Choice of frozen fruit makes a big difference in smoothies
March 13, 2005As part of my so-far-failing attempt to lose weight and put on a bit of muscle mass, I’ve been drinking protein smoothies as part of my daily diet. Nothing fancy–half cup of OJ, half cup of milk, some frozen chunks of fruit, and a scoop of protein powder. Usually one for breakfast, as my pre-workout meal, and then one at night as the pre-bedtime meal.
I started with whey protein, which seemed to produce a nice drinkable consistency no matter what frozen fruit chunks I used. Frozen peaches, strawberries, mangoes, whatever they happened to have available at Kroger’s worked just fine.
Unfortunately when I ran out of the whey protein and went back to Whole Foods they were out of the whey protein. In fact it looks like they’ve dropped the whey protein–the house brand (365) is now a soy-based protein instead of whey. Which sucks because whey is not only the better protein it also tends to taste better and be smoother in shake-type products such as smoothies. But soy is apparently the cheaper protein which I assume is why they’re switching.
Anyway, at the time of the switch I had strawberries and peaches in the freezer. So that’s the combination I’ve been using to make the soy protein smoothies. It produces a thick rather sludgy concoction, a bit like a bad Jamba Juice mix (one of the few things I miss about San Francisco, the little Jamba Juice stand that was just two blocks away from the office).
But last week I finally ran out of frozen fruit and had to go back to Kroger’s for more. This time I got strawberries and mangoes, and what a difference that combination makes. The smoothies I’m getting now are truly smooth–much more drinkable and a more appetizing color as well. Not quite the blood-red I was getting from the strawberries/peaches mix.
Still not as good as what I got out of whey protein but it’s acceptable. I’m campaigning to have Whole Foods switch back to whey but if they don’t I can live with the soy protein for now.
Now if this diet would just start working I’d be all set.
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