Breakfast Smoothie Recipes!

Do you find yourself skipping breakfast? or just grabbing a banana?

One of the most common mistakes people make in their health journey is under-nourishment..

…Did you think I was going to say overeating?

Binging on chocolate?

Nope!

When I look at food diaries and see biscuits, chocolates, crisps scattered everywhere my reaction isn’t “dang, we need to cut all this out!”. It is, in fact, “cool, where’s the root cause of the cravings” i.e where are you missing out on sustenance that your clever system is screaming out for fat/sugar sources.

Sure will power is fab. But it’s not where I start. Because I want your body to feel satiated and nourished before we look at the emotional attachment. Plus, if there is a strong emotional attachment then the worst thing I can say is “NO MORE CHOCOLATE”. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had to say that in my entire career. For the most part when we solve the missing nutrients to your equation it all balances out- and your emotional (more so chemical) drive to seek more nutrition is satiated.

Anyway, the first place I look is breakfast.. or the lack of. What I find is that the problem is either one of two things. There is no breakfast or the breakfast is what we call high G.I- this means it spikes your blood sugar (great for certain athletic events but not so good for cravings!)

What happens is your blood sugar spikes (as well as insulin) an then falls rapidly. Thus, your Ghrelin levels rise (hunger hormone, I think of hunger Ghremlins to remember this one!) along with your stress hormone (Cortisol) this is to drive you to feel hungry, irritable, restless and encourage you to forage or hunt. Your body is then convincing you that there is no time to waste … so what do we modern day human do?

We snack.

Then we get a little Dopamine pat on the back (reward hormone), but if it is a high G.I snack- you’ve guessed it right?- the cycle continues!

Now, if you’re starting your day with a banana or toast or granola or even nothing. You are setting yourself up hormonally to fail (Not great for the ol’ will power)

So, if we can get the first meal of the day right, it’s already half the battle.

Hopefully this has helped you in your wellness endeavours and I’d urge you to pick an easy, quick breakfast to start.

And on that note!

Here’s my favourite low G.I breakfast smoothies.
If lactose intolerant please replace with lacto-free products and/or visit the vegan friendly smoothies on the “Wellness Smoothies” blog post next week

Love

Shiv Xx

PBJ Smoothie

Ingredients

200g Greek yoghurt or 150g Quark
60g strawberries
25g of organic peanut butter
Optional: 1/2 banana (riper is better for taste!)
water/milk/milk alternative/ice for preferred consistency

Method

Blitz the ingredients in a blender and enjoy!

* Can also blend frozen strawberries or ice for a really nice texture!

next up…

Coconut and Blueberry Smoothie

Ingredients

200g Greek yogurt or 150g Quark
100g+ Blueberries
20g of linseed/goji/pumpkin mix from Aldi is nice or you can make your own up!
Dessicated coconut
Coconut milk 250ml