Culinary yoU: Post Recovery LCHF / Keto Protein Shakes

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+.

Monday, April 10, 2017

Post Recovery LCHF / Keto Protein Shakes

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