Breakfast ideas number1

Like I mentioned in my previous post, one challenge which people often encounter while eating healthy is the lack of time to prepare a wholesome meal and sometimes, the lack of time to consume one. One of my favourite ways of ensuring that I can have a heavy, fulfilling and extremely healthy meal at the start of a day is to prepare a smoothie. The Google definition of a smoothie is a drink prepared by blending pureed raw fruits and or vegetables. They are extremely easy to prepare and one can easily control the macro nutrients in a single serving. And yes one can control the flavour and thus the taste. 

A plant based vegan friendly, high protein smoothie bowl

One often understated advantage for amateur (or professional) endurance athletes of having smoothies after a workout like a long run is that in addition to the great deal of control over the macros, smoothies are extremely easy to digest. You even save on the effort of having to chew what you are consuming. 

In order to make these smoothies rich in proteins and high in energy content, I tend to use two of my favourite ingredients in most of my smoothies: Oats and a mix of nuts. Its always preferable to soak both the oats and the nuts in water or milk for at least a few hours since it makes the oats a lot easier to digest. A few scoops of oats (about 50g) would give around 6g of proteins, 34g of carbs and 4.8g of fats. This adds up to about 200 kCals which is about what a 70kg person would burn in an easy, low effort run lasting about half an hour. The nuts depending on what you add will give you some more proteins (around 10g of almonds or peanuts give around 2-2.5g of proteins) and a good deal of fats (10g of almonds or peanuts yield around 5g of fats). These fats act as a source of fuel which can sustain you through a long period of time. Another macro the oats and nuts add is the dietary fiber. The dietary fiber helps stabilise the glucose levels in the body and thus help us feel full once we eat something. 

A high power smoothie with a dash of the king of fruits

To supplement the carbs and fiber from the above combination, I tend to add fruits like bananas, a few dates and blend them all together. After some particularly hard workouts, I often add milk or whey protein to the mix too to add some more proteins which are essential to improve recovery. To make them even more delightful to eat/drink, I like to add seasonal fruits to the mix along with some more nuts to add the crunch. And voila!!! I have enough in my bowl/mug to sustain me through the most productive hours of work and also help me recover after my run/workout. 

To dial in the macros in the smoothies, its a great idea to invest in a small kitchen scale. There are several apps one can download to get the exact content of each of the ingredients which enter and exit your blender jar. 

PS: I could have titled this post number 1 breakfast idea since this is my favourite option for breakfast!!! :)