies for a long time because I thought I needed to fill them with veggies like kale, and beets, and carrots, and other things I hate in smoothies. Then one day I was like, forget this, let me just make something I know I will like, that will get some nutrition in me, instead of trying to choke down something that causes my adrenals to freak out even more from stressing myself out. If you aren’t enjoying your food, it’s not worth eating!
When I was at my lowest low back in February, my chiropractor told me about a plant protein powder she liked, and suggested I try it to sip on when I needed to get food in me, but was feeling nauseated. I picked up Garden of Life Grain Free Chocolate Plant Protein, and loved it. It really helped me out, and I could mix it straight with water, and just as she said, sip on it to help get some food in me. Then I did the IgG food allergy test through my doctor, and found out I was showing antibodies to chocolate. (Dang it). By that point I was at least eating a bit more, and moved past the protein drinks, so I didn’t think much about it.
Even though I was eating better again, I was still feeling like I wasn’t getting enough food in me, and my nutrition coach, Megan suggested I try a smoothie for a snack to try to pack in more fat and calories (seriously people, never in my life would I have imagined that conversation happening to me. Anybody who knows me prior to all this, knows I always had trouble NOT over-eating. Don’t ever, ever, ever, ever wish you had less of an appetite, trust me). So I was back at the smoothie game again. Smoothies can be difficult to get a enough protein in when you avoid dairy, and want them to taste good. I tried hemp protein powder (gross), then I tried hemp hearts (also gross), and then the light bulb went off. Duh. I loved the Garden of Life chocolate protein, so why not try the vanilla flavor? That’s exactly what I did, and it was finally the magic ingredient to me enjoying smoothies again!
Since I knew veggies were out if I wanted to enjoy this, I just stuck with berries. Back in my dieting days I would often make the smoothie recipe from The Fat Flush to have as breakfast, and I loved it, so I based this recipe off of that. I don’t really measure, I just estimate portions, so heres generally what I do:
1 cup of ice
1 cup of frozen organic berries, my favorite are raspberries, second favorite strawberries
1 scoop of Garden of Life Grain-free Plant Protein, Smooth Vanilla flavor
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1-2 tablespoons of grass-fed beef collagen protein
1-2 teaspoons of Brain Octane, MCT oil, or coconut oil
2-3 tablespoons of Natural Value brand coconut cream
1 tsp of Camu Camu powder
Cover with filtered water, and blend until smooth!
A few people on Instagram suggested doing cucumber or kale to get some veggies in without making the flavor gross. I tried cucumber, and it was great, but I like it best without. I also use the Natural Value coconut cream plus water to make coconut milk for the smoothie. You can do almond milk, cashew milk, or any other dairy-free milk you prefer. It’s great with almond milk also. This smoothie is pretty big, so I usually will share some of it with Bill.
The only thing I will say about this smoothie, is you kind of have to drink it quickly. This isn’t a chug until you can’t breathe situation, but don’t let it sit for more than like 20 minutes. 20 might even be pushing it. The vanilla flavor of the protein powder gets a little weird when it sits, and it changes the flavor of the smoothie in a really not cute way.
If you’ve been looking for a good smoothie recipe, and don’t want to drink a ton of sugar, I highly recommend this recipe! It tastes like berries and cream, and it’s a great way to get some extra nutrients in during the day. It has been a life saver to me on days when my appetite just isn’t where I’d like it to be.
Have any smoothie tips? Tell me in the comments below!
xo,
Hayley
I haven’t tried Garden of Life’s protein powder, but I’d like to. My body tolerates dairy just fine but NOT whey. I know this will make a lot of people cringe, but I use raw eggs in my smoothies for protein. As long as you use farm fresh there’s about a 0 chance of salmonella. You can’t taste them and they actually make it a bit creamier. My morning staple is raw milk, two raw eggs, MCT oil, collagen powder, cinnamon, and stevia. Sometimes I’ll add ice or frozen berries. Before I was pregnant and then breastfeeding I added maca powder which helped stabilize my increase my progesterone levels. Cheers to Heath!