Quick pre-workout fix!

[mr.coffee 364]

I don't know about anybody else, but I love stuffing random things into the blender for smoothies, so I keep the beautiful shiny CHROME Oster on the counter at all times. This one requires no prep and minimal ingredients, and takes about 30 seconds to make.

Crazy Easy Mocha Shake

1 glass of milk

1 spoon instant coffee - I use Community Coffee medium roast

1 scoop EAS chocolate flavored whey protein

Put the milk in the blender and bring it up to speed before adding the coffee and protein, blend until smooth and consume! I drink it straight from the blender...

Now, since we're on a shake & smoothie topic, I'll share some of my secrets. A shake before a workout gives your body accessible reserves of fuel to burn through longer periods of cardio or more intense sets. A shake after a workout gives your body the resources it needs to recover. (Strength training makes cardio more effective, more muscle burns more calories, but you need lean protein to build that muscle.) Vanilla protein is good for most fruit-based concoctions, I found a 2-pound bucket of Body Fortress protein for $12 the other day, that's a pretty good deal. It's 52g of protein from both whey protein concentrate and whey protein isolate with a few other goodies to help with post-workout recovery. You'll digest whey protein isolate better than most other varieties. I only do soy protein powders when I can't find whey.

I recently discovered Greek yogurt; most of the time I only see the Oikos or similar with honey or fruit, which is okay for a snack, but I've found some stores stock plain Greek yogurt from various brands. I've tried a few, and my favorite is Fage 0%. It's good for adding a little texture and thickness to a smoothie, as well as the usual health benefits.

If I find my smoothie leaning to far toward not sweet, I'll spike it with a little clover honey. I try to avoid sugar in these cases, and find that Splenda or Truvia are too sweet and impart a slight chemical flavor.

If you have FRESH eggs, as in just brought home and kept cold, add a raw egg. I've been doing this for years and never had issues with salmonella or any such "DON'T CONSUME RAW EGGS!" paranoia...they're a great source of biotin, amongst other things.

Bananas go well with nearly any fruit, and thicken things up nicely.

Try these in any combination: blueberries, strawberries, kiwi fruit (peeled!), raspberries, blackberries, etc.

Or to go in a different direction, try peaches (peeled & pitted)...

Strawberries and chocolate protein are fun for a different approach.

I usually start with milk, but have had interesting results using water or juice. Sometimes I'll stack other supplements like creatine.

While I dislike peanut butter in general, some folks like it in a shake.

Experiment away, and have fun!

-m

[tzuhouse 4]

And hey Mr. ....and how do you add "motivation" to that shake.... :)

[loewenthal.anna 4]

Well, I don't really "do" smoothies (or intentional exercise, for that matter) since my blender broke lord-knows-how-long-ago BUT. . . I can give you an awesome tidbit about eggs:

Eggs are created inside the chicken in a sterile environment. Chicken blood and flesh have something like a 90% infection rate, but eggs (unless somehow damaged in the 26 hours it take to make them) have something closer to a 1% chance of being contaminated.

My poultry professor says that on average, if you eat a raw egg a day for you entire life you'll probably end up with salmonella once.

Also, wanna know the difference between a grade A and a grade AA (or AAA) egg? Grades are given based on time from laying to store and go in increments of 3 days. So, and A grade egg is 3 days "older" than a AA. . . doesn't sound worth the extra $$ does it? Eggs will literally stay "good" (as in edible) for virtually ever too, so long as they aren't cracked at all they just get a larger air pocket at the top.

ok ok, ONE more: Vitamin E eggs cost a ton more because it is CRAZY expensive to super dose a bird so that they impart a vitamin into the yolk. . . that said, vitamin E is extremely heat-sensitive so ANY cooking/heating whatsoever will eliminate all of the vitamin from your super expensive eggs. Eat those ones raw if you have em!

Ok I'm done nerding out about poultry

Oh wait, one more on the subject of whey powder: It's used extensively in weanling pig diets and can be purchased unflavored (which has a slightly milk-y flavor) in 5-50lb sacks at farm stores that cater to pig farmers. Without having actually done the math, I'd say that the savings is up around 90% from the jugs of pre-mixed shake powder they sell at health food stores. Of course it isn't marked as a human food source, so it isn't FDA regulated or tested or anything but it all comes from the same place, using the same process.