LCHF Breakfast Smoothies

Some mornings are just hectic, and not everyone has time to sit down and eat a nutritional breakfast. Skipping breakfast is never a good thing, whether you are eating LCHF, Keto, or a regular diet. Not to mention the fact that not everyone is a coffee or tea drinker so substituting a bulletproof coffee, tea, or cocoa may not even be an option. So if you are short on time or simply do not like bulletproof coffee, then making your own 'bulletproof' style breakfast smoothies just might be the answer.

Now, these smoothie recipes are in no way associated with Dave Asprey or the 'Bulletproof' corporation. I use the term simply because they contain liquid coconut oil as a source of fat just as my version of bulletproof coffee, tea, and cocoa. For more information on making your own bulletproof coffee, tea, and or cocoa, you can check out my video 'My Ketogenic Life Episode 3: Bulletproof Coffee, Tea, and Cocoa' on YouTube, or you can read my article 'Bulletproof Coffee On A Budget' on our blog.

The breakfast smoothies in this article are nutritious and delicious and 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, while the non-berry smoothies have about 6 carbohydrates per serving. These smoothies are also the base for my post recovery workout smoothie which I started drinking each day after my strength training. For more information on the post recovery weightlifting smoothies, see my article 'Building A Better Protein Shake'.

The Recipes

The five recipes listed in this article are some of our favorites, there are are a lot of smoothie recipes out there on the internet so listing them all would be quite exhaustive so apply the information you learn here to making up your own smoothie recipes. For ease of reading these recipes, they are listed in alphabetical order, with my wife's favorite the 'Peanut Butter and Jelly' listed as the last recipe. I have included two different nutritional values for each recipe depending on whether you want to use ¼ or ½ cup of plain Greek yogurt in your smoothie.

Chocolate Smoothie

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

¼ to ½ cup plain Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons liquid coconut oil

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

6 drops of sucralose

Add ½ to 1 cup ice and blend for 30-45 seconds.

Chocolate (with ¼ cup Greek yogurt)

Calories – 294, protein 7.75 grams, fat 29 grams, carbohydrates 6.25 grams

Chocolate (with ½ cup Greek yogurt)

Calories – 324, protein 13.5 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

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 – 374, protein 14.75 grams, fat 33.5 grams, carbohydrates 9.25 grams

Chocolate Peanut Butter (CPB with ½ cup Greek yogurt)

Calories – 404, protein 20.5 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

6 drops of sucralose

Add ½ to 1 cup ice and blend for 30-45 seconds.

Chocolate Strawberry Smoothie (¼ cup Greek Yogurt)
Calories – 288, protein 6.75 grams, fat 28 grams, carbohydrates 6.25 grams

Chocolate Strawberry Smoothie (½ cup Greek Yogurt)
Calories – 318, protein 125 grams, fat 28 grams, carbohydrates 8.5 grams

Simply Strawberry Smoothie

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

¼ to ½ cup Greek yogurt

½ cup strawberries

2 tablespoons liquid coconut oil

6 drops of sucralose

Add ½ to 1 cup ice and blend for 30-45 seconds.

Simply Strawberry Smoothie (¼ cup Greek Yogurt)
Calories – 303, protein 7.75 grams, fat 28.5 grams, carbohydrates 8.25 grams

Simply Strawberry Smoothie (½ cup Greek Yogurt)
Calories – 333, protein 13.5 grams, fat 28.5 grams, carbohydrates 10.5 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)

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 – 365, protein 12.75 grams, fat 32.5 grams, carbohydrates 9.25 grams

Peanut Butter and Jelly (PB&J with ½ cup Greek yogurt)

Calories – 395, protein 18.5 grams, fat 32.5 grams, carbohydrates 11.5 grams

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, 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. First, it should contain live cultures as these are beneficial for your gastrointestinal health. 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 flavored yogurt is a whopping 29 carbohydrates per 1 cup, which is three times more carbohydrates than the plain yogurt.

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 equilivant to one teaspoon, therefore each smoothie contains 6 drops (1 drop = 1 teaspoon sweetener), or the equilivant 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.

Berries

While there are a lot of different berry options available to American consumers, for this article I have chose to list only 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, Natures 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

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, I 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).

Conclusion

Incorporating breakfast smoothies into your morning routine may be a great way to get the needed fat into your diet if you are short on time and need a great tasting way to add healthy antioxidants to your eating regimen. These 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 in your other meals accordingly. For those on a moderate carbohydrate intake (< 50 carbs per day), this should not be a problem. 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+.

Similar Articles On Our Blog:

Berries: Natures Superfoods

Bulletproof Coffee On a Budget

Building A Better Protein Shake / Smoothie (coming soon)

Liquid Sucralose, A Great LCHF Sweetner

Low Calorie Sweeteners Are Not Always Low Carbohydrate

References:

Berries: Sweetening Cancer Prevention, AICR Cancer Research Update. September 25, 2012.Accessed March 25, 2017

Dr. Group, Edward,DC, NP, DABN, DCBCN, DABFM, Seven Berries You Should Eat Everyday, October 14, 2015. Accessed March 27, 2017

Eat Blueberries And Strawberries Three Timer Per Week, Harvard Health Publications,Harvard Medical School, July, 2013. Accessed March 23, 2017.

Macha, Ashley, 6 Healthiest Berries For Women's Hearts, Health.com, Accessed March 26,2017.

Top 5 Cancer-Fighting Fruits Of Summer, AICR Cancer Research eNews, August1, 2012. Accessed March 25, 2017.

Ware, Megan, RDN LD, Raspberries: Health Benefits, Nutritional Information, Medical NewsToday, July 21, 2016. Accessed March 18, 2017.