The people in the PEERtrainer Fresh Start Cleanse teams consistently come up with some of the best recipes. We are posting others elsewhere on the Recipe Blog (so poke around!) but this post will focus on something that I think most people love: CHOCOLATE!
We saw this comment in the team today: "my shakes have been the Chocolate Thorne with extra cocoa added and I swear that is one of the reasons I have been able to stick to it. As a chocoholic I have been able to satiate the need for chocolate and keep up with the cleanse protocol. If you add just the tiniest drop of vanilla the flavor really comes together. When I add my spinach I don't even taste it."
The first point in that sentence, extra cocoa and a tiny drop of vanilla. The second key point is that when you blend in greens you don't taste them.
This is HUGELY IMPORTANT, because 99% of people struggle with getting enough greens in their diet. If you have read your Dr. Fuhrman, you know that greens contain the highest amount of micronutrients. He has worked hard to point out to anyone who will listen, that as overall consumption of micronutrients goes up, disease tends to go down.
Micronutrients are things like vitamins and minerals- things that don't contain calories and are not normally measured, but science shows are essential for optimal health.
Anyway, what we have seen is that people are really taking to adding spinach, kale and other greens to their morning Chocolate smoothies. One member of the cleanse team posted that they put 4 whole cups of kale in their Chocolate shake!
People talk a lot about kale because it contains the highest levels of micronutrients of any fruit or vegetable. This is particularly important at breakfast, because the AVERAGE person consumes no greens at breakfast, and usually a lot of sugar and carbs, which as we know shuts down fat burning!
PEERtrainer Tip: Don't be average. Life is too short!
The other thing that is SUPER CRITICAL to note is that the Chocolate shake mix these people are using is a pea/rice blend from Thorne, who is a close partner of ours at PEERtrainer. We know the team who runs the company, we have visited their factory and hq.
PEERtrainer recommends the Thorne pea/rice shakes becuase they are plant-based and free of all sorts of junk that other protein powders have. If you have not yet made the switch, please do.
http://shop.peertrainer.com/shakes
The "Skinny" On Pea/Rice Protein:
Pea/rice protein is absorbed by the body a lot more slowly than whey, and it is not reactive like soy can be for people. Not only do these shakes taste good, and are super healthy when blended with greens- but they also HELP PEOPLE FEEL REALLY FULL. That's a biggie.
The other thing this Chocolate Decadence Recipe "Framework" does is get people in the greens habit. We know from a lot of the surveys that we have been reading that a) some people don't like the taste of greens at all and b) for most people this is not s priority or focus.
So, this is the basic framework for the shake recipe. And we say "framework" because EVERYONE has their own take on things, ways of doing this. Some people like more fiber, some less. Some people add in ground flax seed.
Chocolate Decadence Recipe Base
1 Scoop Chocolate Vegalite
1 cup unsweetended Coconut Milk. (So Delicious is our preferred brand.)
6 Big Ice Cubes
1/2 Scoop Fibermend
1/2 Cup Water
1-4 Cups of Greens: Spinach, Kale- whatever you have, fresh or frozen
1 Teaspoon unsweetened Cocoa Powder.
1 Drop of Vanilla Extract
Mix ingredients on slow speed until the blended smooth. For the Vitamixer's out there, try and keep the speed to a slower speed to avoid foaming up the mix and keeping it smooth.
The Medibulk can really thicken up the smoothie- and some people like that and some don't. If you are new to extra fiber in your diet, you'll want to start small and work from there.
To get a shake and fiber combo kit go to the following pages in the PEERtrainer Shop.
**[Shake Coupon Code: For a limited time we are offering a 15% coupon code to get the high quality shakes that we mentioned above (try Chocolate Vegalite!!) at the best deal out there. FACEBOOK15 is the code, and can be applied on checkout at http://shop.peertrainer.com. Includes all items in the PEERtrainer Shop including the shakes and shake and fiber kits http://shop.peertrainer.com/shakes]**
New: The PEERtrainer Success Index measures how likely you are to lose weight on a more permanent basis. It measures a series of your habits, and assigns a score. A score above 80 is really really good. A score between 60 and 80 shows that you are making some great progress. Get your number here:
http://success.peertrainer.com
Thanks for the recipe! I am creating a list of smoothie recipes to keep on hand in my kitchen, and I am trying to figure out exactly how many cheats are in a smoothie? Does the protein powder count as one cheat? The one I use is an unflavored pea protein with 120 calories per scoop. Also, if I use a banana should I count that as a cheat?
Posted by: Beth | 09/29/2013 at 02:37 PM
Can I use the coconut milk that comes y carton or can and mix it with water?
Posted by: lazetica | 03/10/2014 at 02:52 PM