How to Make a Healthy Protein Shake That Tastes Good, Too

© Copyright 2009 Patrice Walker All rights reserved

I Hate to Cook, But I Have to Eat

As someone who does not like to cook, I'm always looking for quick and easy meals to fix that are healthy as well as tasty. I used to drink protein shakes in the 90s as a means of loosing weight, and they worked quite well. After about five years or so of drinking them every day, I got a little bored and stopped making them. Here I am 10 years or so later, not worried so much about weight, looking instead for a way to eat without having to spend hours in the kitchen preparing meals.

So I recently decided to start making protein shakes again. They are definitely easy and quick to make, and if you add the right ingredients, they are not only good for you, they taste good, too. And, believe it or not, you can get them to taste delicious without adding any refined sugar. Here's how I make mine.

You'll need a blender to mix everything in. In addition, I add these ingredients to my shakes:

• 1/2 cup frozen fruit (pineapple, mango, papaya, and strawberry blend)
• 1 or 2 cubes, slices, or pieces of fresh fruit (mango and/or red seedless grapes)
• several leaves of a dark, leafy green vegetable (e.g., spinach, kale, Spring Mix) or a tsp to a tblsp full of a green superf ood powder)
• 4 ice cubes
• 3/4 cup of water
• 1/4 cup grape juice
• a tablespoon of organic virgin coconut oil
• 1/2 scoop protein powder (rice, pea and soy blend)
• 1 heaping tsp of whole psyllium husk
• Stevia to taste.

Here's how I mix everything together.  The order in which you add the ingredients probably doesn't make any difference, so I'm probably being a little "OCD" about it.

1. Add the frozen and fresh fruit, ice cubes, water and juice to the blender.
2. To this mixture, add the protein powder, whole psyllium husk, and stevia.
3. Blend until smooth.

It can't get any easier than that.

A lot of my so-called "logic" has to do with convenience, but at the same time, I try not to sacrifice healthy ingredients in my quest for an easy-to-make protein shake..

For example, frozen fruit simply lasts longer than fresh fruit. I go to my favorite Costco and buy a big jumbo bag that will make a lot of smoothies. I'm probably sacrificing some antioxidants and vitamins in the freezing process; that's why I like to add a little fresh fruit to the mix. Mangos are easy to come by here in Hawaii, and they have a strong, sweet taste -- a cube or two goes a long way. But, my all time favorite fruit is red seedless grapes, so I always throw in a few of those.

Ice cubes are critical to the mix if you want your protein shake to have the consistency of a milk shake, but too many make it too crunchy or icy, so 4 to 5 small cubes does the trick for me.

I could very easily add a whole cup of fruit juice. It would definitely be sweet, but that's a lot of calories and sugar, so I only use a quarter cup and make the rest of the cup up with water. You can substitute your favorite fruit juice here. I just happen to like grape juice.

Instead of adding plain water, why not try coconut water? This is one of the healthiest liquids on the planet, containing all of the electrolytes (i.e., minerals) that the body needs to stay healthy. It will also help to alkalize your shake so that it isn't too acidic.

Some people might use milk instead to boost the protein value of the shake, but these days I'm pretty lactose intolerant, so no milk for me. I haven't tried lactose-free milk yet, but I just might if I can get it skim. Again, I wouldn't use an entire cup because I add protein powder to the mix. But the milk might fool me into thinking I'm drinking a milk shake.

Yes, you read it right. I recently started adding raw veggies to my protein shakes to get the full load of antioxidants and other nutritional goodies they supply. But because I have a rather run-of-the-mill commercial blender, I only use vegetables that blend easily, like spinach or spring mix. Even easier is to add up to a tablespoon full of a green "super food" powder that contains a mix of land and sea greens.

To keep the vegetable taste from overpowering the fruit taste, I recommend a 2 or 3-to-one ratio of fruits to vegetables.

The biggest benefit of virgin coconut oil is that it contains something called lauric acid which combats all kinds of bacteria and viruses and helps prevent high cholesterol and high blood pressure which can lead to heart disease.

I absolutely love the taste of coconut oil in my shake. You might think that much coconut oil would have an overpowering taste, but it doesn't. Of course, you can always start by using a teaspoon and work up to a tablespoon or whatever amount you find agreeable.

I used to use a whole scoop of100% soy protein powder in my smoothie, but I found this amount hard to digest. You really need to drink a lot of water with any kind of soy product. So I switched to a vegetable protein blend that includes rice and pea protein along with the soy.

In my vegetarian days, back in the mid 70s to early 80s, Francis Moore Lappe's Diet for a Small Planet was my bible because it taught me how to combine vegetables, legumes, and dairy products to create a complete protein . (No, I was not a vegan; I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian which means I ate dairy products and eggs.) Grains and legumes (like peas and beans) or grains and dairy were a big part of my recipes back then. So it was great to find a protein powder that contains the right combination of grains (rice) and legumes (the peas and soy), although soy is a "complete" protein by itself.

If you do choose a soy product to include in your shakes, be sure the soy is non-genetically modified. Your health food store should be able to supply you with non-GMO soy products.

I used to add some whey protein powder to my protein shake, and I know it is supposed to be lactose free, but I haven't found one yet that doesn't have, shall we say, uncomfortable effects on my lower GI tract, if you know what I mean. But if you aren't lactose intolerant, then whey protein might be a good choice for you.

My smoothie absolutely has to have some kind of fiber in it, and the fruit just isn't enough. So I add whole psyllium seed husk. It's a bulk-forming, soluble fiber which means it readily absorbs liquid, but the body doesn't digest it, so it is excreted, along with a lot of bad "gunk" in your intestinal tract. Not only does psyllium seed husk keep your colon functioning properly, it helps:

• lower cholesterol
• lower blood sugar levels
• control appetite
• prevent colon cancer
• reduce bloating and gas
• promote weight loss.

So you may want to try adding this natural fiber to your protein shake. I'd start off with a small amount, like a teaspoon, and work up to the recommended amount just to see how your body reacts to it.

Sometimes, after adding the fruit juice and fruit, my protein shake still isn't sweet enough. So I often add a little stevia to taste. If you haven't heard about stevia, then you really want to pay attention because this is, by far, one of the best "sweeteners" on the planet. Stevia is a plant that grows in Central and South America. It is a natural sweetener, contains no calories, and is 250 times sweeter than refined sugar. So a little bit goes a long way.

Diabetics can use it because it doesn't raise blood sugar (but always check with your health care practitioner if you are diabetic before adding it to your diet). I like to say that stevia is to sugar as caffeinated coffee is to decaffeinated coffee. Once you use it, you won't go back to refined sugar.

You can also cook with it, and there are several cookbooks devoted to stevia use. It should be easier to find now than it used to be. I've started seeing TV commercials for it. But I think I'll stick to the brand I purchase at my local health food store.

You can adapt the ingredients in this protein shake to make your own unique drink. I've included a lot of ingredients to choose from and the rationale for their inclusion, making it fairly simple to adapt this yummy protein shake to your particular situation.

I drink my shake at least once a day. It's a good meal substitute if you are trying to lose weight, or you can drink it as a snack instead of reaching for the ice cream. Here's to your health!