SuperFood Lunch Smoothie

This is lunch in a cup or a perfect post-workout protein smoothie. Silky smooth, flavored with dates and frozen banana, spinach, superfood spirulina, walnuts and hemp seeds to energize through the afternoon. 

Why smoothies? There are some very clear, evidence-based reasons. If it is post-workout, protein nutrition is important to generate body-change results, and consuming clean protein after exercising has three specific purposes:

  • Replenish glycogen

  • Decrease protein breakdown

  • Increase protein synthesis

Put simply, adding clean protein to a post-workout meal or smoothie will:

  • Replenish energy stores

  • Increase muscle size and/or muscle quality

  • Repair any damage caused by the workout

Once proteins are broken down, the resulting amino acids hangout in the muscle protein for recycling into new muscle proteins, and some can be used for muscle metabolism. 

This is why it is good to pay attention to what we consume immediately following a workout (avoid fats!). Post-workout nutrition requires two things:

Protein to aid in protein synthesis

Carbohydrates to help replace muscle glycogen (and to enhance the role of insulin in transporting nutrients into cells)

 

SuperFood Smoothie Recipe:

8 ingredients. Mix all on high in Vitamix or other high speed blender. Top with hemp seeds.

1 cup almond milk or coconut water

1 half frozen banana

1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

3 dates

1 cup to one good handful of spinach 

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tsp spirulina (I like HealthForce brand)

1 scoop (approx 15-20g) of unsweetened plant-based protein powder*.

*I like Metabolic Maintenance pea protein and Tone It Up plant-based protein in vanilla or coconut. Sometimes I use a bit of both. I do not recommend stevia-sweetened plant proteins.

 

 

 

 

Julie OConnor