Nutrition in a glass

My son, who is about to turn 19, has recently moved out. He has very different habits and nutritional goals and experience than my daughter. He prefers to spend as little time as possible with preparation (some times) and really wants his food to TASTE good. My daughter will eat something she's created even if it's not the most flavorful due to lack of ingredients.

I told my son I would start my motherly input with a basic smoothy recipe I've been using. He needs it to be easy, relatively affordable, and pack enough nutrition that I don't have to worry he is starving himself and missing out on all the healthy options I used to make sure he had access to at home.

Son, here is what I use for my fruit and protein smoothy. It's relatively balanced (a little high on carbs, but I don't think that's an issue for you and it's all from natural sugar anyway), has good fiber and protein and keeps me full for a good couple of hours.

1-2 cups of Almond milk (unsweetened)

1/2 to a full banana

wheat germ or raw oatmeal about 2 tablespoons (this adds fiber and nutrition)

1/2 cup of frozen or fresh fruit of any kind (I've used peaches, blueberries, black berrys, cherrys or sometimes I leave it out)

2 tablespoons of peanut butter or unsalted peanuts (if you use the peanuts, it adds a lot of texture, which you may or may not like)

2-3 ice cubes

I blend this up in a blender or use an immersion blender.

You could do this same thing with any type of liquid in place of the almond milk - water, juice, I've used yogurt but it makes it really thick, milk.

To make it even better for you, you can even add something like spinach, kale or I've added a small zucchini to it - the flavors of everything else make it so you don't even taste the veggie part. It's like sneaking veggies in on yourself.

You could use Myfitnesspal.com to track your food and make sure you are getting a well balanced diet. It will help you count calories, protein, vitamins, carbohydrates and more just by adding your specific recipe to it! 

Love Mom