If you are doing any
strength training or weight lifting, then you will definitely need a
LCHF / Keto friendly post recovery workout shake. The problem is that
many of the commercially prepared protein powders on the market today
still hold to the theory that you need to have a generous amount of
both protein for muscle building and recovery as well as
carbohydrates for energy after a workout. For the LCHF or Keto
athlete this is not the case. After all our bodies have already
become fat adapted so the energy source is taken care of as our
bodies burn fat as opposed to carbohydrates.
Having said that, we
still need a good quality source of quickly digestible protein to
help our body reshape and build muscle. I am now doing strength
training 6 days a week (three days in a row with a rest day in
between) so each morning after my strength training I make myself a
protein smoothie using one of the recipes in this article. This post
recovery workout smoothie counts as my morning meal, on my rest days
I generally eat a regular breakfast consisting of eggs and bacon.
The Recipes
The five recipes
listed in this article are some of my favorite post recovery protein
smoothie recipes. They are essentially the same recipes as listed in
my article 'Super Breakfast Smoothies' with the addition of 100% pure
whey protein powder. Now, there are lots of protein powders out
there, but I use the unflavored Isopure brand protein powder because
it contains nothing but protein (25 grams per scoop). There are other
brands available, but I like Isopure, so check them all out and
decide for yourself. Just in case you are wondering, no I do not get
a kickback, and I am not sponsored by Isopure, I just like their
product. For ease of reading, these recipes are listed in
alphabetical order, and I have included two different nutritional
values for each depending on whether you want to use ¼ or ½ cup of
plain Greek yogurt in your post recovery smoothie. These post
recovery workout smoothies are nutritious and delicious and supply
your muscles with 30 - 43 grams of pure protein, contain a high
amount (29 – 32 grams) of fat per serving, while only containing 8
– 10 carbohydrates per serving depending on the choice of berries
used. The non-berry protein smoothies generally have about 6
carbohydrates per serving.
Chocolate Smoothie
1 cup unsweetened
almond milk
¼ to ½ cup plain
Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons liquid
coconut oil
2 tablespoons
unsweetened cocoa powder
1 scoop Isopure
Protein Powder (100% Whey Protein)
6 drops of sucralose
Add ½ to 1 cup ice
and blend for 30-45 seconds.
Chocolate (with ¼
cup Greek yogurt)
Calories – 394,
protein 32.75 grams, fat 29 grams, carbohydrates 6.25 grams
Chocolate (with ½
cup Greek yogurt)
Calories – 424,
protein 38.5 grams, fat 29 grams, carbohydrates 8.5 grams
Chocolate Peanut
Butter (CPB) Smoothie
1 cup unsweetened
almond milk
¼ to ½ cup plain
Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons liquid
coconut oil
2 tablespoons PBFit
(peanut butter powder)
2 tablespoons
unsweetened cocoa powder
1 scoop Isopure
Protein Powder (100% Whey Protein)
6 drops of sucralose
Add ½ to 1 cup ice
and blend for 30-45 seconds.
Chocolate Peanut
Butter (CPB with ¼ cup Greek yogurt)
Calories – 474,
protein 39.75 grams, fat 33.5 grams, carbohydrates 9.25 grams
Chocolate Peanut
Butter (CPB with ½ cup Greek yogurt)
Calories – 504,
protein 45.5 grams, fat 32.5 grams, carbohydrates 11.5 grams
Chocolate Strawberry
Smoothie
1 cup unsweetened
almond milk
¼ to ½ cup Greek
yogurt
½ cup strawberries
2 tablespoons liquid
coconut oil
1 tablespoon cocoa
powder
1 scoop Isopure
Protein Powder (100% Whey Protein)
6 drops of sucralose
Add ½ to 1 cup ice
and blend for 30-45 seconds.
Chocolate Strawberry
Smoothie (¼ cup Greek Yogurt)
Calories – 403, protein 32.75
grams, fat 28.5 grams, carbohydrates 8.25 grams
Chocolate Strawberry
Smoothie (½ cup Greek Yogurt)
Calories – 433, protein 38.5
grams, fat 28.5 grams, carbohydrates 10.5 grams
Simply Strawberry
Smoothie
1 cup unsweetened
almond milk
¼ to ½ cup Greek
yogurt
½ cup strawberries
2 tablespoons liquid
coconut oil
1 scoop Isopure
Protein Powder (100% Whey Protein)
6 drops of sucralose
Add ½ to 1 cup ice
and blend for 30-45 seconds.
Simply Strawberry
Smoothie (¼ cup Greek Yogurt)
Calories – 388, protein 31.75
grams, fat 28 grams, carbohydrates 6.25 grams
Simply Strawberry
Smoothie (½ cup Greek Yogurt)
Calories – 418, protein 37.5
grams, fat 28.5 grams, carbohydrates 8.5 grams
Peanut Butter &
Jelly Smoothie
1 cup unsweetened
almond milk
¼ to ½ cup plain
Greek yogurt
¼ cup blueberries,
frozen
2 tablespoons liquid
coconut oil
2 tablespoons PBFit
(peanut butter powder)
1 scoop Isopure
Protein Powder (100% Whey Protein)
6 drops of sucralose
Add ½ to 1 cup ice
and blend for 30-45 seconds.
