Master Smoothie Recipe

I've been making this smoothie most days for several weeks now and thought it would be worth sharing. The basic recipe comes from Reader's Digest 21 day Tummy book designed for people who have digestive problems as well as for weight loss. Since it is concerned with digestive issues, it uses Greek yogurt and no milk. I don't have a problem with dairy so I do vary it some by adding some milk sometimes. 

Not my own photo, but this is how my smoothie looks....

Smoothie Master Recipe
6 ounces nonfat plain Greek yogurt -I like Tillamook Greek yogurt the best. It is much more mild tasting than other Greek yogurts. For easy clean up measuring, put the blender on your kitchen scale and zero the display then spoon in the yogurt until it weighs 6 ounces.

2 Tablespoons light Coconut Milk- This really is optional, but it adds flavor and is good for keeping you satisfied longer, and is good for your gut bacteria, stabilizes blood sugar and is anti-immflamitory.  I get a small can and put the contents in a pint jar in the fridge.

1-2 tablespoons water- (frozen fruit requires more water than fresh)

1 teaspoon real maple syrup- Expensive, but I keep a bottle for only my use and a teaspoon at a time doesn't use it up too fast. Costco is a good source. If not, use honey or even sugar. 1 tsp is only 14 calories.

4-6 ice Cubes-

Add One each from the following categories:

Fruit: For  sweetness, flavor, fiber and nutrition
1 Banana            1 cup strawberries           1 orange, peeled, and removed from membranes
2 kiwis              3/4 cup blueberries         3/4 Cup raspberries          20 red grapes
1/2 cup cubed papaya                1/2 cup pineapple chunks

For fat loss boosting magnesium and fiber:
1 Tablespoon:
Chia seeds
Flax seeds or ground flax (If your blender is not too wonderful use the ground flax)
Pumpkin seeds

Belly fat loss boosting Monounsaturated fat source:
1 teaspoon peanut or almond butter

Flavoring: One or more to suit your taste-
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger or 1 teaspoon fresh grated or minced.

Calories for the typical shake following this recipe: 281 with 20 grams protein, 8.5 grams fat, 9 grams fiber, 35 grams carbohydrates, 59 mg magnesium

Notes: 
I have a really good blender, a Blendtec. I use the pre-programed smoothie setting and it produces a perfectly blended smooth drink with the flax seeds in flecks I can hardly notice. If I were using a regular blender I would get ground flax seed. Keep it in a glass jar in the fridge or freezer since it goes rancid quickly. Chia seeds will probably add a little more body to the smoothie.

I usually make a banana smoothie because it is sweeter, and I like the flavor. I don't like the seeds you get if you use raspberries or blackberries, but the flavor with berries is really good. I do better with blueberries.  I want to try oranges, but the directions say to remove it from the membranes, and I'm not sure if that means each section needs to be taken apart. If so, that is too much work for me! I'll try it eventually and see how it turns out just dropping in the sections after peeling. I think the creamsicle flavor would be really good.

My Variations:
I have whey powder I bought from Costco. It is high in protein but very low in carbs, but even so it adds enough sweetness and flavor to make the difference for me between gag it down and slurp it up. It is expensive, but it's a big bag and lasts quite awhile, and stays good for a long time. I chose CytoSport 100% Whey Vanilla. You really have to read ingredients with whey powders so you don't get one with a lot of sugar in it. This one smells and tastes fantastic. A full serving has 140 calories. When I use it I cut the Greek yogurt in half (3 ounces) and use half a scoop of protein powder. That way I still get the probiortics in the yogurt and still get lots of protein and no extra sugars. A full scoop only has three grams Carbs, but it is amazing what a difference it makes in adding flavor and sweetness 

I also often start by adding 4 ounces of 1% milk, which adds 50 calories. Since the smoothie is my whole breakfast, I don't worry about that much extra calories. When I use milk I leave out the water.

The peanut butter flavor is good with banana, but 1 teaspoon is not very detectable. Still, it is very high calorie, so I watch how much I use.

Weight loss-Day one of a new start

This year's iteration of 'We're going to lose that weight this year" arrived in the mail mid-December, ordered by my husband-with my name on it?! I'm thinking, "Hey, if you're going to order a new weight loss plan, man up and put your OWN name on it!" I'm more the 'do it yourself' kind of dieter, and I've never found a plan yet that we could stay on for any length of time, so I'm sceptical. It all sounds good to Harry when he's watching the infomercial, but in practice he usually morphs the rules of whatever diet he's doing into a clone of Atkins, which lets him eat a lot of meat and bacon. What's worse, whenever we diet together he loses twice as much twice as fast on twice the food...no fair!

But that said, I read it over and since it comes from a major health magazine and will let me eat the occasional quarter cup of chocolate chips, I thought it might be good to give me a jump start. The thing I want to be different this time is that I don't want to go into this with that euphoria that dissipates after awhile along with any hope for long term change. I'm going to follow along with this plan and see what I can learn from it. I'm looking for slow, long-term change as I work on the issues that got me here in the first place. That means persisting and resolving problems as they come up.

So today is day one of the four day jump start start to the Flat Belly Diet plan. It is intended to be lower calorie than the actual plan that starts on day five. I want to do the four days today through Friday and then go easy through a weekend of time with family and grand kids, and start the main plan next Monday.

I made the 'Sassy Water' this morning and have been enjoying that, it's full of cucumbers, lemons, mint and has fresh ginger in it. Breakfast went well, actually a little more food than I usually eat. I was hungry at noon and ended up making some changes to it. I had an avocado on its last 'legs' (that's an image, and avocado with legs-I feel like that sometimes) So I subbed that and some cuke for the tomato and rolled them with the string cheese in the deli turkey. It was really good. I also finished up half a cup of tapioca pudding afterwards. That's gone now.

This four day plan is supposed to be followed precisely, so I need to do better than that. Even so, I was very hungry by mid afternoon when I got to make a blueberry smoothie. The chicken is thawing for dinner, and I'm set for that, but I'm not liking how hungry I am right now. I must have normally been eating more than I thought I was. The dieters in the book all sounded like they white-knuckled this part, so I'm with them, it's only four days. I should be able to do anything for four days-right? Hmmmm. Not so far. We'll see.

I did the usual weigh and measure this morning. Uggggggg. That's motivating. At least I didn't gain over the holidays, and I'm not at my highest weight. That's something new for me. Some of my work on causes must be helping.