Smoothie Recipes That Will Keep You Full Until Lunch - Total Women's Cycling (2024)

January often brings with it an influx of marketing messages: ‘get healthy!’, ‘tone up!’, ‘lose weight!’ and smoothie makers and juicers are very much the in-vogue way to attempt one or all of these New Year missions.

The honest truth is that liquidizing your food will not reduce the number of calories that you consume, nor will it make fewer calories last longer in terms of energy provision.

However, smoothies and juices do make it much easier to get more good nutrients into your system quickly. With a good machine (like the market leader – the Nutribullet) you can bung in a load of fruit and veg and be gulping down a nutritious meal in five minutes, thus preventing you from the alternative – grabbing a sugar laden breakfast bar which no doubt spikes your insulin levels and leaves you hungry in ten minutes time.

If you’re a cyclist who has decided to join the smoothie drinking tribe, you want to make sure that you’re choosing recipes that support your activity levels – providing enough calories to ensure that you’re not sitting at work with a grumbling stomach by mid-morning.

Below are a few of our favourites – they’re all as simple as bunging the ingredients into a blender and whizzing up.

Different milk varieties explained

Most of these recipes use Almond Milk – which provides a great flavour. It is lower in fat and sugar than cows milk, but it’s also lower in protein and carbohydrate, so we’d recommend swapping this or adding a spoon of natural yogurt if you’re after something more filling. If you’re training hard and need the added muscle repair as well as extra calories, you can always add a scoop or two of protein powder too.

Peanut Butter Push

• 1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter
• 1 Teaspoon Hemp Seeds
• 1 Banana
• ½ Cup Spinach
• 1 Cup Almond Milk

What cyclist doesn’t love peanut butter? This is a great option for riders who are looking for a protein injection that will support muscle recovery. We would suggest being picky with your peanut spread as some off the shelf options are sugar laden. MyProtein have a great option, and Whole Earth varieties are also more natural.

You also get spinach – a leafy green which is high in iron, an important vitamin especially for active women of ‘child bearing age’ (eg anyone who menstruates).

See the full recipe and nutritional values here.

Skinny Shamrock Shake

• 1 Cup Spinach
• 1 Banana
• ¼ Avocado
• 4 Tablespoons Mint
• ½ Cup Greek Yogurt
• 1 Cup Almond Milk

Generally to make a smoothie or juice thicker (and thus more filling) you’d add banana, avocado, or greek yogurt. This recipe uses all three!

Again, you’ve got your iron delivering spinach, plus avocado which has multiple benefits. As well as providing the most protein of any fruit, it will provide you with healthy fats alongside your added yogurt. Mint is a great addition to add a lovely fresh flavour, that will no doubt go down well after a good workout.

Oat and Nut Breakfast Delight

• ½ Cup Oats
• 5 Walnuts
• 1 Banana
• ¼ Cup Blueberries
• To Max Line Almond Milk

There’s a tendency in the smoothie-sipping-tribe to skip the traditional carbs in favour of those from fruit and vegetables. This might work for some, but complex carbohydrates from whole-grains don’t need to be off the menu. Oats are a great source of slow release energy, and there’s no reason you can’t whizz them in to beef up the energy your morning drink provides you with.

7 Most Nutritious Porridge Toppings

Here you also get a protein injection from Walnuts – also high in Omega-3, as well as blueberries which in a high enough dose are believed to reduce inflammation, and could therefore calm aching muscles.

See the full recipe here.

Sweet Kale O’Mine

• 1 Handful Kale
• ½ Cup Sweet Potato, cooked
• 1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil
• ½ Cup Pineapple
• 1 Handful Cashews
• 1 Tablespoon SuperFood Protein Blend (or any protein powder)
• To Max Line Almond Milk

This is one for someone who wants a proper filling meal-drink! Kale, like Spinach, is a leafy green and is incredibly high in Vitamin C as well as offering up a fair amount of Vitamin B, both of which will help to maintain a healthy immune system.

Sweet potato is a complex carbohydrate that will slowly release energy, and is also a big gun in the Vitamin A world – another one that aids the immune system as well as supporting growth and development.

Add in protein powder AND nuts and you’ve got a pretty filling mix – just make sure you cook your potatoes until soft first!

See therecipe here.

Pumpkin Pie Protein Blast

• ½ Banana
• ½ Cup Peaches
• ½ Cup Pineapple
• ¼ Cup Pumpkin (cooked)
• 1 Tablespoon SuperFood Protein Blend (or any protein powder)
• ½ Teaspoon Cinnamon
• ½ Teaspoon Allspice
• To Max Line Almond Milk

Another one that bucks the ‘no carbs’ trend, this one uses the root veg pumpkin to provide you with complex carbohydrates. Allspice and cinamon complement the flavour, whilst banana adds an extra thickening and filling agent.

Add protein powder for extra calories and recovery properties, and peaches and pineapple for a little more flavour and some natural sugars to get you bouncing.

See the full recipe here.

We hope you enjoy these and that they keep you full until your next meal. If not, check out these great on-the-bike snacks – they’re equally good off the bike!

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