Peanut Butter and
Jelly (PB&J with ¼ cup Greek yogurt)
Calories – 465,
protein 37.75 grams, fat 32.5 grams, carbohydrates 9.25 grams
Peanut Butter and
Jelly (PB&J with ½ cup Greek yogurt)
Calories – 495,
protein 43.5 grams, fat 32.5 grams, carbohydrates 11.5 grams
Berries
While there are a
lot of different berry options available to American consumers, I
have listed in this article the most common types of berries one
would find in their local supermarket. We are fortunate that we grow
our own blackberries on our small homestead, but we purchase frozen
blueberries and strawberries from our local supermarket to go into
our smoothies. For more information regarding the health benefits of
berries, and why you should incorporate them into your LCHF / Keto
eating regimen, check out my article 'Berries The Super Foods'.
Blackberries
1 cup – Calories
62, 6 net carbs
½ cup – Calories
31, 3 net carbs
¼ cup – Calories
15.5, 1.5 net carbs
Blueberries
1 cup – Calories
85, 17 net carbs
½ cup – Calories
42.5, 8.5 net carbs
¼ cup – Calories
21.25, 4.25 net carbs
Raspberries
1 cup – Calories
65, 7 net carbs
½ cup – Calories
32.5, 3.5 net carbs
¼ cup – Calories
16.25, 1.75 net carbs
Strawberries
(Sliced)
1 cup – Calories
54, 10 net carbs
½ cup – Calories
27, 5 net carbs
¼ cup – Calories
13.5, 2.5 net carbs
Almond Milk
Any brand will do,
just make sure you purchase unsweetened Almond milk so that you will
avoid any unwanted carbohydrates. We use the Great Value brand of
'Original unsweetened Almond milk' as it is the least expensive and
only has 30 calories and 1 net carbohydrate per cup (2 grams carbs –
1 gram fiber = 1 net carb). If you have a nut allergy, or simply
prefer the taste you can use soy milk it has more calories 80 per
cup, and twice the carbohydrates 2 net carbs (4 grams carbs – 2
grams fiber = 2 net carbs), but in the overall scheme of things the
difference is minimal. Just note that the nutritional information for
the recipes in this article include the use of Almond milk.
Liquid Coconut Oil
If you have watched
my video on making your own 'Bullet Proof Coffee and Tea', then you
may have remembered that I stated that I use the solid coconut oil
and that I saw no need to have both a liquid and a solid coconut oil
in my pantry. Well, I am going to eat my words so to speak, as we now
have both types of coconut oil on our pantry shelves. While the solid
variety of coconut oil is great for cooking with and making
bulletproof style coffee and tea, it is not so great when used in
cold foods such as smoothies. Just about any liquid coconut oil will
do, and most contain all three medium chain triglycerides (MCT), C8
(caprylic acid), C10 (capric acid), and C12 (lauric acid) that are
rapidly converted into keytones. that but my research indicates that
some may be better than others. Just make sure that when you purchase
coconut oil that it is 100% coconut oil, some have palm kernel oil
added so make sure you read the nutritional label before purchasing.
Plain Greek Yogurt
When purchasing
yogurt for your smoothies, there are two things you want to look for.
The first is that it contains live cultures as these are beneficial
for your gastrointestinal health, and second make sure you get the
plain Greek yogurt as it has no sugar added and is only 9 grams of
carbohydrates per cup. We purchase the Great Value brand from
Walmart, it is of good quality and is the cheapest we can find, but
any brand will do, just make sure and check the nutritional label to
verify the carbohydrate count as the same brand of vanilla yogurt is
29 carbohydrates per 1 cup.
Sweetener Of Choice
If you have read any
of my articles on our blog, then you know I am a fan of liquid
sucralose. Personally, we just do not like Stevia type sweeteners
although many in the LCHF / Keto community prefer them. You will need
to choose the sweetener that you are most comfortable with when you
make your smoothies. For many years we used the Great Value brand of
Splenda (granular) as our choice of sweetener before switching over
to liquid sucralose. Again do your research and choose which
sweetener best fits with not only your budget, but your personal
taste preference. If you choose to use another type of sweetener note
that each drop of liquid sucralose used in these smoothies is
equivalent to one teaspoon, therefore each smoothie contains 6 drops
(1 drop = 1 teaspoon sweetener), or the equivalent of 2 tablespoons
of sweetener (3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon). For more information
regarding low carbohydrate sweeteners you can check out my articles
'Low Calorie Sweeteners Are Not Always Low Carbohydrate', and 'Liquid
Sucralose, A Great LCHF Sweetener' on our blog.
Cocoa Powder
I am not overly
fussy here, I use the plain old Nestle cocoa powder available at my
local Walmart. One tablespoon contains 15 calories and 2 net carbs.
