Blueberry and Banana Smoothie Recipe
The blueberry and banana smoothie recipe is one more quick and simple smoothie recipe. Fruits are combined with low fat and/or cottage cheese to make a great daily meal or snack that tastes like a delicacy. During summer, when refrigerated, it is like an ice-cream, very healthy ice-cream.
Published: January 28, 2016.
Put low fat and/or cottage cheese into the shaker. These types of cheeses are a great source of lean, slow-digesting protein and calcium. In combination with fibers from fruits, it will make you satiated for a longer period of time. If you want, you can add some Meal Replacement Powder (MRP) or even whey protein - this will increase the protein content of this meal. Instead of adding cheese, vegans can add some plant-based protein powder (more on that - later). |
Smoothie is done - adjust the amount of water according to your needs. If you are going to drink this smoothie, add more water. However, I prefer adding less water and eating this smoothie with the tablespoon. During summer, put this smoothie in suitable pots and leave it in the refrigerator or even freezer - you will have great delicacy that you can eat as a daily snack or even a full meal, without feeling 'guilty' :o) |
The nutritional content of this smoothie is given in the following table:
Food | Amount | Protein | Carbs | Fats | Fibers |
Blueberries | 150g | 1g | 13g | 0.5g | 6g |
Cottage Cheese | 150g | 18g | 4g | 3g | 0g |
Banana | 150g | 1g | 32g | 0.5g | 3g |
Total: | 20g | 47g | 4g | 9g | |
Calories: | 80 kcal | 188 kcal | 36 kcal | - |
This smoothie has around 300 kcal, mostly from carbohydrates and protein, while the fat content is very low. Fiber content is great - almost one-third of fiber recommended daily amount.
Many endomorphs would consider this smoothie as a 'high carbohydrate' meal due to almost 50g of carbs in this meal, but this meal is very rich in various vitamins, minerals (potassium, calcium, etc.), antioxidants, slow-digesting protein, fibers, etc. If you really want to decrease the amount of carbs, don't put banana in this smoothie (feel free to check Simple Blueberry Smoothie Recipe), but banana here and there, especially if you are on Carbohydrate Cycling Diet will do you only good.
In order to increase the protein content of this meal, one can add some protein powder (MRP or whey protein). For example, if you add Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey (French Vanilla Creme in this case), you get:
Food | Amount | Protein | Carbs | Fats | Fibers |
Blueberries | 150g | 1g | 13g | 0.5g | 6g |
Cottage Cheese | 150g | 18g | 4g | 3g | 0g |
Banana | 150g | 1g | 32g | 0.5g | 3g |
ON GS 100% Whey | 30g | 23g | 4g | 1g | 0g |
Total: | 43g | ~50g | 5g | 9g | |
Calories: | 172 kcal | 200 kcal | 45 kcal | - |
This smoothie has around 420 kcal - calories are balanced between proteins and carbs, while fat contents is still very low. Fiber content is unchanged - around 9g. Although whey protein powder is now the dominant source of protein in this smoothie, whey protein is blended with fruits and low fat/cottage cheese, and its digestion is slowed down - this meal will keep you going for quite some time.
Vegan Blueberry and Banana Smoothie Recipe
Lacto-ovo vegetarians can enjoy fruit smoothies with various cheeses (preferably with low-fat content), but vegans don't consume cheese. In order to increase the protein content of fruit smoothies, vegans can and should add plant-based protein powder - usually a protein blend of various plant proteins. In this example, we used Arizona Nutritional Sciences NitroFusion (protein blend of pea protein isolate, brown rice concentrate, and artichoke protein), Vanilla flavor:
Food | Amount | Protein | Carbs | Fats | Fibers |
Blueberries | 150g | 1g | 13g | 0.5g | 6g |
Banana | 150g | 1g | 32g | 0.5g | 3g |
ANS NitroFusion | 50g | 35g | 7g | 3g | 1g |
Total: | 37g | 52g | 4g | 10g | |
Calories: | 148 kcal | 216 kcal | 36 kcal | - |
This smoothie has around 400 kcal, mostly from carbohydrates and protein, with a very low fats content. Fiber content is great - 10g, around one-third of recommended daily fiber intake.
Vegan smoothie or not, fruit smoothies like this are great daily snacks or full meals. If made with casein protein powder, can be used even as a bedtime protein shake due to its slow digestion.
Anyway, it is very important that these shakes and smoothies are easy and quick to make. If you are unable to find fresh blueberries, feel free to use frozen ones - they are almost as good as fresh ones but are available year long.