There may be better options out there but for the price and the
convenience, we just use plain old cocoa powder. You can use an
organic cacao powder, but my research indicates most of them cost
three times as much as plain cocoa powder and they tend to have the
same or similar carbohydrate count 1 – 2 net carbs per tablespoon
depending on the brand. In theory cacao powder has great antioxidant
properties and is high in magnesium, but again, In our smoothies we
choose the less expensive of the two. The choice of course is up to
you.
Peanut Butter Powder
Now, you can choose
to use a natural peanut butter as part of your smoothies if you wish
(same amount 2 tablespoons), but we prefer to use a peanut butter
powder as it has less carbohydrates than any of the natural peanut
butter options that are available to us locally. We use the 'PBfit'
brand of peanut butter powder because it is sold at our local
Walmart, and it is quite nice. PBfit has only 2 net carbohydrates for
2 tablespoons of peanut butter powder (1 per tablespoon).
Protein Powder
(Isopure Whey Isolate)
There are a lot of
protein powders out there on the world wide web, but my clear
favorite is 'Isopure' brand unflavored whey protein. It not only
mixes well, but it is only 100 calories per scoop, and each scoop
contains 25 grams of protein and has zero carbohydrates, fillers, or
other ingredients, it is simply protein powder. It mixes well and can
be added to both hot and cold liquids and or foods. I add the Isopure
protein powder to my smoothies as part of my post workout recovery
smoothie on my strength training (weight lifting) days. If you are
not getting enough protein in your daily eating regimen, you can add
it to your morning smoothies. Keep in mind though that too much
protein in some people can knock you out of ketosis. I purchase my
Isopure protein powder online from Amazon. Any protein powder will
work, and listing all the different protein powder options available
on the internet, would be quite exhaustive. So my advice to you is to
do your own research and apply the information you learn in this
article to make your own post recovery smoothie recipes. The brand of
protein powder does not matter, just make sure you check the
nutritional information for hidden carbohydrates.
Commercial Protein
Powders
Before changing to a
LCHF / Keto eating regimen, I used 'Body Fortress Super Advanced Whey
Protein' powder. It supplies 26 grams of protein, 3 grams of
carbohydrates, and only 135 calories per scoop which is pretty good
when compared to other protein powders. In addition it contains 8
grams of branch chain amino acids (BCCA's) as well as glutamine. The
problem is that it has such a chalky, non-pleasant taste when mixed
with water, I had to mix it with milk. Regardless of the type, milk
has about 12 carbohydrates per cup (3 carbs per 2 ounces), so the
addition of 12 ounces of milk brings the total carbohydrate count for
the post recovery shake to up to 21 carbs per 12 ounces when combined
with the protein powder. That's way to many carbohydrates for a
ketogenic athlete. So, that makes 'Body Fortress' a no go for me. If
however, you can stand to drink your protein powder with water, this
may be an option for you. Just remember that the protein shake made
with almost any commercial protein powder will not have the added fat
or the antioxidants that the recipes in this article contain, which
make it a less desirable post recovery meal replacement in my
opinion.
Conclusion
A good post recovery
protein smoothie supplies your bodies muscles with a quick dose of
easily digestible protein that can start helping your muscles recover
from the stress of weight lighting quickly and effectively. The
problem for a LCHF / Keto athlete is that most commercially made
protein powders still contain a large amount of carbohydrates that we
do not need. After all our body is fat adapted and has greater stores
of usable energy than those around us who are not in ketosis.
Therefore, we do not need the added carbohydrates post recovery, just
the protein. The post recovery smoothies in this article will help
you to get the extra protein you need for fast muscle recovery in
addition to being a great way to add quality fats and healthy
antioxidants to your diet that help to support a healthy immune
system.
As mentioned, these
post recovery smoothie recipes pack a large amount of fat with a
small amount of carbohydrates in each serving. If you are on a strict
LCHF / Keto eating regimen (< 20 carbs per day), you will want to
consume these smoothies in moderation, as they contain 6 – 9
carbohydrates per serving so you will need to adjust your daily
intake of carbohydrates accordingly. For those on a moderate
carbohydrate intake (< 50 carbs per day), this should not be a
problem.
This is the third
installment in a series of articles that I originally began writing
about a few weeks ago that started with the simple topic of LCHF /
Keto smoothies. Because the topic continued to grow it started to
become quite unwieldy and I decided that the information was too
important to place in one 10 – 12 page article that most people
would get bored with and stop reading. As of this time, there appears
to be one more article on this subject to come, and that will be on
how to make your own smoothie base to keep in the fridge making it
even easier to whip up a breakfast or post recovery smoothie. As
always, I hope that you have found this article informative and
beneficial for you and your family, if so please take the time to
share it with your friends so that they can benefit as well. Don't
forget to follow us on out Facebook Page '
CulinaryYouLCHF' or add us
to your circle Google+.
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References:
Dr. Group, Edward, DC, NP, DABN, DCBCN, DABFM, Seven Berries You Should Eat Everyday, October 14, 2015. Accessed March 27, 2017
